Adaptive continuous media applications in mobile computing environments

Abstract

This paper presents a new framework for building continuous media applications in a mobile computing environment. In a mobile computing environment, network bandwidth and machine configurations may be changed dramatically, and mobile applications should be adapted to various operational environments for efficient execution. In our framework, an application is partitioned into two pieces. One piece runs on a mobile computer such as a notebook computer and a PDA, and another piece runs on a stationary computer. They are connected by several types of wireless networks that can be replaced at any time while applications run. The piece on a stationary computer is called a service proxy. The service proxy filters or caches data from servers on the Internet before transmitting the data to the piece on a mobile computer. These two pieces are constructed by composing small objects. The composition of objects can be dynamically reconfigured by adding or removing replaceable devices transparently from users.