Applying Prediction Techniques to Reduce Uplink Transmission and Energy Requirements in Mobile Free-Viewpoint Video Applications

The increased efficiency of video compression algorithms, the improvements registered in reliability, data rates and quality of service of wireless transmission technologies, and the development of mobile multimedia terminals have made possible the implementation of Free-Viewpoint Video (FVV) technology on mobile platforms. The mobile environment however presents several restrictions. Two of these limiting factors being bandwidth constraints and energy availability in battery-operated mobile terminals. This paper looks at the possibility of employing prediction algorithms at the FVV server to anticipate the next viewpoint expected by the user. In doing so, the number of uplink requests is reduced to situations where the estimated view defers from the requested one and the associated transmissions required in retraining the algorithm once this occurs. Simulation results on two different prediction techniques demonstrate that the uplink transmission rate is reduced by up to 96.7% when emulating a conventional FVV usage scenario. Both prediction algorithms infer a substantial decrease in the mobile terminal's power consumption and reduce the network's uplink bandwidth utilization.