The Mobile Networking Group at IBM Watson has integrated image transcoding into an HTTP proxy.  An image transcoding proxy enables compression of images on the Web beyond the extent that they are already compressed, and thereby permits faster graphical Web browsing from mobile platforms (e.g. PDA's, laptops) connected to the Internet over very slow lines (e.g. wireless, modem).  An excellent introduction to our transcoding proxy work is available on our external Web site.

Our early transcoding prototypes helped convince IBM to develop a product in this space called IBM WebSphere Transcoding Publisher.  This product earned a Top 10 Award in 2000 from InfoWorld.  To find out more, visit www.ibm.com and search under "WebSphere Transcoding". 

We have published our research in a paper entitled "Dynamic Adaptation In an Image Transcoding Proxy For Mobile Web Browsing," IEEE Personal Communications Magazine, vol. 5, no. 6, Dec. 1998, pp. 8-17. [pdf (1092 KB)]

Here are the slides to a talk I gave on our image transcoding proxy in December 1998 at Lucent Bell Labs.  [pdf (863 KB)]

I have coauthored a book chapter with John R. Smith  entitled "Transcoding of the Internet's Multimedia Content for Universal Access" for the Multimedia Communications Handbook, ed. Jerry Gibson.  Our book chapter summarizes recent research in the field of transcoding.

An executable version of our proxy can be downloaded from the IBM AlphaWorks Web site, under the technology listing "Transcoding Proxy".