MobileSocket: Session Layer Continuous Operation Support for Java Applications

This paper proposes the session layer communication continuity support for Java applications toward a continuous operation for the users. In a mobile computing environment, mobile hosts move around the di erent network segments even during applications communicate with the remote endpoint. In such a situation, maintenance of the communication continuity between the applications is signi cant. In order to retain the communication continuity, not only the mobility support but the virtual circuit continuity support is required for applications. Existing approaches on the network, the transport and the session layers do not provide the complete mobility and virtual circuit continuity for applications, although they require the complicated implementation. \MobileSocket" is a user-level enhanced socket library written in Java, and provides the library-based session layer mobility and virtual circuit continuity support for applications. Two mechanisms, Dynamic Socket Switching (DSS) and Application Layer Window (ALW) enforce MobileSocket and enable the implementation simplicity. MobileSocket applications can be used in the Java mobile applications and the agents, as well as in ordinary network applications. In this paper, after we clarify the communication continuity and existing approaches, we present the MobileSocket design, mechanism, and evaluation results.