A group of 19 companies that own patents related to MPEG-4, which is a streaming video technology aimed at wireless devices, said Thursday they have made significant progress in discussions aimed at offering licensees a single patent license.

The group, known as M4VisualPHG, had created a member group called MPEG LA, LLC to facilitate the discussions. Thursday that group reported what it called "substantial progress" toward creation of a single license for application and device vendors.

The group set as a deadline of offering the single license by January 2002. The group said in a statement that it hopes a single license will simplify and speed adoption of the technology.

"The essential patent holders want to partner with other industry participants to encourage widespread adoption of MPEG-4," said Larry Horn, MPEG LA vice president of licensing and business development.