Terminal QoS for real-time 3-D visualization using scalable MPEG-4 coding

Terminal quality of service is the process of optimally scaling down the decoding and rendering computations to the available processing power, while maximizing the overall perceived quality. This process is applied in a real-time three-dimensional (3-D) decoding and rendering engine, exploiting scalable MPEG-4 coding algorithms. We derive a relation between the quality of the 3-D rendered objects and their processing requirements, expressed by simple CPU time models. The performance dependency parameters are in direct relation to the high-level 3-D content characteristics (number of triangles, number of rendered screen pixels per object) and are calibrated for the platform under test. Examples show that, for any pre-established frame rate, the platform workload can reliably be anticipated for adjusting the content and process parameters accordingly.