mlsanityData to 14 Oct 2026

Queueing-Aware Optimization of Reasoning Tokens for Accuracy-Latency Trade-offs in LLM Servers

arXiv 2601.10274 ↗First posted 15 Jan 2026cs.LG cs.AI cs.ITcited by 0

On the map: LLM reasoning → Test-time compute and efficient thinking

Abstract (arXiv)

We consider a single large language model (LLM) server that serves a heterogeneous stream of queries belonging to N distinct task types. Queries arrive according to a Poisson process, and each type occurs with a known prior probability. For each task type, the server allocates a fixed number of internal thinking tokens, which determines the computational effort devoted to that query. The token allocation induces an accuracy-latency trade-off: the service time follows an approximately affine function of the allocated tokens, while the probability of a correct response exhibits diminishing returns. Under a first-in, first-out (FIFO) service discipline, the system operates as an M/G/1 queue, and the mean system time depends on the first and second moments of the resulting service-time distribution. We formulate a constrained optimization problem that maximizes a weighted average accuracy objective penalized by the mean system time, subject to architectural token-budget constraints and queue-stability conditions. The objective function is shown to be strictly concave over the stability region, which ensures existence and uniqueness of the optimal token allocation. The first-order optimality conditions yield a coupled projected fixed-point characterization of the optimum, together with an iterative solution and an explicit sufficient condition for contraction. Moreover, a projected gradient method with a computable global step-size bound is developed to guarantee convergence beyond the contractive regime. Finally, integer-valued token allocations are attained via rounding of the continuous solution, and the resulting performance loss is evaluated in simulation results.

Key facts. No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in Test-time compute and efficient thinking, one of 17 directions in LLM reasoning. Builds on 18 of its 24 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 15 Jan 2026.

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  1. 2025s1: Simple test-time scaling31 Jan

Other references · 17

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  6. 2018Think you have Solved Question Answering? Try ARC, the AI2 Reasoning Challengecited by 4,886
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  8. 2021Convex optimizationcited by 2,515
  9. 2022Challenging BIG-Bench Tasks and Whether Chain-of-Thought Can Solve Themcited by 1,807
  10. 2022SmoothQuant: Accurate and Efficient Post-Training Quantization for Large Language Modelscited by 1,386
  11. 2022Efficiently Scaling Transformer Inferencecited by 539
  12. 2022Confident Adaptive Language Modelingcited by 310
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  3. 2023Response Length Perception and Sequence Scheduling: An LLM-Empowered LLM Inference Pipelinecited by 86
  4. 2023AlpaServe: Statistical Multiplexing with Model Parallelism for Deep Learning Servingcited by 31
  5. 2024A Queueing Theoretic Perspective on Low-Latency LLM Inference with Variable Token Lengthcited by 16

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