English

An O(log log m)-competitive Algorithm for Online Machine Minimization

Data Structures and Algorithms 2018-01-31 v2

Abstract

This paper considers the online machine minimization problem, a basic real time scheduling problem. The setting for this problem consists of n jobs that arrive over time, where each job has a deadline by which it must be completed. The goal is to design an online scheduler that feasibly schedules the jobs on a nearly minimal number of machines. An algorithm is c-machine optimal if the algorithm will feasibly schedule a collection of jobs on cm machines if there exists a feasible schedule on m machines. For over two decades the best known result was a O(log P)-machine optimal algorithm, where P is the ratio of the maximum to minimum job size. In a recent breakthrough, a O(log m)-machine optimal algorithm was given. In this paper, we exponentially improve on this recent result by giving a O(log log m)-machine optimal algorithm.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1708.09046,
  title  = {An O(log log m)-competitive Algorithm for Online Machine Minimization},
  author = {Sungjin Im and Benjamin Moseley and Kirk Pruhs and Clifford Stein},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1708.09046},
  year   = {2018}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-22T21:27:21.886Z