An economy for flow control in computer networks

A flow control mechanism based on an economic model of optimum decentralized decision making is presented. The virtual circuits (VCs) of the network are considered as economic agents competing for link capacity resources. Each VC is equipped with a preference relation defining its individual throughput-delay goals. The work makes three contributions to the study of flow control protocols. First, it presents fully decentralized flow control algorithms that allocate capacity to reflect both, varying priorities among VCs as well as their preferences and needs. Second, it establishes that the flow control algorithms result in Pareto-optimal allocation of capacities. This implies that the algorithms accomplish optimally fair allocation of resources given the set priorities and preferences. Third, experimental evidence is provided that the algorithms converge rapidly