[asterisk-dev] Adding AMR-WB to Asterisk

[Olle E. Johansson]

16 apr 2011 kl. 15.46 skrev asterisk at ntplx.net:

> 
> I remember looking into this when I was working on Polycom HD voice
> phones. At the time Polycom was pushing Siren7 which is G.722.1.
> But there were patent issues for the codec. The phones also support
> G.722 which is now free, so that was a good reason to use only G.722
> in Asterisk (vs. G.722.1).
> 
> It's the same issue with AMR-WB
> 
> AMR-WB is G.722.2 an ITU-T standard. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.722.2
> But because it's a standard does not mean it's free.
> 
> Note that G.722, G.722.1, and G.722.2 are not related in the way they
> work. They just share the same name, not the same code/codec support.
> 
> Look at the announcement titled: "VoiceAge Announces the Creation of a
> Patent Pool for AMR-WB/G.722.2 Speech Compression Standards"
>    http://www.voiceage.com/news42.php
> Which means they plan to control the licence for G.722.2 and the fees for
> use of the codec.
> 
> And then licence info:
>    http://www.voiceage.com/licamrwb.php
> 
> And now for the fees:
>   http://www.voiceage.com/licamrwb_licterms.php
> 
> So you can add pass-thru support to Asterisk for free, you would need
> to pay a fee to transcode it to other formats..... Just like G.729
> is now in Asterisk.
>   http://www.voiceage.com/licamrwb_FAQ.php
> 
> Just because there are patents and fees does not mean it will stop
> people from writing code "supporting" G.722.2

No, but so far it has been stopping us from adding it to Asterisk under the licensing scheme we're using. 

Digium cut a very, very good deal for all of us for G.729. I tried once discussing AMR licensing with voiceage but we could not get through. I don't know if Digium has tried as well.

/O