Optimal Data Retrieval Scheduling in the Multichannel Wireless Broadcast Environments

Wireless data broadcast is an efficient way of disseminating data to users in the mobile computing environments. From the server's point of view, how to place the data items on channels is a crucial issue, with the objective of minimizing the average access time and tuning time. Similarly, how to schedule the data retrieval process for a given request at the client side such that all the requested items can be downloaded in a short time is also an important problem. In this paper, we investigate the multi-item data retrieval scheduling in the push-based multichannel broadcast environments. We prove the decision version of this problem is NP-complete, and we devise an algebraic algorithm to search for the best solution. We also develop a heuristic that can employ the algebraic algorithm to download a large number of items efficiently. When there is no replicated item in a broadcast cycle, we show that an optimal retrieval schedule can be obtained in polynomial time. The performances of proposed algorithms are analyzed theoretically and evaluated through simulation. The experimental results show that our algorithms can significantly reduce the access time for multi-item requests.