DYNAMIC CRITICAL-PATH RECALCULATION FACILITY

• US 20090158294A1
• Filed: 11/24/2008
• Published: 06/18/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Perticara', Valeria
• Granted Patent: US 8,612,991 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/106
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/506 Constraint
• 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 method for dynamically recalculating a critical path in a job scheduling system is disclosed. In selected embodiments, the method may include determining when a first job associated with a critical path is substantially complete. The method may further include identifying a successor job of the first job and identifying multiple predecessor jobs of the successor job. The method may then determine whether there is at least one predecessor job that has not completed. In the event there is at least one predecessor job that has not completed, the method may recalculate the critical path. A corresponding apparatus and computer program product for implementing the above-stated method are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A method for dynamically recalculating a critical path in a job scheduling system, the method comprising:

determining when a first job in a critical path has substantially completed;

identifying a successor job of the first job;

identifying a plurality of predecessor jobs of the successor job; and

recalculating the critical path in the event that at least one of the predecessor jobs has not substantially completed.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein recalculating the critical path comprises recalculating the critical path starting from an uncompleted predecessor job.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein recalculating the critical path comprises recalculating the critical path starting from the earliest non-completed predecessor job.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein recalculating the critical path comprises employing a conventional critical path determination algorithm.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein employing the conventional critical path determination algorithm comprises employing the conventional critical path determination algorithm starting at the earliest non-completed predecessor job.

6. A computer program product for dynamically recalculating a critical path in a job scheduling system, the computer program product comprising a computer-usable medium having computer-usable program code embodied therein, the computer-usable program code comprising:

computer-usable program code for determining when a first job in a critical path has substantially completed;

computer-usable program code for identifying a successor job of the first job;

computer-usable program code for identifying a plurality of predecessor jobs of the successor job; and

computer-usable program code for recalculating the critical path in the event that at least one of the predecessor jobs has not substantially completed.

7. The computer program product of claim 6, further comprising computer-usable program code for recalculating the critical path starting from an uncompleted predecessor job.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, further comprising computer-usable program code for recalculating the critical path starting from the earliest non-completed predecessor job.

9. The computer program product of claim 6, further comprising computer-usable program code for recalculating the critical path by employing a conventional critical path determination algorithm.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising computer-usable program code for employing the conventional critical path determination algorithm starting at the earliest non-completed predecessor job.

11. An apparatus for dynamically recalculating a critical path in a job scheduling system, the apparatus comprising:

a determination module to determine when a first job in a critical path has substantially completed;

an identification module to identify a successor job of the first job;

an identification module to identify a plurality of predecessor jobs of the successor job; and

a recalculation module to recalculate the critical path in the event that at least one of the predecessor jobs has not substantially completed.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the recalculation module is further configured to recalculate the critical path starting from an uncompleted predecessor job.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the recalculation module is further configured to recalculate the critical path starting from the earliest non-completed predecessor job.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the recalculation module is further configured to employ a conventional critical path determination algorithm to recalculate the critical path.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the recalculation module is further configured to employ the conventional critical path determination algorithm starting at the earliest non-completed predecessor job.