Window-Games between TCP Flows

We consider network congestion problems between TCP flows and define a new game, the Window-game, whichmodels the problemsof network congestion causedby the competing flows. Analytical and experimental results show the relevance of theWindow-game to real TCP congestion games and provide interesting insight into the respective Nash equilibria. Furthermore, we propose a new algorithmic queue mechanism, called Prince, which at congestion makes a scapegoat of the most greedy flow. We provide evidence which shows that Prince achieves efficient Nash equilibria while requiring only limited computational resources. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.