MobileSocket: toward continuous operation for Java applications

This paper proposes “MobileSocket” which realizes session layer communication continuity support for Java Applications towards the continuous operations for mobile applications. In the mobile computing environment where mobile hosts moves around the network even during applications are communicating with the remote, maintenance of the communication continuity between the applications is significant. Not only the mobility support but the virtual circuit continuity support is required for communication continuity. Existing approaches have not provided the complete communication continuity for applications. “MobileSocket” is a user-level enhanced socket library written in Java, and provides librarybased session layer mobility and virtual circuit continuity support for applications. Two mechanisms, Dynamic Socket Switching (DSS) and Application Layer Window (ALW) were developed for MobileSocket and enable a simple implementation. MobileSocket applications can be used in Java mobile applications and the agents, as well as for ordinary network applications. In this paper, after we clarify the communication continuity and existing approaches, we present the MobileSocket design, mechanism, and results of evaluation.