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A Tight Lower Bound for Online Service with Deadlines and Lazy Server

Authors Yann Disser , Linda Thelen

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Subject Classification

ACM Subject Classification
  • Theory of computation → Online algorithms
  • Theory of computation → K-server algorithms
Keywords
  • online algorithms
  • competitive analysis
  • lower bound
  • delay
  • deadlines

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Abstract

We study the online service with deadlines (or delays) problem, in which a server must serve requests for points in a metric space while balancing travel distance and promptness of service. While the problem has been extensively studied (STOC 2017), (FOCS 2019), (FOCS 2023), the main open question whether a constant competitive ratio can be achieved remains wide open. We prove a logarithmic lower bound for a natural class of algorithms already on uniform line metrics. Our lower bound applies to, and is tight for, the best known algorithms for general metrics and uniform line metrics.

Cite As Get BibTex

Yann Disser and Linda Thelen. A Tight Lower Bound for Online Service with Deadlines and Lazy Server. In 36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 359, pp. 26:1-26:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025) https://doi.org/10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.26

Author Details

Yann Disser
  • TU Darmstadt, Germany
Linda Thelen
  • TU Darmstadt, Germany

References

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