Randomized Algorithm for Agreeable Deadlines Packet Scheduling

In 2005 Li~et~al. gave a \(\phi\)-competitive deterministic online algorithm for scheduling of packets with agreeable deadlines~\cite{DBLP:conf/soda/LiSS05} with a very interesting analysis. This is known to be optimal due to a lower bound by Hajek~\cite{Hajek-det-lb}. We claim that the algorithm by Li~et~al. can be slightly simplified, while retaining its competitive ratio. Then we introduce randomness to the modified algorithm and argue that the competitive ratio against oblivious adversary is at most (\frac{4}{3}\). Note that this still leaves a gap between the best known lower bound of \(\frac{5}{4}\) by Chin~et~al.~\cite{DBLP:journals/algorithmica/ChinF03} for randomized algorithms against oblivious adversary.