Analysis of A time‐shared processor

Abstract This paper analyzes a queueing structure for a time‐shared service facility (or processor) and compares these results with a straightforward first‐come first‐served discipline. The assumption is that the processing time for each job is chosen from a geometric distribution. This time‐shared discipline shares the desirable features of a first‐come first‐served principle, as well as that of a discipline which services short jobs first. It is shown that those jobs with shorter than average processing requirements, spend less time in the queue than they would in a strict first‐come first‐served system, and conversely for longer than average jobs.