Apparatus, system and method for active scheduling of time based event-driven long running processes

• US 20020152105A1
• Filed: 04/16/2001
• Published: 10/17/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dan, Asit, Dias, Daniel Manuel
• Granted Patent: US 6,948,171 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06312 Adjustment or analysis of established resource schedule, e.g. resource or task levelling, or dynamic rescheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting

Abstract

An apparatus, system and method for active scheduling of event-driven long running processes are provided. The apparatus, system and method receive update information indicating a change in status of a subject of the active scheduling. Based on this changed status and stored scheduling rules, an adapted schedule is generated to accommodate the change in status. The adapted schedule is further modified based on historical information to compensate for historically predicted events that may conflict with events in the adapted schedule.

Claims

1. A method of actively scheduling a time based event driven process, comprising:

receiving status update information;

adapting an initial schedule of the time based event driven process based on the status update information to thereby generate an adapted schedule; and

modifying the adapted schedule based on historical information to thereby generate a modified schedule for the time based event driven process.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the status update information is received from a remote device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising outputting the modified schedule for the time based event driven process.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the modified schedule for the time based event driven process is output to a client device.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the modified schedule for the time based event driven process is output using a smartcard.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the steps of adapting an initial schedule and modifying the adapted schedule are performed using one or more scheduling rules.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting a request for current status information to a remote device, wherein the status update information is received from the remote device in response to the request for current status information being received by the remote device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining if the status update information indicates that an event has been resolved within a window of opportunity associated with the event; and

performing the steps of adapting and modifying only when the event has not been resolved within the window of opportunity.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the adapted schedule based on historical information includes predicting whether another event will interfere with an event in the adapted schedule based on the historical information.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining if two or more events of the modified schedule may be combined; and

combining the two or more events into a combined event if it is determined that the two or more events may be combined.

11. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for actively scheduling a time based event driven process, comprising:

first instructions for receiving status update information;

second instructions for adapting an initial schedule of the time based event driven process based on the status update information to thereby generate an adapted schedule; and

third instructions for modifying the adapted schedule based on historical information to thereby generate a modified schedule for the time based event driven process.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the status update information is received from a remote device.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising fourth instructions for outputting the modified schedule for the time based event driven process.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the modified schedule for the time based event driven process is output to a client device.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the modified schedule for the time based event driven process is output using a smartcard.

16. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein at least one of the second instructions and the third instructions are executed using one or more scheduling rules.

17. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising fourth instructions for transmitting a request for current status information to a remote device.

18. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising:

fourth instructions for determining if the status update information indicates that an event has been resolved within a window of opportunity associated with the event; and

fifth instructions for performing the steps of adapting and modifying only when the event has not been resolved within the window of opportunity.

19. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the third instructions include instructions for predicting whether another event will interfere with an event in the adapted schedule based on the historical information.

20. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising:

fourth instructions for determining if two or more events of the modified schedule may be combined; and

fifth instructions for combining the two or more events into a combined event if it is determined that the two or more events may be combined.

21. An apparatus for actively scheduling a time based event driven process, comprising:

a remote device interface that receiving status update information; and

a controller coupled to the remote device interface, wherein the controller adapts an initial schedule of the time based event driven process based on the status update information to thereby generate an adapted schedule, and modifies the adapted schedule based on historical information to thereby generate a modified schedule for the time based event driven process.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the status update information is received from a remote device.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising an output device that outputs the modified schedule for the time based event driven process.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the output device is a display device that displays the modified schedule for the time based event driven process.

25. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the output device is a smartcard device which encodes the schedule on a smartcard.

26. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the controller uses one or more scheduling rules to perform at least one of adapting an initial schedule and modifying the adapted schedule.

27. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the controller transmits a request for current status information to a remote device via the remote device interface, and wherein the status update information is received from the remote device in response to the request for current status information being received by the remote device.

28. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the controller further determines if the status update information indicates that an event has been resolved within a window of opportunity associated with the event and adapts the initial schedule and modifies the adapted schedule only when the event has not been resolved within the window of opportunity.

29. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the controller modifies the adapted schedule based on historical information by predicting whether another event will interfere with an event in the adapted schedule based on the historical information.

30. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the controller determines if two or more events of the modified schedule may be combined and combines the two or more events into a combined event if it is determined that the two or more events may be combined.