MINIMIZATION OF COMMUNICATION COST THROUGH CACHING IN MOBILE ENVIRONMENTS

Users of mobile computers will soon have online access to a large numb er of databases via wireless networks. Because ct limited bandwidth, w ireless communication is more expensive than wire communication. In th is paper, we present and analyze various static and dynamic data alloc ation methods. The objective is to optimize the communication cost bet ween a mobile computer and the stationary computer that stores the onl ine database. Analysis is performed in two cost models. One is connect ion (or time) based, as in cellular telephones, where the user is char ged per minute of connection. The other is message based, as in packet radio networks, where the user is charged per message. Our analysis a ddresses both the average case and the worst case for determining the best allocation method.