The NHK Vision for the IT Era and Future Technological Research
On January 25, NHK announced its 3 year vision for the Information Technology
era. This will be our business operation guideline for the three years
from fiscal 2001 to 2003. Standing on our 75-year history of dedication,
the vision centers on our future role as the sole public broadcaster in
Japan, and how our business management methods will develop in the coming
years. The body of the vision consists of two major parts. After describing
the future social changes that will accompany the development of digitization,
the first part sets two new significant goals: the creation of a new broadcasting
culture and the further endorsement of NHK's role as a public broadcaster.
The second part describes the business management priorities for fiscal
2001 to 2003. Among these, the priorities that relate to research and
development are as follows:
Realization of a richer broadcasting through
advanced research & the development of broadcasting technology
In cooperation with research institutions within and outside of Japan,
NHK will actively promote research and development toward the further
advancement of ISDB*1
and basic research for the development of future broadcasting services.
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Research and development for the advancement of ISDB will be pursued.
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Home servers (In-home storage) that will enable automatic
recording of the programs the viewers wish to watch. |
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Barrier-free information technology that is human friendly
for senior citizens and the physically handicapped. |
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Future broadcasting systems using various networks to supply
programs to anybody, anytime, anywhere. |
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Information security technology, including digital watermarking.
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Development on systems to reproduce program footage and information,
and protocols for the use of data broadcasting and the Internet,
will be conducted. For the further enhancement of HD broadcasting,
the development of high-compression video technology and equipment
like the super-high sensitivity camera and optical disk camera used
for emergency broadcasting will also continue. |
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As a future form of broadcasting service going beyond ISDB, development
work will continue on super reality television systems with over
4,000 scanning lines, 3D-TV systems, and new broadcasting systems
that utilize new frequencies such as the 21 GHz band. As a basis
for these developments, further research on materials and devices
needed for imaging, recording, and displaying will also be conducted.
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The new STRL building is scheduled to be completed in the autumn of 2001,
and this should start operation by the following spring. With the establishment
of this new environment, we are determined to continue to meet whatever
challenges are necessary to contribute still further to the creation of
a new broadcasting culture and the further endorsement of NHK's role as
a public broadcaster through research and development.
*1: ISDB (Integrated
Services Digital Broadcasting)
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