Distinguished Achievement and Contributions Award
Tokumichi Murakami
  Dr. Tokumichi Murakami received his B.E. degree from Tohoku University in 1971. He joined Mitsubishi Electric Corporation in 1971. He was engaged in the design and development of system devices in the Communications Systems Center, and in research on communications systems, video signal processing, and information theory in the Corporate Research and Development Group. He successively held various posts such as Senior Manager of Information Technology R&D Center in 1997, Deputy Director of the same R&D Center in 2000, and Deputy Director of Advanced Technology R&D Center in 2002. Since 2003, he has been Technology Officer, Corporate Research and Development Group. While fulfilling these duties, he received his Ph.D. from Tohoku University in 2002.
  In the early 1980s, Dr. Murakami developed vector quantization technology of video signals. It enables efficient compression by segmentation of digital video data into blocks followed by quantization as multi-dimensional vectors. In 1984, he succeeded in transmitting video at 64-kbit/s using vector quantization, which was the world’s first achievement. This research evolved into the joint development of videoconferencing and videophone systems with KDD and NTT. He participated in the standardization of low-bit-rate video coding in CCITT (currently ITU-T) and made numerous proposals in CCITT. Through these activities, he made a significant contribution to the development of transform coefficient quantization for transform coding with motion-compensated prediction, which is an element technology for video coding, and to the development of control technology to smooth the volume of transmitted information. In the late 1980s, he developed a processor with a bus structure suitable for video signal processing and a 2-dimensional address circuit built into it. This was a breakthrough in DSP-based video coding and decoding, which is now the dominant technology in mobile terminals.
  In the 1990s, Dr. Murakami took part in the international standardization of MPEG-2, a joint endeavor of ISO/IEC and ITU-T, and contributed to the establishment of coding and transmission technologies that are commonly used in almost all video coding today, such as motion-compensated prediction and adaptive transform that took advantage of the interlaced structure of television signals, and packet multiplexing transfer of encoded data. In addition, he led the development of a satellite video transmission system and an ATM video transmission system, both using MPEG-2. After that, he jointly developed an HDTV transmission system with NHK, which made an unparalleled contribution to the widespread use and penetration of digital broadcasting and DVD video media that we see today. He is still active in the international standardization of HEVC, which is the next-generation video coding technology.
  He has devoted his time to invigorating the activities of the IEICE, serving as Associate Editor of IEICE Transactions, Councilor, a member of the PCSJ Steering Committee, and as Auditor (fiscal 2010-2011). He has also greatly contributed to the progress of science in related fields, serving as the Director of Finance of the Society of Information and its Applications, Vice President of the Information Processing Society of Japan, Chair of the Business Promotion Committee, a councilor of the Institute of Image Information and Television Engineers, and as a member of the Technical Program Committees of IEEE’s international conferences (ISITA and ISPACS). In addition, he has been active in the field of education, serving as a visiting professor at the Center for Advanced Science and Innovation, Osaka University. As the Director of the Digital Cinema Consortium, he has promoted the use of ultra-high-definition video. He was a member of the Communication Technology Council, the Ministry of Posts and Communications, and eventually became a member of the Information and Communications Council, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
  His achievements mentioned above have received high recognition from several organizations. He won the Achievement Award from the IEICE in 1988, the Best Paper Award from the IEEE, the Best Paper Award and the Development Award from the Institute of Television Engineers, and the Distinguished Achievement and Contributions Award, the Progress Award, and the Best Book Award from the Institute of Image Information and Television Engineers. For his achievements in the implementation and introduction of developed technologies to the industry, he received the Research and Development 100 Award in the U.S.A., the Japan Patent Office Commissioner Award of National Commendation for Invention, and many other invention incentive awards. In recognition of his achievements, he was designated a Fellow by the IEICE, the IEEE, and the Institute of Image Information and Television Engineers.
  His contribution to the IEICE and development of the video, electronics, information and communications technologies fields is so outstanding that I am convinced that he is well qualified to receive the Distinguished Achievement and Contributions Award.

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