A Game-Based Scheduler for Reducing Protocol Delay in Multipath Communication

Multipath communication has become a viable alternative to costly quality-of-service networking solutions. Despite multiple advantages, multipath transport protocols suffer from aggravated protocol delay and jitter originating from path heterogeneity. The algorithms responsible for splitting the data over the channels developed so far rely on the evaluation of the most recent channel properties. Taking into account the time lag between the decision on the path allocation and experiencing its effects, the standard approaches are vulnerable to the temporal fluctuations of transmission delays. The paper shows how to use the past and current information about the receiver state to form a zero-sum game among the paths. Contrary to the typical scheduler logic, the path is rewarded and penalized by the receiver irrespective of the channel-related readings. As a result, a prompt reaction to the changes in networking conditions is obtained, and the surges of protocol delay owing to Head-of-Line blocking are mitigated.