Generalized access control strategies for token passing systems

A very large class of access control strategies is proposed and studied for token passing systems, generalized from the timer-based approach. The idea is to assign transmission quotas dependent on past service times to control the token cycles dynamically while utilizing the token channel efficiently. The dynamics inherent in the control scheme are identified as an important issue and, under heavy load and a few other assumptions, it is shown that the proposed strategies have stable dynamics. Furthermore, the ability of the proposed strategies to control the token cycles is demonstrated. Theoretical results are derived, followed by a thorough discussion on the crucial properties of the new strategies.<>