INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR STANDARDIZATION
ORGANISATION INTERNATIONALE NORMALISATION
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 11
CODING OF MOVING PICTURES AND AUDIO
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 11N62125776
FebruaryJuly 20043, Trondheim, Norway
Source: / SystemsTitle: / Referencing Explanatory Report to accompany FPDAM/FDAM Submission of ISO/IEC 14496 – 11/Amd.23GPP specification TS 26.245
Status: / Approved at 65th meeting
Referencing Explanatory Report to accompanyFCDPDAM/FDISAM Submission of ISO/IEC 14496- 171/Amd.2
Referenced Specification: The OpenType font format specification, version3GPP specification 3GPP TS 26.245 1.4.
For submission
to: ISO/IEC JTC 1
by: SC 29/WG 11
This Referencing Explanatory Report (RER) has been generated by SC 29/WG 11 to support the normative referencing incorporation of 3GPP TS 26.245 the OpenType® technology in ISO/IEC 14496-171, in accordance with Annex N of the JTC 1 Directives (fifth edition).
The Referenced Specification
The Referenced Specification (RS) to be normatively referenced included in ISO/IEC 14496-17 is the 3GPP specification 3GPP TS 26.245, published by 3GPP.
1 comprises of
“The OpenType Specification” and is attached to this document.
The specification is published on:
1.The Microsoft Typography Web site: The OpenType specification
(
2.The Adobe Solutions Networks: The OpenType specification
(
Justification
The 58th ISO/IEC JTC1/SC 29/WG 11 (MPEG) has identified the need for a specification to support streaming of timed text, but also that 3GPP TS 26.245 already provides a specification for download of timed text. So as to achieve the highest possible level of compatibility, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC 29/WG 11 decided to develop its specification for text streaming by extending the core of 3GPP TS 26.245 towards streaming. As a consequence of that decision ISO/IEC 14496-17 complements 3GPP TS 26.245 by specifying a streaming framework for the core technology defined in 3GPP TS 26.245. In addition, this ISO/IEC JTC1/SC 29/WG 11 decision may widen the scope of 3GPP TS 26.245 towards broadcast and broadband streaming applications, in addition to the mobile application domain of 3GPP. The streaming framework in IEC/ISO 14496-17 is specified so that both extensions are possible by ISO/IEC JTC1/SC 29/WG 11 and 3GPP, while 3GPP remains in control of 3GPP TS 26.245. meeting (Pattaya, December, 2001) has established the Ad hoc Group on Advanced Text and 2D Graphics with the mandate to identify technologies that may have been missing or insufficient in the MPEG-4 specification and to develop the requirements for Advanced Text and 2D Graphics representation (WG11 N4453). The group evaluated the existing MPEG-4 specification and MPEG produced the preliminary Call for Proposals for Advanced Text and 2D Graphics in MPEG-4 Systems (WG11 N4705) at the 59th meeting in March, 2002. The Call for Proposal was finalized at the 60th MPEG meeting in Fairfax, May 2002 (WG11 N4859). The requirements for the advanced text support in MPEG-4 included the transmission of font data to MPEG-4 terminals in order to provide content creators with the capabilities to achieve faithful reproduction of the textual content.
Three responses to the Call were evaluated at the 61st MPEG meeting in Klagenfurt, July 2002. One proposal suggested standardizing the font format representation for font data transmission and it was proposed to standardize the OpenType as the font data format. The proposals were discussed and evaluated during the meeting and, as a result, the MPEG committee asked all National Bodies to comment on the proposed approach to standardize font format representation and to provide information to MPEG on existing and developing font formats. National Body comments and statements of support for OpenType were received at the 62nd ISO/IEC JTC1/SC 29/WG 11 (MPEG) meeting and the requirements and Call for Proposals for font format representation and font compression technology was issued in October, 2002 (WG11 N5289).
Two responses were evaluated during the 63rd MPEG Awaji meeting in December 2002 and the OpenType was proposed as the font format representation in MPEG-4. The results of the evaluation process have shown that OpenType font format is the industry standard and the best solution that satisfied all MPEG-4 requirements for font format representation. It’s been recognized that OpenType is the only font technology that provides cross-platform solution with capabilities to support all world languages, high scalability and advanced typographic features, and is supported by many existing operating systems and platforms. The OpenType font format has been jointly co-developed by Microsoft Corporation and Adobe Systems Incorporated with the participation of the Apple Computer Incorporated. Development of the specification was observed and influenced by the public industry forum with the input from the Unicode® Consortium and Association Typographique Internationale (ATypI).
MPEG-4 Requirements for font format representation and the proposed OpenType solution.
The OpenType has been under continuous development from 1994 to the present time. It provides support for the following features that are important for MPEG-4:
OpenType has been developed based on the widely used industry standards TrueType™ and PostScript™ font formats. It allows representation of variety of fonts that are in use today and many font vendors have expressed commitment to support the OpenType standard and develop new fonts in OpenType format.
OpenType provides capabilities for high quality scaling of text at any resolution and point sizes with the highest levels of legibility and readability.
OpenType supports all languages and provides full support for international character set encoding and The Unicode standard, including support for advanced capabilities and multilingual text layout.
OpenType supports advanced typographic features, including capabilities to support ligatures, glyph variants, contextual alternatives and glyph substitution.
The OpenType is mature technology and is widely adopted industry standard. Many operating systems and embedded development platforms for STB and mobile devices provide native support for OpenType font rendering engine which will simplify the adoption of the OpenType in MPEG-4 and reduce cost of MPEG-4 terminal implementation.
Relationship of RS to Existing and Emerging Standards
3GPP TS 26.245 is part of the Release 6 specifications of 3GPP that finds applications in the mobile application domain.The OpenType was developed in response to the growing needs of computer and Internet users to have unified font format which provides cross-platform compatibility and satisfies the needs of all languages with complex typographic requirements.
OpenType is defined as one of the font formats in the W3C CSS2 specification under the font.src property.
OpenType fonts provide full support for Unicode/ISO/IEC 10646. Previous Adobe Type1 PostScript fonts (ISO 9541) do not support Unicode character mapping. Adobe worked with Microsoft to include a Compact Font Format (CFF) Type1 outline in the OpenType specification to allow for a Postscript solution with Unicode character encoding.
OpenType provides capabilities for supporting all scripts of the world and high-end typographic functionality, whereas the PFR format defined in the ISO/IEC 16500-6:1999 does not.
The DVD Forum has recently selected OpenType font format with TrueType outlines as the font format for their standard.
Market Acceptance of Proposed RS
is introduced on the market place, among others for Karaoke applications.OpenType is widely accepted as the industry standard and is supported by the majority of host-based and embedded operating systems and development platforms, including new emerging classes of multimedia enabled devices, such as PDA, set-top boxes and multimedia-enabled cell phones. Many font vendors have provided statements of support and committed to development of new fonts in OpenType format.
Statements that address the Criteria for Evaluation of RS
The following statements are provided by Microsoft and Adobe with respect to the criteria to be evaluated for a proposed RS as described in ISO/IEC JTC 1 N 4046, Clause 6.3 Criteria.
6.3.1 Co-operative Stance
On initiative of the SC, the RS Originator shall provide or acknowledge a written statement that it agrees to the referencing of a specific document or family of documents in a JTC 1 standard. An applicable prior written statement may be used. Should the RS Originator decline to provide or acknowledge such a statement, the reference shall not be made.
In a liaison statement to ISO/IEC JTC1/SC 29/WG 11, 3GPP expressed to be pleased with the approach taken by MPEG to base its work on text streaming on 3GPP TS 26.245.
Microsoft and Adobe have long history of working openly and co-operatively with standards groups. In the JTC 1 arena Microsoft is active in several committees, including SC 29 and others.
6.3.1.1 Ongoing Maintenance:
Who is responsible for maintenance of the RS if and when the need arises?
3GPP remains responsible for the maintenance of 3GPP TS 26.245.Microsoft and Adobe are committed to evolving the OpenType specification in response to, and at a pace consistent with, market conditions. The OpenType must remain compatible with the Unicode standard and interoperable across the widest possible set of operating systems.
To this end, Microsoft and Adobe would provide all resources necessary for the ongoing maintenance, interpretation and enhancement of the OpenType specification.
6.3.1.2 Changes:
What is the flexibility of the RS Originator to apply changes to the RS if so requested during the process of balloting the referencing standard?
Microsoft and Adobe are open to and will consider all input from people within the type community and elsewhere. However, they are under no obligation to make any specific modifications to the OpenType standard based on external suggestions. The health and vitality of the standard, along with maintenance of stability and backward compatibility are the sole responsibility of Microsoft and Adobe.Only the streaming framework developed by ISO/IEC JTC1/SC 29/WG 11 is balloted, and not the referenced standard; however, 3GPP will be pleased to take any comments provided on 3GPP TS 26.245 in consideration.
6.3.1.3 Availability of the Referenced Specification
What is the status of public availability of the RS on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms and conditions?
3GPP TS 26.245 The RS is published and freely available from 3GPP both Microsoft and Adobe web sites.
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Is the RS Originator willing to notify JTC 1 in a timely manner of any intention to terminate the availability of the RS?
3GPP is Microsoft and Adobe are willing to notify JTC 1 of any change in the status of the availability of the RS.
6.3.2 Intellectual Property Rights
It is the SC's responsibility to ensure that statements in response to 6.3.2.1 - 6.3.2.3 are provided in the RER. The RS Originator is requested, in the strongest terms, to make known in writing its position on the items listed below.
6.3.2.1 Patents:
What is the status of meeting the ISO/IEC policy on patent matters?
Microsoft and Adobe are (and have been) compliant with the ISO/IEC Patent Policy. There are known patents owned by Apple Computer, Inc. and Microsoft Corporation which are applicable to this technology. The IPR statements from Microsoft Corporation and Adobe Systems Incorporated have been submitted to SC 29/WG 11.The 3GPP policy on patent matters meets the ISO/IEC policy.
6.3.2.2 Copyrights:
What copyrights exist, and what copyrights is the RS Originator willing to grant, throughout both the evaluation and the publication cycle?
The copyDocument copyrights of 3GPP TS 26.245 remain with 3GPP.
Microsoft and Adobe and extend to all media in which the information may be embodied.
6.3.2.3 Trademark Rights:
What trademarks apply to the RS and with what conditions?
3GPPTM is a trademark, but no trademarks specifically apply to 3GPP TS 26.245.
OpenType is a Registered Trademark of Microsoft Corporations and may be used in accordance with the Microsoft OpenType trademark agreement. (see
6.3.3 Quality
The SC shall establish that the proposed RS is of adequate quality, considering topics such as the length of the time the specification has existed, whether products have been implemented using it, whether conformance requirements are clear, and whether the specification is readily and widely available.
ISO/IEC JTC1/SC 29/WG 11 considers that The 3GPP TS 26.245 meets its quality requirements. Due to its recent publication date, 3GPP TS 26.245 is starting to be deployed on the market place, and its use is also discussed in other standardization bodies such as W3C and IETF.
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