Milestone-Proposal:MPEG integrated circuits

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Docket #:

This Proposal has been approved, and is now a Milestone

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To the proposer’s knowledge, is this achievement subject to litigation? No

Is the achievement you are proposing more than 25 years old? Yes

Is the achievement you are proposing within IEEE’s designated fields as defined by IEEE Bylaw I-104.11, namely: Engineering, Computer Sciences and Information Technology, Physical Sciences, Biological and Medical Sciences, Mathematics, Technical Communications, Education, Management, and Law and Policy. Yes

Did the achievement provide a meaningful benefit for humanity? Yes

Was it of at least regional importance? Yes

Has an IEEE Organizational Unit agreed to pay for the milestone plaque(s)? Yes

Has an IEEE Organizational Unit agreed to arrange the dedication ceremony? Yes

Has the IEEE Section in which the milestone is located agreed to take responsibility for the plaque after it is dedicated? Yes

Has the owner of the site agreed to have it designated as an IEEE Milestone? Yes

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Year or range of years in which the achievement occurred:

1986

Title of the proposed milestone:

Multimedia Integrated Circuits for MPEG, 1986

Plaque citation summarizing the achievement and its significance:

SGS-THOMSON (now STMicroelectronics) pioneered the family of multimedia integrated circuits, accelerating Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) standards. Discrete Cosine Transform designed with ENST (now Telecom ParisTech) was the first. Innovative memory reduction techniques, highly optimized dedicated hardware accelerators, super-integration of heterogeneous processor units achieved significant performances and cost reduction with minimized energy consumption. These integrated circuits were the key enabler of digital multimedia services to entertain end-users in everyday life.

200-250 word abstract describing the significance of the technical achievement being proposed, the person(s) involved, historical context, humanitarian and social impact, as well as any possible controversies the advocate might need to review.

IEEE technical societies and technical councils within whose fields of interest the Milestone proposal resides.

In what IEEE section(s) does it reside?

France Section

IEEE Organizational Unit(s) which have agreed to sponsor the Milestone:

IEEE Organizational Unit(s) paying for milestone plaque(s):

Unit: France
Senior Officer Name: Claire LAJOIE-MAZENC

IEEE Organizational Unit(s) arranging the dedication ceremony:

Unit: France with STMicroelectronics
Senior Officer Name: Claire LAJOIE-MAZENC

IEEE section(s) monitoring the plaque(s):

IEEE Section: France
IEEE Section Chair name: Claire LAJOIE-MAZENC

Milestone proposer(s):

Proposer name: Danilo Pau
Proposer email: Proposer's email masked to public

Proposer name: Jean-Michel Moutin
Proposer email: Proposer's email masked to public

Please note: your email address and contact information will be masked on the website for privacy reasons. Only IEEE History Center Staff will be able to view the email address.

Street address(es) and GPS coordinates in decimal form of the intended milestone plaque site(s):

(45.203333, 5.695833)

Describe briefly the intended site(s) of the milestone plaque(s). The intended site(s) must have a direct connection with the achievement (e.g. where developed, invented, tested, demonstrated, installed, or operated, etc.). A museum where a device or example of the technology is displayed, or the university where the inventor studied, are not, in themselves, sufficient connection for a milestone plaque.

Please give the address(es) of the plaque site(s) (GPS coordinates if you have them). Also please give the details of the mounting, i.e. on the outside of the building, in the ground floor entrance hall, on a plinth on the grounds, etc. If visitors to the plaque site will need to go through security, or make an appointment, please give the contact information visitors will need. The Grenoble site is of premier importance for STMicroelectronics since was owned by THOMSON SEMICONDUCTEURS and then merged with SGS in 1987 to form SGS-Thomson (now STMicroelectronics). Nowadays is the biggest R&D site of STMicroelectronics, hosting many product divisions from the three Product Groups of the company, including silicon and software design, test, and advanced packaging developments. The site were MPEG chips were conceived and designed

Are the original buildings extant?

Yes, even if part of them were restructured they still exists @ STMicroelectronics, 12, rue Jules Horowitz F-38000 Grenoble, France

Details of the plaque mounting:

Plaques will be installed in a public place at the main entrance as shown below. It will be close to ST security personnel who are is monitoring entrance 24 hours in a day, every day in a year. Very close as indicated there are other public roads. Plaque will be placed at 12, rue Jules Horowitz F-38000 Grenoble, France. GPS coordinates are: 45°12’12” N ; 05°41’45” E (45.203333, 5.695833). Therefore, visitors will not need to be escorted by ST guards to look the plaque or to take a snapshot of it. The milestone plaque will be installed right in front of STMicroelectronics, main entrance access. It is where employees, visitors and customers must pass to get into the ST Grenoble offices on daily basis. It is monitored continuously 24h/7d by ST security human resources and surveillance camera. It is a public place, right outside ST site restricted perimeter.

How is the site protected/secured, and in what ways is it accessible to the public?

It is protected by ST security human resources and with surveillance camera, 24h/7d. It is publicly and easily accessible from 12, rue Jules Horowitz F-38000 Grenoble, France. The site can be reached also from Lion Airport, close to Grenoble as shown in figure 2.

Who is the present owner of the site(s)?

STMicroelectronics (Grenoble 2) SAS

What is the historical significance of the work (its technological, scientific, or social importance)? If personal names are included in citation, include justification here. (see section 6 of Milestone Guidelines)

What obstacles (technical, political, geographic) needed to be overcome?

What features set this work apart from similar achievements?

Supporting texts and citations to establish the dates, location, and importance of the achievement: Minimum of five (5), but as many as needed to support the milestone, such as patents, contemporary newspaper articles, journal articles, or chapters in scholarly books. 'Scholarly' is defined as peer-reviewed, with references, and published. You must supply the texts or excerpts themselves, not just the references. At least one of the references must be from a scholarly book or journal article. All supporting materials must be in English, or accompanied by an English translation.

Supporting materials (supported formats: GIF, JPEG, PNG, PDF, DOC): All supporting materials must be in English, or if not in English, accompanied by an English translation. You must supply the texts or excerpts themselves, not just the references. For documents that are copyright-encumbered, or which you do not have rights to post, email the documents themselves to ieee-history@ieee.org. Please see the Milestone Program Guidelines for more information.

Please email a jpeg or PDF a letter in English, or with English translation, from the site owner(s) giving permission to place IEEE milestone plaque on the property, and a letter (or forwarded email) from the appropriate Section Chair supporting the Milestone application to ieee-history@ieee.org with the subject line "Attention: Milestone Administrator." Note that there are multiple texts of the letter depending on whether an IEEE organizational unit other than the section will be paying for the plaque(s).

Please recommend reviewers by emailing their names and email addresses to ieee-history@ieee.org. Please include the docket number and brief title of your proposal in the subject line of all emails.