Online bin packing with cardinality constraints revisited

Abstract: Bin packing with cardinality constraints is a bin packing problem where an upper bound k \geq 2 on the number of items packed into each bin is given, in addition to the standard constraint on the total size of items packed into a bin. We study the online scenario where items are presented one by one. We analyze it with respect to the absolute competitive ratio and prove tight bounds of 2 for any k \geq 4. We show that First Fit also has an absolute competitive ratio of 2 for k=4, but not for larger values of k, and we present a complete analysis of its asymptotic competitive ratio for all values of k \geq 5. Additionally, we study the case of small $k$ with respect to the asymptotic competitive ratio and the absolute competitive ratio.