Using a transcode and prefetch method for playing XML contents containing multiple multimedia data on mobile terminals

Abstract

With the recent development in mobile communication, Internet connection via mobile terminals became possible. Therefore, in order for data exchange between mutually different terminal types, XML-based contents are widely being used. However, there are limitations in using mobile terminals to achieve real-time playback of XML-based contents including various multimedia data. Among them, two main limitations are discussed in this study. The first limitation is the utilization of low communication bandwidth in mobile terminals. That is, the bandwidth of mobile terminals is too low (24kbps ∼ 1.2Mbps) to accommodate the high bandwidth required in multimedia data. The second limitation is the restricted memory space in mobile terminals. Playback of XML-based contents in such mobile terminals becomes restrictive when utilizing only the existing transcoding and prefetch technique. Therefore, this study attempts at proposing the method of minimizing the initial delay time prior to playback when XML contents to be displayed in mobile terminals are consisted of a number of data. In order for this, a stream selection policy was proposed to transcode data streams included in XML contents, rather than to transcode all of the data streams. In addition, a technique has been suggested to reorganize the transcoded data streams, to evaluate whether it is possible to playback the reorganized data streams in the mobile terminal, thus to prefetch the data. © Springer-Verlag 2004.