Fair Cost Allocation in Cellular-Bluetooth Cooperation Scenarios

A promising paradigm, that answers crucial needs raised by emerging wireless applications, foresees the cooperation of multiple terminals over short-range wireless links while downloading multimedia contents over long-range cellular connections. Energy consumption reduction is just one of the potential benefits the cited communication paradigm might offer. Undoubtedly, the main issue raised by the new paradigm is to develop a model of cooperative behavior, which can best meet the expectations of all the cooperating entities. Unfortunately, classic minimization problem solutions are usually conflicting with the concept of fairness, as it is sensed by rational players. A joint use of classical optimization and game theory based approaches may contribute to overcome the highlighted dichotomy between user satisfaction and stable minimal energy cost allocations. This paper studies the interactions among users in the presence of a cooperative file-sharing service and seeks appropriate solutions to achieve the lowest energy consumption is possible while motivating users to cooperate.