Mobile Clouds: Exploiting Distributed Resources in Wireless, Mobile and Social Networks

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Sharing Device Resources in Mobile Clouds

Once you have lots of different kinds of devices combining in different ways, you can not do monolithic software anymore. Each of these devices has a certain set of functions, and if we have to assume when we build them what they are going to be used for, it is not very flexible.

Bill Joy

Resources belonging to nodes of a mobile cloud can be combined in very many different ways. These distributed resources can be added up in a linear fashion to create an augmented version of the combined resources. Furthermore, resources can be combined to create particular outcomes that are unattainable solely with the resource of a single device. This chapter provides a motivating overview on the potentials of resource sharing among cooperating nodes of a mobile cloud.

3.1 Introduction

A modern mobile device encompasses an eclectic array of resources, including concrete physical resources such as sensors, actuators, batteries, complete functionalities (e.g., processing power, wireless connectivity blocks, mass memory) as well as intangible resources, including apps and information stored on the device. When collectively considering the mobile devices attached to a given wireless network such as a mobile cloud, one can also see a system of distributed resources that can be in principle wirelessly connected. Distributed resources can be tied up for a particular purpose, aiming to benefit one, several or all mobile devices and their owners. Resource ...