Towards efficient data access in mobile cloud computing using pre-fetching and caching

Mobile devices nowadays can connect to the network very conveniently using cellular data network or WiFi. However, latency is still a challenge caused by the stability and the availability of the network, mainly in the context of mobile environments. In this paper, we propose an architecture based on a Cloudlet model using CAching and pre-FEtching scheme (CAFE scheme) to improve data access efficiency. The prefetching scheme on the Cloud enables the retrieval of specific data in advance based on specific information of users. On the Cloudlet, a caching technique selectively stores data passing through the Cloudlet. The classification of data into specific and general takes both individual access behavior and common trends into consideration. Compared to an original model, the experiment results show that our architecture can really decrease latency and improve data access efficiency when users request data from a Cloudlet and the Cloud.