Window-based congestion control with heterogeneous users

We investigate the fundamental problem of achieving the system optimal rates, which maximize the total user utility, in a distributed network environment using only the information available at the end hosts. This is done by decomposing the overall system problem into subproblems for the network and for the individual users and introducing an incentive-compatible pricing scheme. The users are to solve the problem of maximizing individual net utility, which is their utility less the amount they pay. This is done using a window based algorithm. We provide an algorithm for the network to adjust its prices and the users to adjust their window sizes such that at an equilibrium the system optimum is achieved. It is notable that our algorithm does not require any explicit feedback from the network and can be deployed over the Internet with modifications only at the end hosts. Our scheme is incentive compatible in that there is no benefit to the users to lie about their utilities