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Applied Mathematical Modelling 31 (2007) 13211337

www.elsevier.com/locate/apm

Operating characteristic analysis on the M[x]/G/1 system with


a variant vacation policy and balking
Jau-Chuan Ke

Department of Statistics, National Taichung Institute of Technology, Sanmin Road No. 129, Sec. 3, Taichung 404, Taiwan, ROC
Received 1 February 2005; received in revised form 1 November 2005; accepted 20 February 2006
Available online 27 June 2006

Abstract
This paper studies the operating characteristics of an M[x]/G/1 queueing system under a variant vacation policy, where
the server leaves for a vacation as soon as the system is empty. The server takes at most J vacations repeatedly until at least
one customer is found waiting in the queue when the server returns from a vacation. If the server is busy or on vacation, an
arriving batch balks (refuses to join) the system with probability 1  b. We derive the system size distribution at dierent
points in time, as well as the waiting time distribution in the queue. Finally, important system characteristics are derived
along with some numerical illustration.
 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Balking; Busy period and idle period distribution; Markov process; Supplemental variable; Waiting time distribution

1. Introduction
The modelling analysis for the queueing systems with vacations has been done by a considerable amount of
work in the past and successfully used in various applied problems such as production/inventory system, communication systems, computer networks and etc. (see survey paper by Doshi [1]). A comprehensive and excellent study on the vacation models can be found in Levy and Yechiali [2] and Takagi [3]. Choudhury [4]
modeled a batch arrival M[x]/G/1 queueing system with a single vacation, which extends the results of Ref.
[2,3]. Batch arrival M[x]/G/1 queueing systems with multiple vacations were rst studied by Baba [5]. The variations and extensions of these models can be referred to Lee et al. [6,7], Lee and Park [8], Krishna Reddy et al
[9], Hur and Paik [10], Choudhury [11] and others. Recently, Ke [12] analyzed the optimal N policy for M/G/1
queueing system with dierent vacation types and a startup time. Arumuganathan and Jeyakumar [13] introduced the optimal N policy for an M[x]/G(a,b)/1 queueing system with server setup, closedown and multiple
vacations. They also proposed a cost model for a practical situation and how the results would be useful in

Tel.: +886 4 22196638; fax.: +886 4 22196331.


E-mail address: jauchuan@ntit.edu.tw

0307-904X/$ - see front matter  2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.apm.2006.02.012

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J.-C. Ke / Applied Mathematical Modelling 31 (2007) 13211337

optimizing the cost. In contrast, Takagi [3] rst proposed the concept of a variant vacation (a generalization of
the multiple and single vacation) for single arrival M/G/1 queueing system. This presented paper we will study
a batch arrival M[x]/G/1 queueing system with balking and a variant vacation policy. The analytical approach
and plentiful results would be useful and signicant to practitioners and system designers and other.
Queueing models with balking have attracted much from numerous researchers since Haight [14]. The
extensions of their basic model can be found in Abou-EI-Ata and Shawky [15], Abou-EI-Ata and Hariri
[16], Al-Seedy [17,18], Shawky [19], Ke and Wang [20], Artalejo and Lopez-Herrero [21], Wang and Ke
[22]. Al-Seedy [23], and Madan [24]. Recently, Al-Seedy [25] proposed a transient solution of the non-truncated queue M/M/2 involving balking, and an additional server for longer queues. Wang et al. [26] examined
the maximum likelihood estimates and condence intervals of an M/M/R/N queue with balking and heterogeneous servers. So far very few authors have studied the analytic work on the variant vacation policy for
batch arrival models which servers are characterized by above listed. This motivates us to develop the variant
vacation policy for an M[x]/G/1 queueing system with balking, where the server may take at most J vacations
when the system is empty.
The objectives of this paper are as follows: Firstly, we develop the system size distribution at a random
epoch as well as at a departure point of time. Secondly, we derive the queue waiting time distribution, the idle
period distribution, the busy period distribution, and the distribution of unnished work for this system.
Thirdly, we show that the results are consistent with those already known for special cases. Fourthly, we perform numerical results for system characteristics on specied parameters and discuss the sensitivity of the system parameters.
2. The system
In this paper, we consider a batch arrival M[x]/G/1 system with balking, where the server applies a variant
vacation policy when no customer presents in the system. The detailed description of the model is given as
follows.
Customers arrive in batches to occur according to a compound Poisson with rate k. Let Xk denote the number of customers belonging to the kth arrival batch, where Xk, k = 1, 2, 3, . . . , are with a common distribution
PrX k n vn ;

n 1; 2; 3; . . .

A batch on arrival nds the server busy or vacation, and either decides to join the queue with probability b
(i.e., balk with probability 1  b). The service time provided by a single server is an independent and identically distributed random variable (S) with distribution function S(t) and LaplaceStieltjes transform (LST)
e
S h. It is further assumed that each server may serve only one customer at a time, and that the service is independent of the arrival of the customers. Arriving customers who join the system form a single waiting line
based on the order of their arrivals; that is, they are queued according to the rst-come, rst-served (FCFS)
discipline. If the server is busy or on vacation, customers in the queue must wait until the server is available.
Whenever the system becomes empty, the server deactivates and leaves for a vacation with random length
V. If no customers are found in the queue when the server returns from the vacation, he again leaves for
another vacation with the same length. This pattern continues until he returns from a vacation to nd at least
one customer waiting in the queue or he has already taken J vacations. If no customers are found by the end of
the Jth vacation, the server stays in the system until one batch arrives. If at least one batch presents in the
waiting line for service when the server returns from a vacation or the server stays dormant in the system,
he immediately starts serving the waiting customers until the system becomes empty. The vacation time V
has distribution function V(x) and LaplaceStieltjes transform (LST) Ve h. Furthermore, various stochastic
processes involved in the system are independent of each other.
There are many real world systems that t this model. In particular, some stochastic production and inventory control systems with a multi-purpose production facility can be eectively studied using such a vacation
queueing model. In such systems, the demand for the product is often more than one unit (batch) and can be
modelled as a Poisson process. The production time of each unit of the product is a generally distributed random variable. The production facility performs other tasks utilizing the time between subsequent productions.
A practical problem related to a production to order system is presented for illustrative purpose. In such an

J.-C. Ke / Applied Mathematical Modelling 31 (2007) 13211337

1323

example, it is assumed that customer orders for this product arrive according to a compound Poisson process
with rate 2 times per hour and the average size of each order is 50 units. When the production facility is full,
customer orders may balk with a 0.01 chance since the orders might not be completed on time. As soon as the
orders are present, the management policy is to set up the facility and begin production. The average completion time of each unit is 30 min. Whenever the last orders are completed and no orders occur, the facility stops
major production and is available to perform optional jobs j (j = 1, 2, . . . , J), with average completion time of
each optional job being 1 h. Upon completion of each optional job the management checks the orders and
decides whether or not to restart major production. If at this moment the major orders are empty, a decision
is made for other optional jobs to be performed next. The optional jobs can be referred to a sequence of nite
maintenance policy (such as replacement and preventive maintenance for components of production facility).
This system can be modelled by the M[x]/G/1 queueing system developed in this paper.
Another possible application of the M[x]/G/1 system with a variant vacation policy and balking, where the
server takes at most Jth vacations utilizing his idle time, is the operational model of the WWW server. We
assume that HTTP requests arrive at the WWW server in batch following the Poisson stream with rate 50
times per second and an average size of each arrival 10 requests. When the WWW server is busy, there is a
probability 0.01 that HTTP requests may be terminated by users before arriving at the WWW server. When
requests arrive at the WWW server, they are served one by one with an average time of 0.005 s. To keep the
WWW server functioning well, maintenance activities such as virus scan can be performed when the WWW
server is idle. This type of maintenance can be programmed to perform on a regular basis, with average completion time being designed to be 10 min. However, these maintenance activities are not repeated continuously. When these activities are nished, WWW server will enter the idle state again and wait for the new
requests to arrive. In this scenario, requests terminated by users, the WWW server and the maintenance activities correspond to balking, the server and J vacations respectively, in the queueing terminology. The management can eciently obtain the performance measures (system characteristics) of the WWW server by means of
our model developed in this paper. This information is useful and signicant for system management or
practitioners.
3. The analysis
In this section, we rst develop the steady-state dierence-dierential equations for the variant vacation system by treating the elapsed service time and the elapsed vacation time as supplementary variables. Then we
solve these system equations and derive the probability generating functions at a random epoch and at a
departure point of time.
3.1. System size distribution at a random epoch
In the steady state, we assume that S(0) = 0, S(1) = 1, V(0) = 0, V(1) = 1 and are continuous at x = 0, so
that
dSx
;
1  Sx
dV x
xx dx
:
1  V x

lx dx

Remark 1. l(x) dx can be interpreted as the conditional probability density of completion of the service time,
given that the elapsed time is x. x(x) dx can be referred to the corresponding vacation.
The state of the system at time t is given by
Qt  number of customers in system;
S  t  the elapsed service time;

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J.-C. Ke / Applied Mathematical Modelling 31 (2007) 13211337

and
V
j t  the elapsed time of the jth vacation:
For further development of this variant vacation queueing model, let us dene the random variable as
follows:
8
0;
if the server is free at time t;
>
>
>
>
>
1;
if the server is busy at time t;
>
>
>
>
>
>
if the server is on vacation with the 1th vacation at time t;
>
> 2;
>
>
>
>
if the server is on vacation with the 2th vacation at time t;
>
< 3;
Dt
..
>
.
>
>
>
>
>
>
j 1; if the server is on vacation with the jth vacation at time t;
>
>
>
>
>
>
..
>
>
.
>
>
>
:
J 1; if the server is on vacation with the J th vacation at time t:
Thus the supplementary variables S(t) and V 
j t are introduced in order to obtain a bivariate Markov process {Q(t),d(t)}, where d(t) = 0 if D(t) = 0, d(t) = S(t) if D(t) = 1, and dt V 
j t if D(t) = j + 1 (j = 1,
2, . . . , J).
Let us dene the following probabilities:
P 0 t PrfQt 0; dt 0g;
P n x; t dx PrfQt n; dt S  t; x < S  t 6 x dxg;
Xj;n x; t dx PrfQt n; dt V


j t; x

<V


j t

6 x dxg;

x > 0; n P 1;
x > 0; n P 0; 1 6 j 6 J :

In steady-state, we can set P0 = limt!1P0(t), and limiting densities Pn(x) = limt!1Pn(x, t) for x > 0 and
n P 1, and Xj,n(x) = limt!1Xj,n(x, t) for x > 0 and n P 0.
Following the arguments of Cox [27], the Kolmogorov forward equations, which govern the system under
the steady-state conditions, can be written as follows:
Z 1
kbP 0
XJ ;0 xxx dx;
1
0
n
X
d
P n x k lxP n x k1  bP n x kb
vk P nk x;
dx
k1

x > 0; n P 1

d
Xj;0 x k xxXj;0 x k1  bXj;0 x; x > 0; 1 6 j 6 J
dx
n
X
d
Xj;n x k xxXj;n x k1  bXj;n x kb
vk Xj;nk x; x > 0; n P 1; 1 6 j 6 J :
dx
k1
These set of equations are to be solved under the following boundary conditions at x = 0.
Z 1
Z 1
Z 1
X1;n xxxdx
X2;n xxx dx   
XJ ;n xxx dx
P n 0
0
0
0
Z 1

P n1 xlx dx kbvn P 0 ; n P 1;
0
R1
P 1 xlx dx; n 0;
0
X1;0 0
0;
n P 1:
R1
Xj1;0 xxx dx; n 0 and j 2; 3; . . . ; J
0
Xj;0 0
0;
n P 1 and j 2; 3; . . . ; J :

2
3
4

5
6
7

J.-C. Ke / Applied Mathematical Modelling 31 (2007) 13211337

and the normalization condition


"
1 Z 1
J
1 Z
X
X
X
P0
P n x dx
0

n1

j1

1325

Xj;n x dx 1:

n0

Next, we dene the probability generating functions for {Pn()} and {Xj,n()} as follows:
1
X
zn P n x; jzj 6 1
P x; z
n1

and
Xj x; z

1
X

zn Xj;n x;

jzj 6 1; 1 6 j 6 J :

n0

Now multiplying Eq. (2) by zn and summing over n (n = 1, 2, 3, . . .) , it nally yields


oP x; z
kb1  X z lxP x; z 0;
ox

for x > 0:

Similarly proceeding in the usual manner with (3)(5), we get


oXj x; z
kb1  X z xxXj x; z 0
ox

10

and
P 0; z

J Z
X
j1

Xj x; zxx dx

1
z

P x; zlx dx kbX zP 0 
0

J
X

Xj;0 0  kbP 0 ;

11

j1

where x > 0.
Solving the partial dierential Eqs. (9) and (10), it follows that
P x; z P 0; z1  Sxekb1X zx ;

12

and
Xj x; z Xj 0; z1  V xekb1X zx ;

j 1; 2; . . . ; J :

13

From (3), we obtain


Xj;0 x Xj;0 01  V xekbx ;

j 1; 2; . . . ; J :

14

Multiplying (14) by x(x) on both sides for j = J and integrating with respect to x from 0 to 1, then from (1)
we have
XJ ;0 0

kbP 0
:
e
V kb

15

Starting with Eq. (15) and then solving recursively (7) through (14) over the range j = J  1,J  2,. . .,1, we get
on simplication
Xj;0 0

kbP 0
;
e
V kbJ j1

j 1; 2; . . . ; J  1:

16

From (7), (15) and (16), we get


Xj;0 0; z

kbP 0
Ve kb

J j1

j 1; 2; . . . ; J :

17

Integrating equation (14) from 0 to 1 and using (15) and (16) again, we nally obtain
Xj;0

P 0 1  Ve kb
;
J j1
Ve kb

j 1; 2; . . . ; J :

18

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J.-C. Ke / Applied Mathematical Modelling 31 (2007) 13211337

Note that Xj,0 represents the steady-state probability that no customers appear while the server is on the jth
vacation. Let us dene X0 the probability that no customers appear in the system while the server is on vacation. Then
X0

J
P 0 1  Ve kb
:
J
Ve kb

19

Inserting (12), (13) and (15), (16) in (11), we get on simplication


kbP 0 1  Ve kb e
P 0; z e
S kb1  kX z
V kb1  X z
J
z
Ve kb 1  Ve kb
J

P 0; z

kbX zP 0 

J
X

Xj;0 0  kbP 0 :

20

j1

Solving P(0; z) from (20) and using (16), it nally yields




1e
V kbJ e
V kb1X z1
kbP 0 z
 1 X z
V kbJ 1e
V kb
e
:
P 0; z
ze
S kb1  X z

21

It follows from (12) and (21) that




e J e
kbP 0 z 1 V kb JV kb1X z1  1 X z
e
V kb 1e
V kb
P x; z
 1  Sxekb1X zx :
e
z  S kb1  X z
Thus, we have

P z

P 0z

1e
V kbJ e
V kb1X z1

P x; z dx

e
V kbJ 1e
V kb

22


 1 X z

ze
S kb1  X z

e
Skb1  X z  1
;
X z  1

23

and
Xj z

P 0 Ve kb1  X z  1
;
J j1
X z  1 Ve kb

j 1; 2; . . . ; J :

24

The unknown
P0 can be determined by using the normalization condition (8), which is equivalent to
Pconstant
J
P 0 P 1 j1 Xj 1 1. Thus we obtain
P0

1q
kbEV 1e
V kbJ
e
V kbJ 1e
V kb

25

where q = kb E[X]E[S]. P
J
Let Uz P 0 P z j1 Xj z be the probability generating function of the system size distribution at
stationary point of time, then
Uz

1  q e
S kb1  X zz  1
ze
S kb1  X z


1  Ve kbJ Ve kb1  X z  1 X z  11  Ve kb Ve kbJ


;
fkbEV 1  Ve kbJ Ve kbJ 1  Ve kbgX z  1

26

which leads to the expected number of customers in the system given by


Ls q

kbEX X  1ES kbEX 2 ES 2 


kb2 EX 1  Ve kbJ EV 2 

:
21  q
2fkbEV 1  Ve kbJ 1  Ve kb Ve kbJ g

27

J.-C. Ke / Applied Mathematical Modelling 31 (2007) 13211337

1327

Using Littles formula, we obtain the expected waiting time in the queue, Wq, given by
Wq

2
J
EX X  1ES kbEX  ES 2 
kb1  Ve kb EV 2 

:
2EX 1  q
2fkbEV 1  Ve kbJ 1  Ve kb Ve kbJ g

28

We will show that the stochastic decomposition property [28] holds for this variant vacation model with
balking. We dene that the server is on generalized vacations when the server takes vacations or remains idle.
Using this denition, we have the p.g.f. of the number of customers that arrive during the residual life of the
generalized-vacation period
Dz

P0
P0

PJ

j1

Xj z

j1

Xj 1

PJ

1  Ve kb Ve kb1  X z  1 X z  11  Ve kb Ve kb


:
J
J
fkbEV 1  Ve kb Ve kb 1  Ve kbgX z  1
J

29

We may specially call D(z) system size distribution due to residual generalized-vacation period.
From (26) and (29), we can observe that
Uz UMx =G=1 z  Dz;

30

e
where UMx =G=1 z 1q1z S kb1X z is the p.g.f. of the number of customers in the ordinary M[x]/G/1 system
eS kb1X zz
with balking. The inferences above listed conrm that the stochastic decomposition property by Fuhrmann
and Cooper [28] is also valid for the variant vacation model with balking.
3.2. Queue size distribution at a departure epoch
In this section, the probability generating function of the queue size distribution at departure epoch for the
M[x]/G/1 queueing system with balking and a variant vacation policy. Following the arguments by Wol [29],
we state that a departing customer will see customers in the queue just after a departure if and only if there
were ( + 1) customers in the queue just before the departure. Thus we may write
/

C0

lxP 1 x dx;

0; 1; 2; . . .

31

where /
ProA departing customer will see customer in the queue, and C0 is a constant to be
evaluated.

Let U
z be the probability generating function of f/ ; 0; 1; 2; . . .g. Using (12) yields


e J e
kbP 0 1 V kb JV kb1X z1  1 X z e
S kb1  X z
e
V kb 1e
V kb

:
32
U z C 0 
ze
S kb1  X z
Using the normalization condition, we have


C0
kbP 0 EX 

1q
kbEV 1e
V kbJ
e
V kbJ 1e
V kb

:

33

Thus the probability of the departure point queue size distribution is given by


e J e
1  q 1 V kb JV kb1X z1  1 X z e
S kb1  X z
V kb 1e
V kb
e



U z
:
e
V kbJ
e
EX  kbEV 1

1
z

S
kb1

X
z
e
V kbJ 1e
V kb

34

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J.-C. Ke / Applied Mathematical Modelling 31 (2007) 13211337

We observe that P+(z) can be decomposed into two independent terms:


U z

1  X z
 Uz:
EX 1  z

35

It is important to note that the departure point queue size distribution given by Eq. (35) can be decomposed
into two independent random variables: One (the rst term) is the number of customers placed before a tagged
customer in a batch in which the tagged customer arrives and the other (the second term) is the stationary
system size of the ordinary M[x]/G/1 queueing system with balking.
4. Waiting time distribution
To obtain the waiting time distribution in the queue, we rst derive the waiting time of the rst customer in
f1 h to denote the LST of W1.
an arriving batch, namely, W1. Use W
For if we identify a batch with a single customer, then its service time is just the total service time of customers constituting the batch. In this case, the batch will have as its batch size p.g.f. X(z) = z. The mean arrival
rate will be k and the LST of the service time of the batch will replace e
S h by X e
S h. Using the information
and the results by Chaudhry and Templeton [30, Chapter 3], we have from (34) that the p.g.f. of the number of
batches left behind by a departing batch


e J e
1  q 1 V kb J V kb1z1  1 z X e
S kb1  z
V kb 1e
V kb
e



Ub z
:
36
kbEV 1e
V kbJ
e

1
z

X

S
kb1

z
V kbJ 1e
V kb
e
If the waiting time of each batch is independent of the part of arrival process following the arrival time of
the batch, the batches left behind a departing batch are those that arrive during the time it spends in the queue
and in service. it follows that (see Ref. [28]).
e
f
P
b z W 1 kb1  z  X Skb1  z:
From (36) and (37), it follows that


e J e
V h1
1  q kb1 V kb

h
e
V kbJ 1e
V kb
f1 h 

W
:
J
e
kbEV 1 V kb
e

1
kb

h

kbX

Sh
V kbJ 1e
V kb
e

37

38

Next, let W be the waiting time of an arbitrary customer in a batch and denote by W(h) the LST of W. If
j P 1 is the position of the customer within arrival batch, then
W W1

j1
X

Si;

39

jP1

i1

where Si denotes the dierence between service time and interarrival time of the ith customer in a batch.
If sj is the probability of an arbitrary customer being the jth position of an arriving batch. Applying the
results by Chaudhry and Templeton [30, Chapter 3], we have
"
P

j1
X
i1

#
Si 6 t

1
X

sj St

j1

j1


Pj1 
where S(t) = P(Si 6 t) and sj 1  i1 vi =EX .

J.-C. Ke / Applied Mathematical Modelling 31 (2007) 13211337

Consequently, taking the LST of (39), we get


2 P
3
j1
e h EehW  EehW 1   E4e
W

h

Si

i1

5W
f1 h 

1
X

1329

j1
sj e
S h

j1

"

"

j1
1
1
1
X
X
X
f1 h X
f1 h
W
W
1




1
vi e
vi
e
S hj1
S hj1
e
EX  j1
EX

1

S
h
i1
ji1
i1
"
#
P1
i
e
e
f
f
W 1 h
W 1 h 1  X S h
1
v Sh



 i1 i
;

e
e
EX 
EX 
1  S h
1  S h
1e
S h

40

f1 h is given in (38).
where W
We can rewrite (40) as
kb1e
V kbJ 1e
V h

h
V kbJ 1e
V kb
e h e
e x
W
W
M =G=1 h;
kbEV 1e
V kbJ
h

1
e
V kbJ 1e
V kb

41

where
e x
W
M =G=1 h

1  X e
S h
;
h  kb kbX e
Sh EX 1  Se h
h1  q

42

is the LST of the waiting time in the queue for the ordinary M[x]/G/1 system with balking and no vacations.
e h with
From (41), we can obtain the expected waiting time in the queue, Wq, using the derivative of W
respect to h while h = 0
Wq

EX X  1ES kbEX 2 ES 2 
kb1  Ve kbJ EV 2 
o:
n
J
J
2EX 1  q
2 kbEV 1  Ve kb 1  Ve kb Ve kb

43

It is to be noted that expression (43) is identical to the expression (28) obtained from Littles formula.
5. Other system characteristics
First, we develop the steady-state system size distribution at busy period initiation epoch and the system
size distribution due to idle period including vacation.
5.1. System size distribution at busy period initiation epoch
Let us dene un (n = 1, 2, . . .) as the steady-state probability that an arbitrary (tagged) customer nds a
batch of n customers in the system at the busy period initiation epoch (or completion epoch of the idle period).
That is, t ( = 0, 1, 2, . . .) are the initiation epochs of the busy period and N(t) is the number of customers in
the system at the time instant t, then
un lim!1 PrN t n;

n 1; 2; . . . :

Conditioning on the number of customers which arrive during the rst vacation, we obtain the following
state equations by the similar arguments of Poisson arrivals see time average [29]
un

J 1
X
m0

rm0

n
X

rk vk
rJ0 vn ;
n

44

k1

PrX 1 X 2    X k n is the k-fold convolution of vn, and vn0 is dened to be 1, and


where vk
n
rk = Pr[k batches arrive during a vacation time]. It is easily checked that r0 Ve kb.

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J.-C. Ke / Applied Mathematical Modelling 31 (2007) 13211337

Now multiplying (44) by appropriate powers of z and then taking summation over all possible values of n,
we obtain the p.g.f. of {un}
1  Ve kb e
V kb1  X z  Ve kb Ve kbJ X z;
1  Ve kb
J

uz

45

which leads to
Eu

1  Ve kbJ kbEX EV 


J
Ve kb EX :
e
1  V kb

Note that (45) represents the p.g.f of the number of customers in the system at the completion epoch of
the idle period and this is equivalent to the p.g.f. of the system size distribution at busy period initiation
epoch.
5.2. System size distribution due to idle period
Let nn (n = 0, 1, 2, . . .) be the probability that a batch of n customers arrived before a tagged customer during the forward recurrence time (residual life) of the idle period in which the tagged customer arrived. The
batch of arriving customers associated with the tagged customer is randomly chosen from the arriving batch
that occurs at the completion epoch of the idle period (busy period initiation epoch). Following arguments of
Burke [31] and applying renewal theory, we get the p.g.f. of the number of customers that arrive during the
residual life of the idle period given by
nz

1  uz
:
1  zEu

46

From (45), n(z) can be reexpressed as


nz

J
J
1  Ve kb  1  Ve kb f Ve kb1  X z  Ve kbg  1  Ve kb Ve kb X z
J
J
EX f1  Ve kb kbEV  1  Ve kb Ve kb g1  z

47

which is equivalent to the p.g.f. of the number of customers that arrive during an interval from the beginning
of the idle period to a random point in the idle period. We may call it system size distribution due to the idle
period including vacation times.
5.3. Busy period and idle period distribution
e
Let Bh
and eI h respectively represent the LST of the busy period and idle period for the M[x]/G/1 queueing model with balking, in which the server takes at most J vacation at the end of each service period. The
server starts providing service whenever the system is not empty upon returning from a vacation or at least
one customer arrives after he returns from the Jth vacation and stays dormant in the system. It can be shown
from the denition and utilizing the arguments by Takagi [3, Section 2.2], we have
J
1  Ve kb e
e
e 0 h;
e 0 h  Ve kb Ve kbJ X B
Bh

V kb1  X B
1  Ve kb

48



J
e
kb
eI h 1  V kb Ve h  Ve kb Ve kbJ
;
kb h
1  Ve kb

49

and

e 0 h e
e 0 h is the LST of the busy period in the ordinary M[x]/G/1 queueing
where B
S h kb  kbX B
model.

J.-C. Ke / Applied Mathematical Modelling 31 (2007) 13211337

1331

Further, we dene
E[B]  the expected length of busy period;
E[I]  the expected length of idle period;
E[C]  the expected length of busy cycle.
By using (48) and (49), we obtain
J
1  Ve kb kbEV 
Ve kbJ
1  Ve kb

EB
EI

!


EX ES
;
1q

J
J
1  Ve kb EV  Ve kb
;

kb
1  Ve kb

which lead to
1  Ve kb kbEV 
J
Ve kb
1  Ve kb
J

EC

50
51

!


1
:
kb1  q

52

5.4. Unnished work


e h be
We let Z be the unnished work (also called the backlog or the workload) at an arbitrary time and Z
LST of Z. Following Takagi [3], we have
e h Ye h Z
e x
Z
M =G=1 h;
where Ye h n e
S h is corresponding to the amount of work in the vacation system at an arbitrary time durh1q
e x
ing a vacation period (referred to Section 5.2). And Z
is corresponding to the waiting
M =G=1 h
hkkX e
S h
[x]
time of the rst customer in a batch to which it begins in the ordinary M /G/1 queueing system (see Ref. [4]).
Doing some arduous algebraic rearrangements, we obtain the unnished work and its expectation
J
J
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e h 1  V kb  1  V kb f V kb1  X S h  V kbg  1  V kb V kb X S h
Z
J
J
S h
EX f1  Ve kb kbEV  1  Ve kb Ve kb g1  e

h1  q
h  k kX e
S h

J
J
1  Ve kb  1  Ve kb f Ve kb1  X Se h  Ve kbg  1  Ve kb Ve kb X e
S h
J
J
e
1  X Shf1  Ve kb kbEV  1  Ve kb Ve kb g

e x
W
M =G=1 h;

53

and
kbq1  Ve kb EV 2 
kbEX ES 2  EX X  1ES

J
J
21  q
2EX 1  q
2f1  Ve kb kbEV  1  Ve kb Ve kb g
J

EZ

54

6. Special cases
In this section, we present some existing results in the literature which are special cases of our system.
Case 1: If Pr[V = 0] = 1 and b = 1, then our model can be reduced to the ordinary M[x]/G/1 queueing system
[3, Chapter 1].
Case 2: If Pr[X = 1] = 1 and b = 1, then our model can be reduced to the single arrival M/G/1 queueing system with at most J vacations [3, Chapter 2].

1332

J.-C. Ke / Applied Mathematical Modelling 31 (2007) 13211337

Case 3: Suppose that we let Pr[X = 1] = 1; then if we put J = 1 and b = 1, our model can describe the M/G/1
e h and (51) for E[I] can be simqueueing system with multiple vacations. In this case, Eq. (41) for W
plied to the following expressions:
e
e h 1  V h  h1  q ;
W
hEV  h  k k e
S h
and
EV 
;
1  Ve k

EI

which agree with those of Doshis [1] or Takagis system [3, Section 2.2].
Case 4: Suppose that we let Pr[X = 1] = 1; then if we put J = 1 and b = 1, our model can be reduced to the M/
G/1 queueing system with a single vacation. In this case, Eq. (43) for Wq and (52) for E[C] can be
simplied to the following expressions:
Wq

kEV 2 
2 Ve k kEV 

kES 2 
;
21  q

and
EC

Ve k kEV 
;
k1  q

which are in accordance with those of Levy and Yechialis [2] or Takagis system [3, Section 2.2].
Case 5: As J = 1 and b = 1, our model can be recovered to the M[x]/G/1 queueing system with a single vacae h can be shown to be as follows:
tion. In this case, Eq. (26) for U(z) and (53) for Z
Uz

1  q1  z1  Ve k  kX z Ve k1  X z e
S k  kX z
;
e k  kX z  zgf1  X zg
EX fkEV  Ve kgf S

and
e
e
e
e
h1  q
e h 1  V k  kX Sh V k1  X S h 
Z
;
EX kEV  Ve k1  e
Sh
h  k kX e
S h
which furnish the results in Section 6 of Choudhurys system [4].
Case 6: As J = 1 and b = 1, our model can be recovered to the ordinary M[x]/G/1 queueing system with mule h and (50) for E[B] can be shown to be as follows:
tiple vacations. In this case, Eq. (41) for W
e
h1  q
1  X e
Sh
e h 1  V h 

;
W
e
hEV  h  k kX Sh EX 1  e
S h
and
EB

qEV 
;
1  Ve k1  q

which furnish the results in Babas system [5].

7. Numerical illustration
This section we study the eects of various parameters on the system characteristics such as the expected
number of customers in the system (Ls), the expected length of busy period (E[B]) and idle period (E[I]).
For convenience, we rst let

J.-C. Ke / Applied Mathematical Modelling 31 (2007) 13211337

1333

k = 0.8;
X  geometric distribution with parameter p = 0.5 (denoted by Geo(0.5));
c
V  exponential distribution (denoted
by M with LST Ve h hc
) with a mean E[V] = 1.0;

 4 
with a mean E[S] = 0.5.
S  4-stage Erlang distribution denoted by E4 with LST Se h 4c
h4c

Our rst set of numerical examples performs the above specic parameters by varying J from 1 to 50 and
1  b from 0.0 to 0.5. The eects of dierent values of 1  b and J on the Ls, E[B] and E[I] are respectively
shown in Figs. 13. One observes from Figs. 13 that (i) Ls and E[B] increase as 1  b decreases; and (ii)
E[I] decreases as 1  b decreases. One also sees that the increment of Ls, E[B] and E[I] slowly increases as J
increases for larger J when 1  b is xed. Obviously, the eect changes of 1  b on the system characteristics
are more signicant than J.
A second set of numerical examples deals with the cases that the eect of various service time distributions
and dierent service rates on the Ls, E[B] and E[I]. We consider k = 0.5, 1  b = 0.2, J = 5, and E[V] = 0.2.
The service time distributions are considered to be exponential (M), 2-stage stage Erlang (E2) and 2-stage
ac1
2
hyper-exponential (denoted by H2 with LST e
S h hc
1ac
). The eects of the service time distributions
hc2
1
and dierent service rates on the Ls, E[B] and E[I] are shown in Table 1. From Table 1, the comparison of the
Ls, E[B] and E[I] for the three service time distributions M, E2 and H2, showed the results when service rate (1/
E[S]) changes from 1 to 10: (i) the three service distributions by their relative magnitudes on Ls produce
H2 > M > E2, and (ii) the E[B] and E[I] for the three service distributions are the same when service rate is
given, which conrm those of (50) and (51).
Finally, we assume k = 0.5, 1  b = 0.2, and E[S] = 0.5, and perform numerical results to study the eects
of the vacation time distributions and dierent vacation rates on the Ls, E[B] and E[I], which are summarized

12
10

Ls

8
6
4
2
0
60
50

0.5

40

0.4
30

0.3
20

0.2
10

0.1
1

1b

Fig. 1. The expected system sizes for dierent values of 1  b and J.

1334

J.-C. Ke / Applied Mathematical Modelling 31 (2007) 13211337

9
8
7

E[B]

6
5
4
3
2
1
60
50

0.5

40

0.4
30

0.3
20

0.2
10

0.1
1

1 b

Fig. 2. The expected length of busy period for dierent values of 1  b and J.

10
9
8

E[I]

7
6
5
4
3
2
1
50
40

0.5
30

0.4
0.3

20
0.2

10

0.1
1

1b

Fig. 3. The expected length of idle period for dierent values of 1  b and J.

in Table 2. The comparison of the Ls, E[B] and E[I] for the three vacation time distributions M, E2 and H2,
showed the results when vacation rate (1/E[V]) changes from 0.1 to 10: (i) the three vacation distributions by
their relative magnitudes on the system characteristics (Ls, E[B] and E[I]) yield H2 > M > E2, and (ii) the

J.-C. Ke / Applied Mathematical Modelling 31 (2007) 13211337

1335

Table 1
System characteristics for dierent service time distributions and service rates (k = 0.5, 1  b = 0.2, X  Geo(0.5), J = 5, and V  M with
E[V] = 0.2)
1/E[S]

SM

S  E2

S  H2

1.0
Ls
E[B]
E[I]

10.054
10.256
2.564

9.254
10.256
2.564

11.121
10.256
2.564

2.0
Ls
E[B]
E[I]

1.721
1.709
2.564

1.654
1.709
2.564

1.809
1.709
2.564

3.0
Ls
E[B]
E[I]

0.963
0.932
2.564

0.939
0.932
2.564

0.995
0.932
2.564

4.0
Ls
E[B]
E[I]

0.679
0.641
2.564

0.666
0.641
2.564

0.696
0.641
2.564

5.0
Ls
E[B]
E[I]

0.530
0.488
2.564

0.522
0.488
2.564

0.540
0.488
2.564

6.0
Ls
E[B]
E[I]

0.438
0.394
2.564

0.433
0.394
2.564

0.445
0.394
2.564

7.0
Ls
E[B]
E[I]

0.376
0.331
2.564

0.373
0.331
2.564

0.381
0.331
2.564

8.0
Ls
E[B]
E[I]

0.332
0.285
2.564

0.329
0.285
2.564

0.335
0.285
2.564

9.0
Ls
E[B]
E[I]

0.298
0.250
2.564

0.296
0.250
2.564

0.301
0.250
2.564

10.0
Ls
E[B]
E[I]

0.271
0.223
2.564

0.270
0.223
2.564

0.274
0.223
2.564

system characteristics increase as 1/E[V] decreases. Moreover, we nd from Tables 1 and 2 that the magnitudes of system characteristics are H2 P M P E2 when all parameters are given.
Our numerical investigations indicate that (i) when all parameters are given, the impacts of the service (or
vacation) distributions on system characteristics are not signicantly for large service rate (or vacation rate),
and (ii) b has a much signicant eect on the system characteristics than J do.

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J.-C. Ke / Applied Mathematical Modelling 31 (2007) 13211337

Table 2
System characteristics for dierent vacation time distributions and vacation rates (k = 0.5, 1  b = 0.2, X  Geo(0.5), J = 5, and S  E4
with E[S] = 0.5)
1/E[V]

VM

V  E2

V  H2

0.1
Ls
E[B]
E[I]

9.566
8.331
12.497

7.567
7.500
11.250

12.232
8.680
13.019

0.5
Ls
E[B]
E[I]

3.119
2.929
4.394

2.741
2.686
4.029

3.621
3.109
4.663

1.0
Ls
E[B]
E[I]

2.255
2.209
3.314

2.090
2.099
3.148

2.473
2.309
3.463

2.0
Ls
E[B]
E[I]

1.823
1.866
2.799

1.761
1.823
2.734

1.905
1.911
2.867

3.0
Ls
E[B]
E[I]

1.699
1.770
2.655

1.667
1.747
2.620

1.742
1.796
2.694

4.0
Ls
E[B]
E[I]

1.647
1.730
2.595

1.627
1.715
2.573

1.673
1.747
2.620

5.0
Ls
E[B]
E[I]

1.621
1.709
2.564

1.607
1.699
2.549

1.638
1.721
2.582

6.0
Ls
E[B]
E[I]

1.605
1.697
2.546

1.596
1.690
2.535

1.618
1.706
2.559

7.0
Ls
E[B]
E[I]

1.596
1.690
2.535

1.588
1.684
2.526

1.605
1.697
2.545

8.0
Ls
E[B]
E[I]

1.589
1.685
2.527

1.584
1.680
2.521

1.597
1.690
2.535

9.0
Ls
E[B]
E[I]

1.585
1.681
2.522

1.580
1.678
2.517

1.591
1.686
2.529

10.0
Ls
E[B]
E[I]

1.581
1.679
2.518

1.578
1.676
2.514

1.586
1.682
2.523

J.-C. Ke / Applied Mathematical Modelling 31 (2007) 13211337

1337

Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the anonymous referees and Editor, Prof. Cross, for their valuable comments and suggestions, which improved the presentation of this paper.
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