Energy efficient streaming for smartphones by video adaptation and backlight control
Smartphones have evolved rapidly, and prolonging battery life has become a major challenge; as network services become popular, the demand for streaming grows. Many researchers have proposed energy efficient streaming methods, including bandwidth control and packet scheduling. Such studies have focused on reducing the energy consumption of central processing units (CPUs) and wireless networks; however, screens drain substantial energy, and their consumption must be considered to extend battery life. In this study, an energy efficient streaming system is proposed, combining scalable video coding (SVC) and a backlight control mechanism. Non-parametric signal prediction is used to forecast the network condition and SVC encoder parameters are subsequently adjusted to the capable network bandwidth. Histogram equalization was applied to compensate for the loss of image contrast after reducing the backlight. The results indicate that the proposed streaming system reduces energy consumption, particularly during live streaming.