Image transcoding proxy for mobile Internet access

With advances in wireless and portable devices technologies, a new paradigm called mobile computing is promising to make it possible for mobile users to access information "anywhere anytime". This paradigm, however, faces many technical challenges such as limited wireless bandwidth and high error rate. Moreover, mobile devices widely differ with respect to display size, color depth, processing power, battery life, and the ability to handle different data formats. In this paper we introduce an image transcoding proxy that we believe is fundamental to providing inline image access for a variety of clients. The central idea is to place a transcoding proxy between the generic WWW servers and the diversity of client devices in order to adapt to a greatly changing bandwidth on the proxy-client link and to manage the heterogeneity of small-screened mobile devices. Our proxy significantly improves image transmission by applying transcoding functions based on the communication conditions, client device capabilities, and user preferences. It also enables clients with similar display capabilities and bandwidth connectivity to share the transcoded images available in the cache.