Time-utility function

Article summary

A Time/Utility Function (TUF), née Time/Value Function, specifies the application-specific utility that an action (e.g., computational task, mechanical movement) yields depending on its completion time. TUFs and their utility interpretations (semantics), scales, and values are derived from application domain-specific subject matter knowledge. An example (but not the only) interpretation of utility is an action's relative importance, which otherwise is independent of its timeliness. The traditional deadline represented as a TUF is a special case—a downward step of utility from 1 to 0 at the deadline time—e.g., timeliness without importance. A TUF is more general—it has a critical time, with application-specific shapes and utility values on each side, after which it does not increase. The various researcher and practitioner definitions of firm and soft real-time can also be represented as special cases of the TUF model. The optimality criterion for scheduling multiple TUF-constrained actions has historically in the literature been only maximal utility accrual (UA)—e.g., a (perhaps expected) weighted sum of the individual actions' completion utilities. This thus takes into account timeliness with respect to critical times.…

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