Two Holes Make a Difference: Deterministic Paging with Delay and Deadlines

Abstract: In this paper, we study online paging with delay or deadlines. In online paging with delay, an online algorithm manages a cache of size $k$ and needs to serve incoming requests by adding the requested pages to the cache. In addition, it has the option to delay serving incoming requests at a cost that depends on the delay. We propose a new online algorithm, which combines a threshold rule with first-in, first-out (FIFO) replacement, and show that it is $(2k+2)$-competitive for cache size $k$. This result corrects a previously published claim that the competitive ratio is exactly $2k+1$ regardless of the number of holes (pages outside the cache). However, in the case of one hole, we show that the FIFO rule with a different threshold is indeed $(2k+1)$-competitive, giving a tight result. In the case of deadlines, the same analysis gives a deadline-triggered algorithm that is $(k+1)$-competitive in general and $k$-competitive if there is only one hole. Moreover, we show that the second hole makes paging with deadlines strictly harder than classical paging, where the competitive ratio is independent of the number of holes. For paging with deadlines, we prove a deterministic lower bound of $k+\tfrac12$, already for two holes. We show that, as a consequence, no threshold-triggered algorithm can achieve a competitive ratio less than $2k+\frac32$ in general.