Dynamic retrieval of remote digital objects

A hierarchical representation and dynamic retrieval scheme for digital objects is presented. When the server load and network traffic are heavy in a digital library system, clients have to wait a long time to view the document because of transmission time, especially if the document is large. In order to reduce the client waiting time, we present a new representation and retrieval scheme. It is based on the fact that during a given period of time, the client only focuses on a small part of the document. We store and deliver the document in a certain order according to the client request. The client can view a part of the document as soon as it arrives, while the remaining parts are being transmitted. When the client wants to view a part that has not yet arrived, the server delivers this part immediately so that the client always encounters a short waiting time. This scheme provides the server with the ability to serve more clients without much performance degradation. Experiments show that the client waiting time is greatly reduced using our scheme when server load is heavy.