An overlay traffic control is a way to provide flexible and deployable QoS mechanisms over existing networks, such as the Internet. While most of QoS mechanisms proposed so far require router supports, overlay QoS mechanisms rely on traffic control at transport layer without modifying existing routers in the network. Thus, traffic control algorithms, which are implemented at traffic sources or PEPs (Performance Enhancement Proxies), play a key role in an overlay QoS mechanism. In this paper, we propose an end-to-end prioritization scheme using TCP-Westwood Low-Priority (TCPW-LP), a low-priority traffic control scheme that maximizes the utilization of residual capacity without intrusion on coexisting foreground flows. Simulation and Internet measurement results show that TCPW-LP appropriately provides end-to-end low-priority service without any router supports. Under a wide range of buffer capacity and link error losses, TCPW-LP appropriately defers to foreground flows and better utilizes the residual capacity than other proposed priority schemes or even TCP Reno.

A power and spreading gain allocation strategy is considered for effectively providing data services for mobile users with different levels of priorities in a DS-CDMA system supporting real-time and non-real-time services. Specifically, the uplink in the DS-CDMA system is considered subject to a constraint on total power received at the base station caused by non-real-time data services. The constraint is imposed to meet QoS requirements of real-time services. The priority level of a data user is specified by the weighting factor assigned to the data throughput of the user. Our strategy implements a relative prioritization that affords a trade-off between spectral efficiency and strict prioritization.

If a certain number of receiver processors (RPs) are reserved exclusively for new calls, some decrease in the probability of blocking new calls (Pn) can be obtained at the expense of increase in dropping handoff calls (Ph). This kind of prioritization has been often considered for handoff calls. Since soft handoff in CDMA systems results in sufficiently low Ph, an idea of prioritizing new calls is interesting when admitting more originating traffic into the system is relatively beneficial, which will be further investigated in this paper. An obvious constraint of the above idea is that Ph should be maintained below a given requirement. We formulate the proposed scheme as a mathematical programming problem and prove it improves the performance in terms of weighted carried traffic. As a result of this work, the prioritization of new calls is shown to possibly improve the traffic-carrying performance of a CDMA base station (BS) while maintaining an acceptable level of Ph, which can be prespecified by a system engineer.

The recent burst growth of the Internet use overloads networking systems and degrades the quality of communications, e.g., bandwidth loss, packet drops, delay of responses, etc. To overcome such degradation of communication quality, the notion of Quality of Service (QoS) has received attention in practice. In general, QoS switches have several queues and each queue has several slots to store arriving packets. Since network traffic changes frequently, QoS switches need to control arriving packets to maximize the total priorities of transmitted packets, where the priorities are given by nonnegative values and correspond to the quality of service required to each packet. In this paper, we first derive the upper bounds for the competitive ratio of multi-queue preemptive QoS problem with priority between 1/α and 1, i.e., for any α ≥ 1, the algorithm TLH is (3-1/α)-competitive. This is a generalization of known results--for the case that packets have only priority 1 (α =1), the algorithm GREEDY (or TLH) is 2-competitive; for the case that packets have priorities between 0 and 1 (α = ∞), the algorithm TLH is 3-competitive. Then we consider the lower bounds for the competitive ratio of multi-queue preemptive QoS problem with priority between 0 and 1, and show that the competitive ratio of any multi-queue preemptive QoS algorithm is at least 1.514.

Time synchronization is indispensable for wide area distributed systems including sensor networks, automation systems, and measurement/control systems. Another application is clock distribution, which is indispensable to support continuous information transfer. Because of the increasing demand for more sophisticated applications, it is essential to establish a time synchronization technique that offers higher accuracy and reliability. Particularly, the accuracy of time synchronization for Ethernet must be enhanced since Ethernet is becoming more important in telecommunication networks. This paper investigates a precise time synchronization technique that supports Gb/s Ethernet. To obtain accurate time synchronization, delay variation in message transfer and processing must be minimized. For this purpose, the paper first describes the implementation of preemptive priority queuing, which decreases the message delay variation of Ethernet. Through experiments, it is shown that preemptive priority queuing effectively achieves very low delay variation. The paper then proposes a method to synchronize the time signal of a slave node to that of the master node. The proposed time synchronization method is performed in the lower protocol layer and implemented on FPGA-based hardware. The method achieves superior time accuracy through the low message transfer/processing delay variation provided by preemptive priority, lower layer execution, and hardware implementation. The effectiveness of the method is confirmed through experiments. The experiments show that the time variation achieved by the method is smaller than 0.1 µsec. This performance is better than those obtained by existing synchronization methods.

To simultaneously support guaranteed real-time services and best-effort service, a Priority-based Scheduling Architecture (PSA) designed for high-speed switches is proposed. PSA divides packet scheduling into high-priority phase and low-priority phase. In the high-priority phase, an improved sorted-priority algorithm is presented. It introduces a new constraint into the scheduling discipline to overcome bandwidth preemption. Meanwhile, the virtual time function with a control factor α is employed. Both computer simulation results and theoretic analysis show that the PSA mechanism has excellent performance in terms of the implementation complexity, fairness and delay properties.

The next-generation wireless networks will bring users with Software Defined Radio (SDR) terminals seamless mobility and ubiquitous computing through heterogeneous networks. This paper proposes a soft-prioritization based system selection algorithm performed by SDR terminal and investigates the effectiveness of the soft-prioritization based system selection by using a concrete simulation model. To maximize the quality of service (QoS), wireless communication systems are prioritized on the basis of criteria for system selection such as data rate, channel quality and cost, and should be dynamically changed. However, frequent inter-system handovers based on hard-prioritization are undesirable in view of interrupting and dropping, particularly for real-time traffic and managing channel capacities. Wireless communication systems are softly prioritized in the soft-prioritization based system selection algorithm, and therefore inter-system handovers between systems with the same priority aren't initiated. To elucidate the validity of the soft-prioritization based system selection algorithm, a system simulation model consisting of five wireless communication systems is employed. Simulation results confirm that the soft-prioritization system selection algorithm offers higher performance in terms of the number of inter-system handovers and throughput of best effort traffic.

Deflection routing is one of the promising approaches to resolve contention in the optical burst switching networks. In the conventional deflection routing scheme, optical bursts may be unable to traverse the route evaluated to select an outgoing link because of the contention at succeeding downstream transit nodes. As a result, the optical bursts may traverse a different route resulting in a long distance or decreased performance. This paper proposes a deflection routing scheme that considers the possibility of the contention at downstream nodes. This scheme utilizes the "expected route distance" instead of the static route distance toward a destination node. The expected route distance considers the possibility of contention at each downstream transit node and is calculated using measured link blocking probabilities at each downstream transit node. The selection priority of each outgoing link is given dynamically based on its expected route distance toward a destination node. By considering the possibility of contention at downstream nodes, a routing scheme with high performance can be realized. The loss rate of optical bursts is improved when an imbalanced load is applied to the network, and the loss rate of optical bursts is also improved when the network includes links with extremely different distances.

This paper investigates the usefulness of a new priority list for two-processor scheduling problem of program nets. Firstly, we discuss the weakness of a previously proposed priority list and then introduce a new priority list. Through simulation experiment we show that the new priority list is better than the previous one and can generate the same length of schedules as GA scheduling, which implies the new priority list can generate approximately optimal schedules.

The recent burst growth of the Internet use overloads networking systems and degrades the quality of communications, e.g., bandwidth loss, packet drops, delay of responses, etc. To overcome such degradation of the communication quality, the notion of Quality of Service (QoS) has received attention in practice. In general, QoS switches have several queues and each queue has several slots to store arriving packets. Since network traffic changes frequently, QoS switches need to control arriving packets to maximize the total priorities of transmitted packets, where the priorities are given by nonnegative values and correspond to the quality of service required for each packet. In this paper, we derive lower bounds for the competitive ratio of deterministic multi-queue nonpreemptive QoS problem of priorities 1 and α 1: 1 + /α ln if α α*; 1/(1 - e-τ0) if 1 α < α*, where α* 1.657 and τ0 is a root of the equality that e-τ(1/α + τ)=1 - e-τ. As an immediate result, this shows a lower bound 1.466 for the competitive ratio of deterministic multi-queue nonpreemptive QoS problem of single priority, which slightly improves the best known lower bound 1.366.

Optical Burst Switching (OBS) aims to provide higher utilization and greater flexibility at a lower cost and reduced complexity than current optical circuit switched networks. We introduce a new routing protocol for Optical Burst Switching, Shortest Path Prioritized Random Deflection Routing (SP-PRDR), that aims to lower burst loss probabilities while only using limited state information from traditional Internet Protocol technologies. We show, through analysis and simulation, that loss in OBS networks is significantly reduced by SP-PRDR for loads that previously gave moderate or low losses in the unmodified case. In the simulation examples studied, by using SP-PRDR we are able to increase the input load by approximately 15-20% while maintaining a constant burst loss probability of 10-3. Additionally, unlike other schemes, we show that the worst case burst loss probability of SP-PRDR is provably upper-bounded by the burst loss probability of standard OBS.

This paper reports our study of how to gain consistency of states in a ball-game typed Distributed Virtual Environment (DVE) with lag, in peer-to-peer (P2P) architecture. That is, we are studying how to reduce in real-time the difference of states between the participating terminals in a virtual ball game caused by transmission lag or update interval. We are also studying how to control shared objects in real-time in a server-less network architecture. Specifically, a priority field called Allocated Topographical Zone (AtoZ) is used in P2P for DVE. By implementing this function, each terminal can compute which avatar holds the ownership of a shared object by calculating mutually the state of the local avatar predicted by the remote terminals. The region for ownership determined by AtoZ allows an avatar to access and control an object dominantly, so that a geometrical property is dynamically changed depending upon the relative arrangement between the object and avatars. Moreover considering the critical case, defined as inconsistent phenomena between the peers, caused by the network latency, a stricter ownership determination algorithm, called dead zone is introduced. By using these protocols in combination, a robust and effective scheme is achieved for a virtual ball game. As an example of the application, a real-time networked doubles air-hockey is implemented for evaluation of the influence of these protocols on interactivity and on consistency.

To provide better QoS management, we investigated network-level dynamic priority methods. We propose methods in which packets of the same type of application receive different treatment in the network, depending on the route information. They feature a simple mechanism, which enables the methods to be executed easily with a small processing load at the routers as well as a small amount of information stored in the packet header. The effectiveness of these methods is shown by numerical comparison with the existing static priority method as well as the dynamic priority method.

Wireless LANs (Local Area Networks) are currently spreading over diverse places such as hotels and airports, as well as offices and homes. Consequently, they provide convenient and important ways to access the Internet. Another type of communication model, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) communication on the Internet, has also attracted much attention, and P2P over wireless LANs will soon be very common. There are concerns about the capability of wireless stations (STAs) to send a large amount of traffic on an uplink. In this paper, we first clarify some issues that arise in this context by examining the feature of the Access Point(AP). Furthermore, we consider the role of the AP and propose, as a solution, ways of enabling both efficient and fair transmission over both the downlink and uplink. We evaluate the proposed schemes through simulations and show that communications over the uplink and downlink can share the wireless LAN access resource effectively. Furthermore, we show that coordinating our solution with the 802.11e Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) can meet the different requirements of various types of traffic.

This paper proposes a new effective data transfer method for IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs by integrating priority control and multirate mechanism. The IEEE 802.11 PHY layer supports a multirate mechanism with dynamic rate switching and an appropriate data rate is selected in transmitting a frame. However, the multirate mechanism is used with the CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance) protocol, low rate transmissions need much longer time than high rate transmissions to finish sending a frame. As a result, the system capacity is decreased. The proposed method assumes the same number of priority levels as the data rates, and a data rate is associated to a priority level. Priority of a transmission goes up with the used data rate. For this purpose, we have modified the CSMA/CA protocol to support prioritized transmission. By selecting the appropriate priority depending on the data rate and giving more transmission opportunities for high rate transmission, the system capacity is increased. The effect of the proposed mechanism is confirmed by computer simulations.

Video telephone service (VTS) is considered one of promising services provided in wideband CDMA (WCDMA) networks. Without a designated call admission policy, VTS calls are expected to suffer from relatively high probability of blocking since they normally have more stringent signal quality requirement than ordinary voice calls. In this letter, we consider a prioritized call admission design in order to reduce the blocking probability of VTS calls, which may encourage the users to access the newly-provided VTS in a more comfortable way. The VTS calls are given a priority by reserving a number of channel-processing equipments. With the reservation, the blocking probability of prioritized VTS calls can be reduced evidently. That of ordinary calls, however, is increasing instead. This letter provides a system model that counts the blocking probabilities of VTS and ordinary calls simultaneously, and numerically examines an adequate level of the prioritization for VTS calls. The results show that the prioritization level should be selected depending on received interference as well as bandwidth required for VTS.

In order to respond to the active market's needs for software with various new functions, the system testing must be completed within a limited period. Additionally, important faults, which are closely related to essential functions for users or the target system, have to be removed, preferably in system testing. Many techniques have been proposed to date for effective software testing. Among them, selective software testing is one of the most cost effective techniques. However, most of the previous techniques cannot be applied to short-term development and initial development of software with various new functions because much cost is needed for their testing preparation. In this paper, we propose a new method for selective system testing in which priorities assigned to functions play an essential role in the execution of testing. The priorities are determined based on the evaluation results of three metrics for functions: the frequency of use, the complexity of use scenario, and the fault impact to users. Detailed testing instructions are assigned to test items with high priority, and short and ordinal instructions are assigned to those with low priority. The difference in the volume of testing instruction controls the effort of checking test items. As a result of experimental application to actual software testing in a certain company, we have confirmed that the proposed selective system testing can detect both fatal faults related to key functions and critical faults for the system.

We describe a new inconsistent case which is susceptible to occur while producing consistent answer set using prioritized default logic. We define new semantics for prioritized default logic in order to solve this problem. There is a sign difference between General and Extended logic programs. Extended logic programs are formulated using classical negation, For this reason, an inconsistent answer set can sometimes be produced. For the most part, default reasoning semantics successfully resolved this problem, but a conflict could still arise in one particular case. The purpose of this paper is to present this eventuality, and revise the semantics of default logic in order to give an answer to this problem.

This paper provides a list-scheduling method for program nets executed with two processors. The program nets dealt with in this paper are acyclic and SWITCH-less, and the priority list proposed in this paper consists of both dynamic and static lists. First, we point out the weakness of a previously proposed priority list and propose a new priority list. Then we give properties of the new priority list and further prove this new priority list can generate optimal schedules for the program nets whose AND-nodes possess at most single input edge. Finally, we compare the new priority list with the previous one to show the new priority list can generate shorter schedules than the previous for the nets whose AND-nodes may have two input edges.

The hybrid fiber coax (HFC) technology enables the conventional cable-television (CATV) network to provide subscribers with Internet access services. In this paper, we propose a new preemptive priority scheme (PPS) for IEEE 802.14 hybrid fiber coax (HFC) networks with the intelligent nodes (INs). The INs are placed between the headend controller and stations. By using INs, that stand for downstream subscribers to contend for the demand resources, the collision probability, and the collision resolving period can be reduced. In this paper, we further extend such network architecture to support multi-priority access. In each IN or individual station, the proposed PPS will prevent a higher priority request from colliding with requests of lower priority. Moreover, in PPS, the granted bandwidth for lower priority requests can be preempted by the waiting request with higher priority. This will speedup the channel capture by priority data. The efficiency of PPS is investigated by simulations. Simulation results show that by adopting INs with PPS to be an agent for subscribers can not only shorten the collision resolving period but also minimize the average request delay of priority data.