Supporting semantics-based transaction processing in mobile database applications

Advances in computer and telecommunication technologies have made mobile computing a reality. However, greater mobility implies a more tenuous network connection and a higher rate of disconnection. In order to tolerate disconnections as well as to reduce the delays and cost of wireless communication, it is necessary to support autonomous mobile operations on data shared by stationary hosts. This would allow the part of a computation executing on a mobile host to continue executing while the mobile host is not connected to the network. In this paper, we examine whether object semantics can be exploited to facilitate autonomous and disconnected operation in mobile database applications. We define the class of fragmentable objects which may be split among a number of sites, operated upon independently at each site, and then recombined in a semantically consistent fashion. A number of objects with such characteristics are presented and an implementation of fragmentable stacks is shown and discussed.