Utilizing video encoding for power management over wireless networks

Power management is especially important in wireless networks because of the emergence of energy constrained mobile devices. This paper examines the ways that video encoding information can be used for more efficient power management. In particular, we propose and evaluate cross layer mechanisms that fine-tune transmission power depending on the video frame being encoded and we examine how this mechanism may be combined with algorithms that adjust transmission power based on feedback reports when TCP Friendly Rate Control (TFRC) is used as the transport protocol. Since typical video encoding uses frames of varying importance for the overall quality, this approach can improve received video quality and make better usage of available power.