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In this paper, a novel mobile data offloading method is proposed based on an external-infrastructure-free approach. Specifically, through the hotspot function of smartphones, data demands from some mobile users, who have used out the data with their monthly data plans, can be offloaded by some other mobile users who still have redundant unused data. In order to model this data transaction among mobile users, which can be realized with assistance of current mobile social platforms, we introduce an auction-based contract mechanism, and then we further analyze the system performance. To improve the efficiency and performance of the system, a socially-aware mobility model is also designed. In this model, betweenness of the data auctioneers is introduced, according to which the number of data requesters in different auctions can be balanced and the performance of the system can be optimized. The proposed data transaction mechanisms and friendship-aware mobility model are then simulated as operating on Flickr, a real-world online social network database. Results show that the number of data bidders in different auctions can be balanced effectively through the proposed mobility model, and the income per unit time of sellers in the networked data transaction can also be increased.
Du et al. (Thu,) studied this question.