Mobile video communications in wireless environments

A novel system providing effective and efficient access to video archives for mobile users communicating over low-bandwidth error-prone wireless links is proposed. The developed system has three components. First, the middleware, implemented as mobile proxy server located at the mobile support station, is chosen for the seamless integration of both mobile users and video servers by hiding the specific details of the underlying system. Second, for efficient video transmission, our 3D significant-linked connected-component analysis video codec, which is well-suited for wireless environments, is used. Finally, multilayer transmission error control mechanism is applied to cope with channel errors. As a result, no additional requirements are imposed on the mobile client and video server, so that mobile users interact with the server in exactly the same way as stationary users, and all they experience are better picture quality, less jerky video and shorter delays.