Original breakthrough

One of the main components of a video conferencing system is the codec (coder-decoder), which converts video pictures, sound and control information into a compressed digital form for transmission. Origin, a UK company, has developed a technology that can double the performance of video codecs. Origin has increased the codecs' efficiency by designing a video content analysis processor that determines the most critical parts of a picture by examining the movement of images. Systems using the analysis processor can carry video-conferences over ordinary telephone lines at the rate of 24 kilo bits per second.