Inverse booking problem: Inverse chromatic number problem in interval graphs

We consider inverse chromatic number problems in interval graphs having the following form: we are given an integer K and an interval graph G = (V, E), associated with n = vertical bar V vertical bar intervals I-i =] a(i), b(i) [ (1 <= i <= n), each having a specified length s(I-i) = b(i) - a(i), a (preferred) starting time ai and a completion time bi. The intervals are to be newly positioned with the least possible discrepancies from the original positions in such a way that the related interval graph can be colorable with at most K colors. We propose a model involving this problem called inverse booking problem.We show that inverse booking problems are hard to approximate within 0(n(1-epsilon)), epsilon > 0 in the general case with no constraints on lengths of intervals, even though a ratio of n can be achieved by using a result of [13]. This result answers a question recently formulated in (12] about the approximation behavior of the unweighted case of single machine just-in-time scheduling problem with earliness and tardiness costs. Moreover, this result holds for some restrictive cases.