Network system, CPU resource provider, client apparatus, processing service providing method, and program

• US 20070220520A1
• Filed: 08/02/2002
• Published: 09/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Tajima, Akira
• Granted Patent: US 7,454,754 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/483 Multiproc
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/5015 Service provider selection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4881 Scheduling strategies for dispatcher, e.g. round robin, multi-level priority queues
• 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 network system includes an application service provider (ASP) which is connected to the Internet and executes an application, and a CPU resource provider which is connected to the Internet and provides a processing service to a particular computational part (e.g., computation intensive part) of the application, wherein: when requesting a job from the CPU resource provider, the application service provider (ASP) sends information about estimated computation time of the job to the CPU resource provider via the Internet; and the CPU resource provider assigns the job by correcting this estimated computation time based on the estimated computation time sent from the application service provider (ASP).

Claims

1. A network system comprising a client that is connected to a network and executes an application, and a CPU resource provider that is connected to the network and provides a processing service to a particular calculation of the application, wherein:

when requesting a job from the CPU resource provider, said client sends information about estimated computation time of the job to the CPU resource provider via said network; and

said CPU resource provider assigns said job based on said estimated computation time sent from said client.

2. The network system according to claim 1, wherein said client is an application service provider that provides the application based on a licensing contract with a user terminal connected to the network.

3. The network system according to claim 1, wherein said CPU resource provider retains a profile containing error information obtained from differences between estimated computation times provided by said client in the past and actual job execution times and assigns said job by correcting said estimated computation time based on said profile.

4. The network system according to claim 1, wherein said CPU resource provider informs said client about a schedule of said job requested by said client.

5. A CPU resource provider that provides a processing service to an application executed by a client connected to a network, comprising:

a profile storage unit which stores a profile of said client;

an estimated computation time receiving unit which receives estimated computation time of a given job along with a job request made by said client; and

a correction unit which corrects said estimated computation time received by said estimated computation time receiving unit, based on said profile stored in said profile storage unit.

6. The CPU resource provider according to claim 5, further comprising a job assigning unit which assigns jobs by performing resource scheduling based on said estimated computation time corrected by said correction unit.

7. The CPU resource provider according to claim 5, wherein said profile storage unit stores, as said profile, estimation accuracy information as to the accuracy of computation time estimated by said client and updates the estimation accuracy information based on the actual execution time of said job.

8. A CPU resource provider that provides a processing service to that part of an application executed by a client that requires advanced computation, comprising:

an execution time estimating unit which estimates execution time of a job requested by said client;

a node count determining unit which determines the number of nodes currently available for assignment;

a first estimated end time determining unit which determines a first estimated end time of said job assuming that said job is executed immediately using said estimated execution time and the number of nodes determined by said first estimated end time determining unit;

a second estimated end time determining unit which determines a second estimated end time of said job assuming that said job is executed upon completion of a particular job currently under execution; and

assigning unit which assigns said job by securing required nodes based on said first estimated end time and second estimated end time determined.

9. The CPU resource provider according to claim 8, wherein said execution time estimating unit estimates the execution time of said job based on estimated computation time sent from said client.

10. The CPU resource provider according to claim 8, wherein:

said first estimated end time determining unit and said second estimated end time determining unit determine said first estimated end time and said second estimated end time using a time scale which indicates the time required for the job to end with a predetermined probability; and

said assigning unit judges whether to wait for a job currently under execution to end, by comparing values of said time scale.

11. A client apparatus which executes an application and receives a service from a CPU resource provider connected to a network in relation to that part of the application which requires advanced computation, comprising:

a job request transmission unit which transmits a job request to said CPU resource provider;

a computation time estimating unit which estimates computation time based on problem scale of the job in said job request transmitted by said job request transmission unit; and

an estimated computation time transmission unit which transmits the computation time estimated by said computation time estimating unit to said CPU resource provider.

12. The client apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said job request transmission unit transmits data to execute the job for which said job request is transmitted as well as the number of executing nodes.

13. A processing service providing method for providing a processing service to an application, based on a request from a client that executes the application, comprising the steps of:

receiving estimated computation time of a requested job;

estimating execution time of the job based on said estimated computation time received; and

assigning resources to said job based on said estimated execution time.

14. The processing service providing method according to claim 13, wherein said execution time is estimated with reference to a client profile which contains trends in computation times estimated by the job-requesting client.

15. A processing service providing method for providing a processing service to an application, based on a request from a client that executes the application, comprising the steps of:

estimating execution time of a requested job; and

assigning resources to the job by estimating job end time on the assumption that said job is assigned to currently available nodes in a CPU and job end time on the assumption that said job is assigned to available nodes in the CPU upon completion of a particular job currently under execution, based on said estimated execution time.

16. The processing service providing method according to claim 15, wherein said execution time of said job is estimated with reference to estimated computation time received with the request from said client.

17. A program for making a computer, serving as a client apparatus that executes an application and receives a service from a CPU resource provider connected to a network in relation to that application, implement a process comprising:

a job request transmission step for transmitting a job request to said CPU resource provider;

a computation time estimating step for estimating computation time based on problem scale of the job in said job request transmitted by said job request transmission unit; and

an estimated computation time transmission step for transmitting the computation time estimated by said computation time estimating unit to said CPU resource provider with the transmission of said job request by said job request transmission function.

20. Computer program product comprising code of the program according to claim 17 stored on a computer-readable medium.

18. A program for making a CPU resource provider, which provides a processing service to an application executed by a client connected to a network, implement a process comprising the steps of:

receiving estimated computation time of a job requested by said client;

estimating execution time of the job based on said estimated computation time received; and

assigning resources to said job based on said estimated execution time.

21. Computer program product comprising code of the program according to claim 18 stored on a computer-readable medium.

19. A program for making a CPU resource provider, which provides a processing service to an application executed by a client connected to a network, implement a process comprising the steps of:

estimating execution time of a job requested by the client; and

assigning resources to the job by estimating job end time on the assumption that said job is assigned to currently available nodes in a CPU and job end time on the assumption that said job is assigned to available nodes in the CPU upon completion of a particular job currently under execution, based on said estimated execution time.

22. Computer program product comprising code of the program according to claim 19 stored on a computer-readable medium.