| Hiroshi Yasuda |
Dr. Hiroshi Yasuda graduated with a PhD in electronics engineering from the University of Tokyo in 1972, and thereupon joined Yokosuka Communication Laboratory, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation (currently Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT)). He was a visiting researcher at the U.S. Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) from 1978 to 1979. He became executive manager of the Visual Media Laboratory, NTT Human Interface Laboratories in 1987, executive manager of the System Services Department of NTT Business Communications Systems Headquarters in 1992, and became vice president and director of NTT Information and Communication Systems Laboratories in 1995. In 1997, he moved to the University of Tokyo where he became a professor at the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology. He became director of the Center for Collaborative Research in 2003. He moved to Tokyo Denki University and became professor, Department of Information System and Multimedia Design, Faculty of Science and Technology for Future Life in 2007. He was made a professor emeritus of the University of Tokyo the same year. He became director of the Multimedia Resource Center, Tokyo Denki University in 2008. Since 2011, he has been dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology for Future Life of the same university.Dr. Yasuda has numerous achievements to his name in the area of digital content distribution including image coding technology, content ID-based content search, management and protection technology, network security technology, and content creation support technology. Collectively, this represents a major contribution to the development of the information and communication field both in and outside Japan. He has done groundbreaking work in the area of image coding, such as the invention of adaptive prediction and the development of the world’s first inter-frame coding. This invention, which uses data from multiple predictors to minimize prediction errors, proved to be essential to JPEG, a still picture coding standard, and MPEG, a video coding standard. On the basis of these achievements, in 1991, he was elected chair of ISO/IEC JTC 1/WG 8 (currently SC 29), an international standardization organization for image coding, and thus played a central and pioneering role in the standardization of JPEG and MPEG. Thanks to his unwavering belief that there should be only a single international standard and his refusal to make compromises with the interests of nations and private companies, uniform international standards were adopted, resulting in worldwide application of JPEG to digital cameras, MPEG-2 to DVDs and terrestrial and satellite digital broadcasting, and MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 to Blu-ray disks, one-segment broadcasting, and IPTV. The world clearly benefits from these globally uniform standards.
In the field of digital content distribution, he has made a significant contribution to the launch of the video distribution business by serving as president of the Digital Audio Visual Council (DAVIC), which promoted standardization of video distribution technology, and as president of the Content ID Forum, which aimed to manage and protect content in order to ensure sound content distribution. In 2005, he began to act as a (ISC)2 CISSP-certified security expert, and held several government-related posts, such as chair of the Security Culture Expert Committee, Information Security Policy Council, Cabinet Office.
For these achievements, he received numerous distinguished awards and accolades, including an Emmy from the US National Academy of Television Arts and Science (technical development field) in 1996, an IEEE fellowship in 1998 (life fellowship in 2010), the IEEE Charles Proteus Steinmetz Award in 2000, the Information and Communication Month Award from the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications in 2002, the Medal with Purple Ribbon from the Government of Japan in 2009, and the Takayanagi Memorial Award in 2013. From the IEICE, he received the Achievement Award in 1995, gained a fellowship in 2000, and was made an honorary member in 2013. He devoted himself to the development of the IEICE, serving as the editor of the Journal of the IEICE in 1987 and 1988, the director of Finance in 2001 and 2002, vice president in 2006 and 2007, and president in 2011 and 2012.
As is evident from the above, Dr. Yasuda’s contribution to the information and communication field and the IEICE is so outstanding that we are convinced that he is well qualified to receive the Distinguished Achievement and Contributions Award from the IEICE.
