Multinode activation and termination method and system

• US 20020194257A1
• Filed: 05/31/2001
• Published: 12/19/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Casati, Fabio, Shan, Ming-Chien
• Granted Patent: US 7,228,328 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/201
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5038 considering the execution order of a plurality of tasks, e.g. taking priority or time dependency constraints into consideration scheduling strategies G06F9/4881 and subgroups

Abstract

A multinode activation and termination method and system A method and system is provided for invoking multiple parallel instances of the same node. First, a multinode is defined that allows for multiple parallel activation of the node. At run time, a determination is made of the number of nodes to be activated based on an activation rule. The multinodes are then executed. Each multinode can be provided with different input data for execution, thereby allowing one to fine tune the input and attributes of each node. A termination rule is utilized to determine when the execution of the multinode is completed. When the execution of the multinode is complete, a successor node is then executed. When the execution of the multinode is not complete, processing continues on the multinode.

Claims

1. A method for invoking multiple parallel instances of a same node comprising the steps of:

a) defining a multinode as a node that allows for multiple parallel activation of a node;

b) at run time determining the number of nodes to be activated based on an activation rule;

c) executing the nodes in the multinode;

d) determining when the execution of the multinode is completed based on a termination rule; and

e) when the execution of the multinode is complete, executing a successor node; and

f) when the execution of the multinode is not complete, processing continues at step c).

2. The method of claim 1

wherein determining the number of nodes to be activated based on an activation rule includes determining the number of nodes to be activated based on an activation rule based on the number of resources available.

3. The method of claim 1

wherein determining the number of nodes to be activated based on an activation rule includes determining the number of nodes to be activated based on an activation rule based on the number of elements in a vector.

4. The method of claim 1

wherein determining when the execution of the multinode is completed based on a termination rule includes evaluating whether a multinode goal has been achieved, and when the multinode goal has been achieved, terminating the execution of the multinode.

5. The method of claim 1

wherein determining when the execution of the multinode is completed based on a termination rule includes determining whether all service nodes have been completed, and when all service nodes have been completed, terminating the execution of the multinode.

6. The method of claim 1

wherein terminating the execution of the multinode includes canceling the other service nodes and proceeding to a successor node.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of

allowing flow to continue to a successor node when all invoked service nodes have been completed.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of executing the multinode includes the step of

providing each node in the multinode with different input data for execution.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of executing the multinode includes the step of

providing different attributes for each node in the multinode.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the attributes includes one of resource selection criteria, security, exception handling criteria, and deadlines for node execution.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining when the execution of the multinode is completed based on a termination rule further includes the step of

specifying multinode termination by a condition;

checking the condition when one of the nodes in the multinode terminates; and

when the condition is satisfied, a successor node is activated, and other nodes in execution within the multinode are canceled.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the multinode handling facility further comprises

a multinode determination unit for receiving a node definition and responsive thereto for determining whether the current node is a normal work node or a multinode.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the multinode handling facility further comprises

an activation facility for receiving an activation rule and based thereon for determining whether activation is by resource or by variable.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the multinode handling facility further comprises

a resource-based activation facility coupled to the activation facility for processing activation by resource;

and

a variable-based activation facility coupled to the activation facility for processing activation by variable.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the resource-based activation facility further comprises

a resource rule execution unit for executing the resource rule of the multinode;

and

a new instance generation unit for starting new instances of the multinode for each new resource in the resource list.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the resource rule is specified in a service node tag of a multinode description.

18. The system of claim 15 wherein the variable-based activation facility further comprises

a variable name reader for reading the variable name;

and

a new instance generation unit for starting new instances of the multinode for each new element in the variable identified by the variable name.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the variable type is one of a vector and a list.

20. The system of claim 12 wherein each node in the multinode is provided with different input data and different attributes for execution;

wherein the attributes includes one of resource selection criteria, security, exception handling criteria, and deadlines for node execution.

12. A system for processing multinode definitions comprising:

a workflow engine for processing workflow definitions; and

a multinode handling facility coupled to the workflow engine for processing multinodes, determining the number of nodes in the multinode to be activated based on an activation rule;

executing the nodes in the multinode;

determining when the execution of the multinode is completed based on a termination rule; and

when the execution of the multinode is complete, executing a successor node.