Minimizing Uplink Data in Wireless Free-Viewpoint Video Transmission Applications

The increase in processing power of mobile multimedia terminals, the improvements in camera technology and efficient video compression algorithms have made the implementation of mobile free-viewpoint video (FVV) technology possible. However, the use of this technology in wireless environments poses a number of challenges. Amongst these there are issues in bandwidth utilisation and the limited supply power of the mobile device. To this effect, this paper compares the implementation of two prediction algorithms to forecast the next viewpoint in an attempt to minimise the amount of viewpoint requests uploaded to the server. Simulation results demonstrate that a reduction of up to 72% in uplink transmission traffic is achieved when emulating a conventional usage scenario. This means that the application of prediction schemes can drastically reduce the power consumption and resource requirements of mobile multimedia terminals.