Lightweight version vectors for pervasive computing devices

Traditional version vectors can be used to optimize peer-to-peer synchronization for pervasive computing devices. However, their storage overhead may be a prohibitive factor in scalability in an environment with a typically low communication bandwidth and a relatively small storage memory. We present a dynamic version vector design that allows small data sizes for version vector items. We call it the lightweight version vector (LVV) approach, and argue that a step increase method of LVV can be an effective solution for peer-to-peer synchronization of pervasive computing devices.