Enhancing Media Access Using Cloud Computing for Mobile Devices

Mobile devices (e. g. , smartphone, tablet pcs, etc) are increasingly becoming an essential part of human life as the most effective and convenient communication tools not bounded by time and place. Mobile users accumulate rich experience of various services from mobile applications (e. g. , iPhone apps, Google apps, etc), which run on the devices and/or on remote servers via wireless networks. However, the mobile devices are facing many challenges in their resources (e. g. , battery life, storage). The limited resources significantly impede the improvement of service qualities. Mobile Cloud Computing at its simplest refers to an infrastructure where both the data storage and the data processing happen outside of the mobile device. Mobile cloud applications move the computing power and data storage away from mobile phones and into the cloud, bringing applications and mobile computing to not just smartphone users but a much broader range of mobile subscribers. In this new cloud-based multimedia-computing model, users store and process their multimedia application data in the cloud, eliminating full installation of the media application software on the users computer or device and thus reducing the burden of multimedia software maintenance and upgrade as well as sparing the computation of user devices.