Executive Summary of the ITU-T Study Group 16 Meeting 
(Geneva, 17-28 January 2022)

Results from previous meeting(s): 2021-092021-04 2020-06 2019-10 2019-06 2019-03 2018-10 2018-07 2018-02 2017-10 2017-01
2016-05 2015-10 2015-02 2014-06 2013-10 2013-01 
2012-05 2011-11 2011-03 2010-07 2009-10 2009-01 
2008-04 2007-06 2006-11 2006-04 2005-07 2004-11 
2004-01 2003-05 2002-10 

Numbers and other links

• Reviewed 117 Contributions and handled 404 TDs.
• Started 27 new work items and endorsed creation of two work items from Rapporteur Group meetings in the interim period.
  
• TAP: Two texts were Decided (approved) and none were Determined.
  
• AAP Consented Recommendations: 29 at this meeting (24 in 2021-04).
  
• Recommendations agreed for Deletion: none at this meeting.
  
• Other texts approved: 3 Technical Papers (No appendices, Supplements, implementors guides, technical reports or other documents).
  
• List of confirmed and planned interim meetings: see related link.
  
• Final text of the 36 outgoing liaison statements: see LS database.
  
• Human real-time captioning was provided for the opening and closing SG16 plenaries, as well as those of the working parties. The respective transcripts for Plenary, WP1/16, WP2/16 and WP3/16 are found in TD608/Plen, TD516/WP1, TD504/WP2 and TD238/WP3, respectively. Captioning was also provided for Q26/16 and Q28/16 sessions (transcripts are available from the IFA for the Questions).
  
• The meeting had 296 registered participants during the meeting period (down 3% compared to 305 at the previous meeting). The final list of participants is available in TD607/Plen.

Major accomplishments

• WTSA-20: The text of Questions for the new period has been submitted to WTSA-20 as Doc 18 (Part II of the SG16 report to WTSA) [TD584/Plen], which maintains the current set after its update by TSAG in January 2021. At this meeting, a draft of the text for Part I (Doc 17) was shared with the meeting, with comments requested in §3 and §4 [TD582/Plen]. The meeting noted the text of mandate for SG16 that will be in Annex 2 of WTSA-20 Doc 17 [TD583/Plen].
  
• Focus groups: The life span of the three focus groups under SG16 had their mandates extended. FG-VM and FG-AI4AD will continue to work until the first meeting of SG16 in the new study period, planned October/November 2022. The FG-AI4H had its lifespan extended for a final, additional year, till September 2023. The FG-AI4H was requested to provide at the next SG16 meeting a plan for completing its deliverable and to think of a non-FG collaborative platform to morph into.
  
• Correspondence group on metaverse: The CG-Metaverse established at this meeting will discuss technical aspects on metaverse and report to the next SG16 meeting and provide information leading to an SG16 analysis of future standardization directions, potential work items and future coordination needs. The group will be co-convened by Messrs Shin Gak Kang (ETRI, Rep. of Korea) and Kepeng Li (Tencent, China). The group is open to all SG16 members and the ToR is found here. The file repository is in the SG16 IFA and the mailing list for the CG-Metaverse is t17sg16cgmetaverse@lists.itu.int (subscribe here).
  
• AI and media coding collaboration: Joint discussions of Question 5/16 on AI in multimedia, of Question 6/16 on media coding, and of ISO/IEC SC29/WG1 JPEG experts, it was agreed to start common work on a new technology called JPEG AI, which will consider the use of artificial intelligence techniques for still image compression. This new work item T.JPEG-AI may evolve into a series of Recommendations depending on the progress of this incipient standardization effort.
  
  To strengthen collaboration between ITU-T SG16 and JTC1/SC29, the workshop on AI and multimedia: Exploration of new frontiers and cross-SDO synergy took place online on 18 January 2022. Jointly organized by ITU-T SG16 and ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29, the workshop aimed at boosting cooperation work in areas of common interest for AI and multimedia.
  
• Video and image coding standards: Work completed on the 2nd edition to ITU-T H.266 Versatile Video Coding [TD594/Plen] and on a new conformance specification (ITU-T H.266.1) and reference software to its first edition (ITU-T H.266.2) [TD595/Plen, TD599/Plen]. Work also completed on the 2nd edition of ITU-T H.274 "Versatile supplemental enhancement information messages for coded video bitstreams" [TD598/Plen]. Work is forthcoming on a new Supplement H.Supp-FGST on film grain synthesis technology for video coding applications, in addition to updates to the existing video and image coding Recommendations.
  
• Accessible telehealth: Work completed on new ITU-T F.780.2 (ex F.ACC-TH) that defines use cases and requirements for accessible telehealth services [TD553/Plen], which is result of collaboration between ITU and the World Health Organization (WHO).
  
• Safe listening: The approval process was launched for the second edition of ITU-T H.870 "Guidelines for safe listening devices/systems" [TD552/Plen], which is a joint standard of ITU and WHO. The revision clarifies requirements for safe listening and streamlines the text. New Technical Paper ITU-T FSTP-SLD-UC was also approved that complements H.870 with a gap analysis on use cases of safe listening devices [TD564/Plen].
  
• Telemedicine: In addition to the joint work with WHO, work completed for revised ITU-T F.780.1 that provides a framework for telemedicine systems using ultra-high definition imaging [TD554/Plen].
  
• Multimedia conferencing systems: Work completed on version 8 of the H.323 system, which is used worldwide for supporting IP-based multimedia communications. The updates include support for tunnelling of common alerting protocol (CAP) messages using ITU-T X1303bis, extended secure communication mechanisms and other enhancements and updates, with revised ITU-T H.323 (the overall system specification) [TD555/Plen], ITU-T H.225.0 with the H.323 call signaling protocol [TD556/Plen], H.245 with V17 of the H.323 system control protocol [TD558/Plen], and new ITU-T H.235.10 (ex H.235.DTLS) that improved H.323 security with support of DTLS for media streams in H.323 systems [TD557/Plen].
  
• Intelligent transport systems (ITS) and vehicular multimedia: SG16 approved TAP ITU-T H.551 (ex F.VM-VMA) "Architecture of vehicular multimedia systems" [TD601/Plen] at the closing plenary [TSB Circular 377]. This is the second deliverable of the FG-VM adopted as a Recommendation by SG16. New work started under Q5/16 on Technical Paper FSTP.OC-VC that will do an analysis of object classification dictionary set for V2X communication [TD225/WP3]. After completed, it may be useful background when studying application of AI techniques in the context of vehicular communication.
  
• Digital culture: Work concluded on ITU-T F.743.17 (ex F.CGS-RAS) that defines requirements for cloud gaming systems [TD604-R1/Plen]. New work started on information retrieval systems for cultural relics and artworks [TD487/WP2 and TD486/WP2] and multi-camera collaboration of mobile terminal computational photography [TD470/WP2].
  
• Content delivery networks (CDNs), IPTV and Digital Signage: At this meeting, work completed on the 3rd edition of ITU-T H.721 that specifies the basic model of IPTV terminal devices. In this update, support for new technologies such as timestamped fragmented TLV (TFT) [TD593/Plen]. Work started on one CDN WI and on two others addressing IPTV/OTTs:
  • H.IPTV-OpMcast "Requirements and architecture for open IPTV multicast service" [TD508/WP1]
    
  • F.ILMTS-reqs "Requirements for interactive low-latency multimedia transmission system over the Internet" [TD509/WP1]
    
  • H.CDN-MECptl "Mobile/multi-access content delivery network - Protocols" [TD507/WP1]
    
• Video surveillance: The work progressed with a new work will also start on H.VSDTAS-Arch with architecture and metadata of digital twin model assembling and interaction services for video surveillance systems [TD489/WP1]. Work completed on one revised and four new Recommendations:
  • ITU-T H.626.5 (V2) "Architecture for intelligent video surveillance systems" [TD591-R1/Plen]
    
  • ITU-T H.627.2 (ex H.HVSProt) "Requirements and protocols for home surveillance systems" [TD589/Plen]
    
  • ITU-T F.743.16 (ex F.IVS-CRM) "Requirements for communication resource management in intelligent visual surveillance system" [TD590/Plen]
    
  • ITU-T F.743.14 (ex F.VDSSReqs) "Requirements for video distribution systems" [TD561/Plen]
    
  • ITU-T FSTP-VS-ECSR "Requirements for event centre server in video surveillance systems" [TD592/Plen]
• Civilian unmanned aerial vehicles: New ITU-T F.749.15 (ex F.CUAV-IXS) identifies requirements for inspection and examination services using civilian unmanned aerial vehicles (CUAV) and expands the application areas of the CUAV series of Recommendations on flight control, flight data transportation, mission payload data services and video / imaging services [TD562/Plen]. Experts will also work on a new specification for framework and requirements on the use of CUAVs in emergency services (F.CUAV-ES ) [TD513/WP1].
  
• Ubiquitous multimedia applications: New study will start on F.CEC "Requirements and reference framework of cloud-edge collaboration in industrial machine vision system" [TD482/WP1] and F.EVSreqs "Requirements of event-based visual systems" [TD478/WP1]. Three new Recommendations extend the toolset of SG16 Recommendations for support of multimedia applications and services:
  • ITU-T F.746.12 (ex F.RIMSReqs) "Requirements for a real-time interactive multimedia service under poor network conditions" [TD563/Plen]
    
  • ITU-T F.743.13 (ex F.CMEGReqs) "Requirements for cooperation of multiple edge gateways" [TD560/Plen]
    
  • ITU-T F.743.15 (ex F.MOCN-MS) "Requirements for multi-operator core network enabled multimedia services" [TD566/Plen]
• AI and machine learning: The multimedia AI topic was very active at this meeting. In addition to various ongoing and two new work items, four texts were completed:

  • ITU-T F.748.16 (ex F.MVSreqs) "Requirements for machine vision-based applications and services in smart manufacturing" [TD559/Plen]
    
  • ITU-T F.746.13 (ex F.IMCS) "Requirements for smart speaker based intelligent multimedia communication systems" [TD565/Plen]
    
  • ITU-T F.748.14 (ex F.DH-2D) "Requirements and evaluation methods of non-interactive 2D real-person digital human application systems" [TD567-R1/Plen]
    
  • ITU-T F.748.15 (ex F.DH-FM) "Framework and metrics for digital human application systems" [TD568-R1/Plen]
• DLT: TAP Recommendation ITU-T F.747.10 (ex F.DLS-SHFS) "Requirements of distributed ledger systems for secure human factor services" [SG16-R32] was approved at the opening plenary of SG16 [TSB Circular 377]. Additionally, work completed on two new Recommendations and one new Technical Paper:

  • ITU-T F.751.3 (ex F.DLT-CHM) "Requirements for change management in DLT-based decentralized applications" [TD587/Plen]
    
  • ITU-T F.751.4 (ex H.DLT-INV) "General framework for DLT-based invoices" [TD603/Plen]
    
  • ITU-T HSTP.DLT-Risk "DLT-based application development risks and their mitigations" [TD588/Plen]
    

  Six new WIs were created that cover architecture [TD501/WP2, TD488/WP2], frameworks [TD478/WP2, TD474/WP2], requirements [TD498/WP2] and assessment methods [TD495/WP2] for a range of DLT systems and related services.
  
  The DLT experts continue to organize a series of DLT "meet-ups" (a form of interactive and informal webinars), to discuss topics related to Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and their standardization. The main goal of this initiative is to increase the collaboration of Q22/16 with global DLT community. Eleven episodes were already organized, and they will continue normally on the first Wednesday of every month. A call for speakers tells how DLT practitioners can propose talks and special sessions.
  
• Immersive live experience: ILE work progressed with start of new work on an associated new Recommendation, H.ILE-Haptic "Media transport protocols, signalling information of haptic transmission for ILE systems" [TD235/WP3]. A related work item was also started exploring an architecture for virtual reality using cloud systems (H.CVR-FA, [TD476/WP1]).
  
• Accessibility: The meeting agreed to start the approval process for two joint texts with JTC1/SC35 "User interfaces":

  • Consented ITU-T T.701.21 (ex H.ACC-GAD) "Guidance on audio description" (twin text of ISO/IEC TS 20071-21:2015) [TD585/Plen]
    
  • Consented ITU-T T.701.25 (ex H.ACC-GAP) "Guidance on the audio presentation of text in videos, including captions, subtitles and other on-screen text" (twin text of ISO/IEC 20071-25:2017) [TD586/Plen]
    

  Work continued on two other joint items:
  

  • Draft H.ACC-GVP Guidance on the Visual presentation of audio information, including captions and subtitles (twin text of ISO/IEC 20071-23)
    
  • Draft F.ACC-AVSL Visual presentation of audio information in sign languages (twin text of ISO/IEC 20071-24)
    
• Human factors: In addition to ITU-T F.747.10 approved at the opening plenary (see details above), three new work items were created:
  • ITU-T F.FR-ERSS for requirements for user interface in emergency response support systems [TD452/WP2]
    
  • ITU-T F.CS-AEI "Requirements for counselling services based on artificial emotional intelligence" [TD451/WP2]
    
  • ITU-T H.EMO-MCS "Emotion-enabled multimodal conversation systems" [TD453/WP2]
    

Collocated activities (all online):

• ITU-T Study Group 16 (17-28 January 2022)
  
• Joint Video Experts Team (JVET) from 12-21 January 2022, as part of its ongoing collaboration with ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29 for the development of enhanced capabilities for video coding.
  
• ITU-T JCA-AHF on 26 January 2022
  
• MPEG137 (ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WGs 2-8) meeting (17-21 January 2022)
  
• JPEG94 (ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG1) meeting (17-21 January 2022)
  
• ITU Workshop on AI and multimedia: Exploration of new frontiers and cross-SDO synergy(18 January 2022)
  

Dates of next SG16 meeting and interim Working Party meeting

• Interim WP meetings: None.
  
• Next SG16 meeting: currently planned in the October-November 2022 timeframe, date and details to be confirmed pending facilities availability.
  
• Subsequent meetings:
  • June-July 2023, outside Geneva; collocated with SC29 JPEG and MPEG activities.
    
  • Meetings from 2023 onwards till 2026 are unlikely to be held in ITU premises, due to the Varembé II construction project. Invitations for meetings outside Geneva are welcome; please contact TSB at tsbsg16@itu.int.

Map of meeting reports & Liaison Statements (as seen by the SG16 Plenary)

Summary of Questions' Results

Question 21/16 summary

Question 21/16 experts met for fourteen sessions during this meeting to review the contributions for work items in progress. Q21/16 agreed to consent six draft new Recommendations including F.RIMSReqs, F.CMEGReqs, F.VDSSReqs, F.CUAV-IXS, F.MVSreqs, F.MOCN-MS. Q21/16 agreed to start four new work items at this meeting including F.CUAV-ES "Framework and requirements for emergency services using civilian unmanned aircraft vehicles", F.CEC "Requirements and reference framework of cloud-edge collaboration in industrial machine vision systems", F.EVSreqs "Requirements of event-based visual systems" and H.CVR-FA "Functional architecture for cloud virtual reality systems". Q21/16 reviewed and accepted the contributions to progress the ongoing work items including F.ICNMMS, H.MVSarch, F.CUAV-LX, H.MVSarch, F.CVR-RRF, F.CVR-RRF. Q21/16 prepared four outgoing LSs and plans to hold an interim meeting in July 2022.

Question 22/16 summary

At this meeting, Question 22/16 has reviewed and discussed eight contributions. Six out of eight proposals for new work items were approved: H.MDDMD-Arch "Reference Architecture for DLT-based Multimedia Data Delivery Management System", H.DLT-AMMSP "Assessment methods for DLT management service platform", H.DLT-RFMSP "Reference framework for DLT management service platform", H.DLT-FMD "A framework for fast message delivery for DLT-based services", H.DLT-DCS "Technical framework of DLT-based digital collection services", H.DLT-EMDGP "General architecture for DLT-based energy metering data sharing platform". The Question produced two outgoing LSs and is planning on holding one interim meeting. The DLT experts plan on continuing the organization of the monthly DLT meet-ups, so far 11 events were held. The Question thanked former Associate Rapporteurs Mr Ruifeng Hu and Ms Suzana Moreno for their work and regret not having them working in the Question due to work changes and agreed to appoint Ms Liangliang Zhang (Huawei Technologies, China) as a new Associate Rapporteur and Mr Ismael Arribas as the liaison officer of SG16 to INATBA.

Recommendations Consented by SG16 on the closing Plenary 

Notes:
*: some texts are subject to editorial clean-up before posting. Hence, the version posted may differ from the TD indicated.
**: expected AAP Announcement for Last Call. AAP2 is the AAP announcement in the new study period, 2022-2024.

Recommendations Approved by SG16 on the closing Plenary (according to A.8 §5)

Other texts approved by SG16 

NOTE – No Appendices, Implementors' Guides or Technical Reports were approved at this SG16 meeting.

Recommendations agreed for deletion by SG16

Updates in the SG16 management team and Rapporteurs

(Click here for the complete list of SG16 Questions and Rapporteurs/Associate Rapporteurs)

Resignations and departures:

• Q6/16 Associate Rapporteur: Ms Jill Boyce (Intel, USA)
  
• Q22/16 Associate Rapporteurs: Ms Suzana Moreno (Brazil) and Mr Ruifeng (Victor) Hu (Huawei Technologies, China)
  
• Minute of silence for Mr Alan Sharpley (Dynastat, USA)
  

New Appointments:

• Ms Yan Ye (Alibaba, China) as Q6/16 Associate Rapporteur
  
• Ms Liangliang Zhang (Huawei Technologies, China) as Q22/16 Associate Rapporteur
  
• Messrs Shin Gak Khan (ETRI) and Kepeng Li (Tencent) as convenors of the SG16 Correspondence Group on metaverse (CGMV).
  

Representatives and other roles:

• Mr Ismael Arribas (Spain) as liaison officer of SG16 to INATBA (on DLT)
  
• Mr Masahito Kawamori (Rapporteur Q28/16) as SG16 representative to the JIC (on digital health)
  

Open positions:

• None.