CESNET has another US patent

Prague, 19 December 2016. The CESNET Association has obtained another US patent. The patent concerns a unique design for synchronising video channels in a device receiving video signals via a computer network. The design may provide for stable transmission and visualisation even with a small buffering memory, and hence with a small added delay, which has important implications for specialised applications. Individual video channels may be flexibly bundled, for example for the transmission of 3D signals, or ultra high definition signals (4K or 8K), transmitted piecewise.

The title of the new US patent is Device for receiving video signals transmitted over a packet computer network and its patent number is US 9,491,333 B2.

The patented design is the result of CESNET’s research activities that take place in the Network Application Technology Department headed by Dr. Ing. Sven Ubik. The Association has applied this design successfully many times when performing national and international transmissions supporting long-distance collaboration among experts, for instance, in medicine or culture.

The design is already protected by a national patent (No. 304388) and a European patent (No. 2939416). Obtaining a US patent is not easy at all. The entire process, which includes assessing, commenting on and finalising the proposed design, takes about four years.

The Network Application Technology Department has long been involved in development of hardware-accelerated instruments for video and audio transmissions with very low latency, which may be used for network applications that would not be feasible with the standard technologies available. One example of this is the possibility of long-distance collaboration in culture among musical arts academies in Europe or remote access to digital models for long-distance collaboration. CESNET may arrange for such special transmissions for any interested parties.

The design protected by this patent was created under a project entitled Multi-channel high-definition video transmissions via an optical network (TA01010324), which was supported by the Technological Agency. Currently, the Association engages in follow-up research under an international project entitled 8K studio over IP (8KSVIP), which is supported under the Eurostars programme.

Example of long-distance collaboration in culture – a unique long-distance distributed concert on two organs. Jaroslav Tůma, a leading Czech organist, played in the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Brno, his colleague Jon M. Skogstad played in a concert hall at the Faculty of Music of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. Their concert was watched by participants of the international TNC16 conference held in Prague.

The CESNET Association was founded by Czech universities and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in 1996. It is engaged in research and development in information and communication technologies and builds and develops the CESNET national e-infrastructure for research and education. Thanks to its research activities and accomplishments, it represents the Czech Republic in important international projects, particularly in building the pan-European GÉANT network project or grid projects (EGI.eu), and actively participates in their implementation. The Association also works on the use of high-speed networks for sharing multimedia data both through synchronous video conferencing and shared applications, and asynchronous streaming.

Last change: 14.11.2017