October 23, 2023
By John C. Simmons 约翰·西蒙斯咨询有限责任公司首席工程师
Blog

编解码器许可和网络视频流

网络视频流媒体市场经历了指数级增长, 预计未来几年市场规模将增长超过3000亿美元.[i]^,[ii] 在线视频平台的兴起颠覆了传统的线性电视行业, 随着许多消费者选择在线视频流媒体服务.

然而，参与这场市场混乱的企业一直难以找到有利可图的业务. 商业内容提供商不仅要相互竞争以获得关注, time, 还有收入，还有社交媒体, user-generated content, and video games.

虽然表面上没有变化，但网络视频流是一个全新的命题. Because of this fact, companies whose codec standard essential patents (SEPs) have contributed to this web video revolution are faced with a multifaceted problem.

最近对sep进行许可的努力导致了涉及多个专利池的复杂许可计划. 像线性电视和光盘所采用的编解码器许可方案是否也适用于流媒体视频?
Past attempts to derive substantial codec licensing fees from video streaming content providers met with strong resistance and were subsequently abandoned. 基于内容的编解码器许可是否有重要作用, for example, 按次付费或订阅视频编解码器许可?

To find an answer to these questions it is useful to examine the role of codecs in the shifting landscape of commercial web video streaming, 以及基于内容的编解码器许可的历史.

编解码器在网络视频流中的作用

商业网络视频流是由四个基本的组成标准实现的.

免费互联网和商业流媒体客户端的两个组件都是高质量的, 低比特率音频和视频编码标准. 目前占主导地位的音频和视频编解码器分别是AAC和AVC.

1999年由ISO/IEC JTC 1运动图像专家组(MPEG)推出的AAC (ISO/IEC 14496-3)[iii], 也称为MPEG-4 Part 3和MPEG-4 Audio, is a widely available high-quality, 低比特率音频编码标准.
2003年由ITU-T视频编码专家组(VCEG)与MPEG合作推出, AVC (ISO/IEC 14496-10)[iv], also referred to as H.264或MPEG-4 Part 10是一种广泛使用的高质量、低比特率视频编码标准.

AAC和AVC不足以支持商业网络媒体流. Two additional components are required – a standard for interoperable digital rights management (DRM) and a standard for adaptive bitrate delivery packaging.

2012年由MPEG，通用加密或CENC (ISO/IEC 23001-7)引入[v] 主要的数字版权管理系统(包括Microsoft PlayReady)是否支持drm互操作性标准, Google Widevine and Apple FairPlay.
MPEG于2018年推出，通用媒体应用格式或CMAF (ISO/IEC 23000-19, 2018)[vi] is the audio-video encapsulation standard supported by the two most commonly used adaptive bitrate streaming protocols – Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP or DASH (ISO/IEC 23009-1)[vii] 和HTTP直播或HLS (IETF RFC 8216)[viii].

虽然非商业视频流可能与AVC和AAC单独, the present-day exponential growth of the commercial web media industry would not have been possible without the global availability of CENC and CMAF.

Component Licensing

使用AAC音频编码格式传输或分发内容不需要许可证. 但是，AAC解码器的所有制造商或开发商都需要许可证和付款. The terms use per-unit pricing, 而且内容不收取版税, subscribers, or attributed revenue.[ix]

The commercial use of AVC video codec technologies necessitates licenses from and payment to the VIA Licensing Alliance (formerly MPEG LA), 为大多数(但不是全部)AVC专利持有人管理AVC专利池的私人公司.[x]

为了确保AVC对YouTube等免费在线流媒体服务保持吸引力和可行性, 专利持有人承诺不会对免费服务收取任何形式的基于内容的版税, 同时对付费服务设置上限, so, for example, 如今，像Netflix这样的付费流媒体服务支付的费用不会超过100美元,它的AVC流媒体许可证每年要花10万美元, 与服务订户的数量无关, 视频流分辨率或视频流时长.

The companies who proposed CMAF and CENC did so mindful of the consumer value of a global web media client and the consumer-focused business opportunities such a client would present. 预计版税许可将阻碍以网络为中心的商业机会, 他们坚持CMAF和CENC是免费发布的.

Though not license-free, the royalty model employed for AAC and AVC clearly hit the sweet spot for large scale adoption; but these codecs have their technical limitations. 例如，AVC并不特别适合高分辨率或高帧率的内容.

由VCEG与MPEG、HEVC (ISO/IEC 23008-2)合作推出[xi], also referred to as H.265 or MPEG-H Part 2, 是一种先进的编解码器，与AVC相比，可以实现高达50%的比特率降低，同时保持或提高质量. 它特别适用于高分辨率和高帧率的内容.

HEVC无疑是比AVC更好的视频编解码器标准, 然而，它的采用却非常缓慢. 一项技术的许可模式可以对其采用和市场增长产生深远的影响. Just what went wrong?

网络视频流的变化

From one perspective the story of the last two decades of codec development has been dominated by an effort to improve compression ratios. For example, video codec H.与H相比，265/HEVC(2013)提供了大约25%-50%的数据压缩.264/AVC(2003)在相同的视频质量水平, 或者在相同比特率下大幅提高视频质量.[xii]

但是压缩比的提高只是网络视频流故事的一部分. 提高编解码器压缩比的努力发生在两个革命性的变化席卷互联网的时候, 变化带来的重要问题, 未经检验的编解码器许可假设.

移动和智能电视音频视频应用的出现就是这种变化的格局, 以及免版税编解码器的可用性.

移动和智能电视视听应用

Apple announced the iPhone in 2007[xiii] 2008年，第一款安卓手机上市.[xiv] 同年，智能电视出现在市场上, 允许用户直接从互联网下载和安装电视上的音视频应用程序. 到2013年HEVC发布时，市场上有超过9.3亿部手机和8400万台智能电视, 所有支持网络音视频应用.[xv]^,[xvi]

With linear broadcast, 对广播公司可选的编解码器的支持对机顶盒是强制性的, leading to stiff competition over which codecs will be required by a linear television standard to be supported by device manufacturers. On the other hand, 现代网络媒体应用程序支持编解码器功能发现, 因此，网络流媒体服务可以发现设备支持的编解码器，并可选地提供该格式的内容, 让编解码器支持设备制造商和网络流媒体服务的市场驱动决策.

Why does this matter? Market-driven codec selection combined with device codec capability discovery places downward pressure on codec SEP royalties when compared to what could be demanded for linear television devices.

Royalty-Free Codes

谷歌在2010年和2013年分别发布了开放且免版税的编解码器VP8和VP9, the year that HEVC was released. 2018年，开放媒体联盟发布了AV1编解码器, 基于标准的免版税视频编解码器.

Why does this matter? The availability of royalty-free codecs provides web streaming services an alternate codec should a codec SEP holder decide to charge subscription service content fees.

Content-based codec licensing

In 2014 MPEG LA (now VIA Licensing Alliance) announced that they would charge 20 cents per product to encode or decode video using HEVC, though the first 100,000 units would be free. 这相当于HEVC前身AVC的许可. MPEG LA also announced that, while reserving the right to do so, 当HEVC编码的视频在互联网上播放或以蓝光光盘出售时，他们不会收取版税.[xvii]

对MPEG LA的预期SEP许可收入不满意, 一些编解码器SEP持有人转移到新的专利池- HEVC Advance(现在是Access Advance), 他们在哪里获得了更高的收入，包括来自内容提供商的收入. 事实上，HEVC Advance在2015年就曾宣布，它想要0.HEVC提供的任何付费流媒体视频服务收入的5%.[xviii] But by 2018, 在内容提供商的压力下, HEVC Advance收回了互联网流媒体的所有版税.[xix]

HEVC的第三个专利池由Velos Media管理[xx]该公司由咨询公司马可尼(Marconi)运营. As of 2023, 尽管他们有自己的HEVC专利, Velos Media不再维护HEVC专利池, 将所有第三方专利归还给各自的所有者.[xxi]

In 2021 Micky Minhas, senior vice president at Marconi, 写了一篇文章，主张采用一种新的编解码器许可方法. He suggested that the new approach

"... 需要反映编解码器现在是如何使用的，而不是20年前是如何使用的... 它应该在视频编码的多个点上获得许可, 解码和转码生态系统正在从视频编码标准中实现价值, 包括流媒体和云服务, and not just end user devices."[xxii]

To understand this approach, 重要的是要注意，sep属于标准规范的规范语言. Codec standards provide normative language about two things – the bitstream format itself and the decoder actions when processing that bitstream. 编解码器标准在设计上没有说明编码器如何产生比特流, 允许编码方面的创新蓬勃发展, 依靠比特流和解码器规范来确保互操作性.

专利池已经设法通过参考比特流规范对编码器设置许可要求, 但这并不适用于流媒体服务. Streaming services use formats like MPEG’s Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH) or the Apple designed HTTP Live Streaming (IETF HLS). 这两个规范都没有使用编解码器比特流规范中的规范语言.

如果网络视频流媒体服务既没有使用编解码器规范，也没有间接侵犯编解码器SEP, viz., 不允许或鼓励第三方直接侵犯编解码器SEP, SEP持有人如何证明要求网络视频流媒体服务支付许可费是正当的, as Micky Minhas has proposed?

参与网络视频革命

Minhas认为，完美的授权解决方案“…… 需要反映编解码器现在的使用方式，而不是20年前的使用方式。” 在我看来，他的这一评论是正确的.

让我们对比一下二十年前编解码器的使用情况和现在的使用情况.

Twenty years ago, linear services were closed, royalty bearing ecosystems; codec support which was optional for the broadcaster was mandatory for the device manufacturers; no royalty-free alternative codecs existed; and consumers would use a set top box supporting a single linear service application.
今天，网络本身被免版税标准所主导, including royalty-free standards essential for commercial web video streaming; codec capability discovery makes codec support a market-driven decision; royalty-free video codecs are available and in use; and the consumer watches video on a device capable of supporting an unlimited number of applications.

与二十年前编解码器的使用方式相比，所有这些变化都给编解码器SEP许可收入带来了下行压力. 我认为线性电视的MPEG-2授权时代, DVD和蓝光设备创造了不切实际的SEP收入预期, 导致了今天复杂的许可方案与多个专利池.

而且由于网络视频流并没有参考编解码器的规范规范语言, any attempt to charge streaming services a content-based royalty fee exposes a fundamental misunderstanding of what is involved in modern day web video streaming.

That said, 线性媒体服务和网络媒体服务之间的一个根本区别为编解码器SEP持有者提供了一个增强的收入途径, 这条道路已经被现代网络媒体公司所采用.

When one service owns the device, as is the case for linear services, 价值只能通过该服务获得. 在这种情况下，编解码器SEP持有人只能通过收取专利许可费来收回其研究和开发成本.

然而，现代网络媒体设备是一个价值链“顶端宽”的平台。. The codec SEP holder has more creative ways to recoup the cost of developing standards essential patents – such as providing content and more importantly providing and/or supporting services which utilize features of their SEPs.

web服务的这一事实是万维网发展成为免版税生态系统的原因之一. 它也代表了编解码器SEP持有者可以更有利可图地参与网络视频革命的最佳方式.

___

[i] 视频流媒体市场-北美, Europe, EMEA, APAC : US, Canada, China, Germany, UK - Forecast 2023-2027, Technavio, December 2022, http://www.technavio.com/report/video-streaming-market-industry-analysis

[ii] 视频流媒体市场-全球行业分析, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, Regional Outlook, and Forecast 2022-2030, Precedence Research, http://www.precedenceresearch.com/video-streaming-market

[iii] ISO/IEC 14496- 3:19 19，信息技术-视听对象的编码-第3部分:音频, http://www.iso.org/standard/76383.html

[iv] ISO/IEC 14496-10:2022, 信息技术。视听对象的编码。第10部分:高级视频编码, http://www.iso.org/standard/83529.html

[v] ISO/IEC 23001-7:2023, 信息技术。MPEG系统技术。第7部分:ISO基础媒体文件格式文件中的通用加密, http://www.iso.org/standard/84637.html

[vi] ISO/IEC 23000-19:2020, 信息技术。多媒体应用格式(MPEG-A) .第19部分:分段媒体用通用媒体应用格式(CMAF, http://www.iso.org/standard/79106.html

[vii] ISO/IEC 23009-1:2019, 信息技术。HTTP (DASH)上的动态自适应流。第1部分:媒体表示描述和分段格式, http://www.iso.org/standard/75485.html

[viii] IETF RFC 8216, HTTP Live Streaming, August 2017, http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8216

[ix]AAC License Fees, VIA Licensing Alliance, http://www.via-la.com/licensing/aac/license-fees/

[x] AVC/H.264, VIA Licensing Alliance, http://www.via-la.com/licensing-2/avc-h-264/

[xi] ISO/IEC 23008-2:2013, Information technology — High efficiency coding and media delivery in heterogeneous environments — Part 2: High efficiency video coding, http://www.iso.org/standard/35424.html

[xii] High Efficiency Video Coding, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Efficiency_Video_Coding

[xiii] 苹果用iPhone重新发明了手机，苹果365足彩发布会，2007年1月9日 http://www.apple.com/newsroom/2007/01/09Apple-Reinvents-the-Phone-with-iPhone/

[xiv] 官方消息:首款Android手机将于9月23日上市——查理·索雷尔，2008年9月17日 http://www.wired.com/2008/09/official-first/

[xv] Smartphones – statistics & facts, http://www.statista.com/topics/840/smartphones/

[xvi] 智能互联电视——统计数据 & facts, http://www.statista.com/topics/4761/smart-and-connected-tvs/

[xvii] 专利持有者削减了下一代视频技术的流媒体费用2014年9月30日，CNET, Stephen Shankland， http://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/patent-holders-cut-streaming-fees-for-next-gen-video-tech

[xviii] 新收费给下一代高质量流媒体视频蒙上了阴影2015年7月22日，CNET, Stephen Shankland， http://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/new-fees-cast-shadow-on-next-gen-high-quality-streaming-video/

[xix] HEVC Advance消除了内容分发版税，并减少了某些版税费率和上限, March 13, 2018, http://accessadvance.com/2018/03/13/hevc-advance-eliminates-content-distribution-royalty-fees-and-reduces-certain-royalty-rates-and-caps/

[xx] http://velosmedia.com/

[xxi] Velos结束了HEVC的专利池，简化了视频编解码器的许可情况, Alex Davies, January 31, 2023, http://rethinkresearch.biz/articles/velos-ends-its-patent-pool-for-hevc-simplifying-video-codec-licensing-picture/

[xxii] 是时候采用一种新的编解码器授权方法了——米基·明哈斯，2021年9月18日 http://marconi.com/iam-its-time-for-a-new-approach-to-codec-licensing/

Biographical Information

John C. Simmons, Principal Engineer at John Simmons Consulting, LLC. 流媒体客户端成立于2020年，包括苹果、b谷歌和微软.

约翰在微软工作了16年, 他领导了drm互操作编码和自适应比特率流的标准化工作, to collaborate with Google, Comcast, Netflix和W3C共同定义HTML5媒体扩展, 并与苹果公司合作开发通用媒体应用程序格式.

John’s standards evangelism across the media and entertainment industry led to the creation of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) Web Application Video Ecosystem (WAVE) project, 60家公司合作在全球范围内采用ISO/IEC和W3C流媒体标准. John是CTA WAVE内容规范工作组的主席.

John received the CTA 2017 Technology Leadership Award for the creation of the WAVE Project and the National Academy of Television Arts Sciences (NATAS) 2019 Emmy Award for the Microsoft, Google, Comcast, Netflix和W3C“HTML5的标准化”, 加密媒体扩展(EME)和媒体源扩展(MSE)提供完整的电视体验.

[编者注:这是约翰·西蒙斯咨询有限责任公司的一篇文章. 流媒体接受供应商署名完全基于它们对我们读者的价值.]

Free

for qualified subscribers

Subscribe Now Current Issue Past Issues

为什么发行商不采用新的编解码器

驱动和阻碍新兴编解码器在Netflix等付费OTT流媒体平台上部署的关键因素是什么, Disney, and Apple TV+? Streaming Learning Center's Jan Ozer provides a much-needed codec deployment reality check in this clip from his presentation at Streaming Media East 2023.

25 Aug 2023

亚马逊选择编解码器的六个因素

亚马逊在选择和采用流媒体编解码器时考虑了六个关键因素. AWS解决方案架构师Kevin Yao在流媒体连接2023的这段视频中对它们进行了分解.

03 Apr 2023

Netflix和Facebook使用哪种流媒体编解码器?

Netflix和Facebook最常用的流媒体编解码器是什么? Jan Ozer of Streaming Learning Center asks Andrey Norkin of Netflix and David Ronca of Facebook to discuss in-depth the specific codecs they employ for their organizations.

22 Nov 2022

为绿色流媒体选择编解码器

目前在减少流媒体的碳排放和碳足迹方面有哪些创新? Jan Ozer of the Streaming Learning Center asks Kevin Yao of Amazon Web Services and David Ronca of Facebook about the innovations and new technologies their organizations are using to lessen the environmental impact of streaming.

30 Sep 2022