Energy Efficiency of Video Decoder Implementations

Summary. High-end mobile communication devices integrate video cameras, color displays, high-speed data modems, net browsers, media players, and phones into small battery-powered packages. The physical size limits the heat dissipation, while the battery capacity needs to be used conservatively to provide for satisfactory untethered active use time. Together with the required versatile capabilities of the devices, the physical size and battery capacity are essential constraints that must be taken into account from hardware to application software design. In video decoding additional constraints come from the need to support multiple digital video coding standards, and the platform-oriented design regimes of the device manufacturers. Along these lines, we consider the implementations of video capabilities for mobile devices in a top-down manner starting from typical applications, progressing to energy efficiency analysis via device architectures to codec implementations, and software platforms.