Polynomiality for Bin Packing with a Constant Number of Item Types

Abstract

We consider the bin packing problem with d different item sizes s_i and item multiplicities a_i, where all numbers are given in binary encoding. This problem formulation is also known as the one-dimensional cutting stock problem. In this work, we provide an algorithm that, for constant d, solves bin packing in polynomial time. This was an open problem for all d\ge 3. In fact, for constant d our algorithm solves the following problem in polynomial time: Given two d-dimensional polytopes P and Q, find the smallest number of integer points in P whose sum lies in Q. Our approach also applies to high multiplicity scheduling problems in which the number of copies of each job type is given in binary encoding and each type comes with certain parameters such as release dates, processing times, and deadlines. We show that a variety of high multiplicity scheduling problems can be solved in polynomial time if the number of job types is constant.