Disseminating multimedia content to users in a mobile computing environment such that they receive it in anappropriate and timely manner is fundamental to the success of mobile information systems. Too often, however, thisendeavour is hindered by the poor data rates supported by wireless telecommunications networks and by the limitedcomputational resources available on mobile devices. We describe an approach to overcome these limitations, which isbased on extremely dynamic and proactive precaching. This approach, which we have termed intelligent precaching, isrealised through the innovative deployment of intelligent agents on mobile devices. To illustrate this concept, thedesign and implementation of an archetypical mobile computing application is provided, namely that of an electronictourist guide. This is augmented with a description of the salient points derived from a user evaluation, from whichemerging avenues for further research are identified.
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