Scheduling of unit-length jobs with bipartite incompatibility graphs on four uniform machines

In the paper we consider the problem of scheduling n identical jobs on 4 uniform machines with speeds s1 ≥ s2 ≥ s3 ≥ s4, respectively. Our aim is to find a schedule with a minimum possible length. We assume that jobs are subject to some kind of mutual exclusion constraints modeled by a bipartite incompatibility graph of degree ∆, where two incompatible jobs cannot be processed on the same machine. We show that the problem is NP-hard even if s1 = s2 = s3. If, however, ∆ ≤ 4 and s1 ≥ 12s2, s2 = s3 = s4, then the problem can be solved to optimality in time O(n1.5). The same algorithm returns a solution of value at most 2 times optimal provided that s1 ≥ 2s2. Finally, we study the case s1 ≥ s2 ≥ s3 = s4 and give an O(n1.5)-time 32/15-approximation algorithm in all such situations.