Priority queue with arbitrary queuing criteria

• US 6,728,792 B2
• Filed: 01/04/2001
• Issued: 04/27/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Wagner, Marcus
• Primary Examiner(s): Shin, Christopher B.
• Application Number:
  US09/754,658
• Publication Number:
  US 20020087757A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,209 Days
• Field of Search: 345/823, 345/769, 707/7, 707/102, 710/5-6, 710/44, 710/32-35, 710/107-117, 710/102, 710/244, 711/112, 711/158, 348/229.1
• US Class Current: 710/6
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4881 Scheduling strategies for dispatcher, e.g. round robin, multi-level priority queues
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting

Abstract

A method in a computing system (100) includes the steps of enqueuing items in a functional queue prioritized according to sort criteria (132), modifying the sort criteria (132) while the functional queue contains the enqued items, and re-prioritizing the enqued items in the functional queue according to the modified sort criteria (132). The computing system (100) includes a set of functions (122) that operate on a queue data structure (130) to maintain enqued items prioritized in the queue data structure (130) after changes in the sort criteria (132). The set of functions (122) operate with an arbitrary number of sort criteria (132) and with arbitrary values for the sort criteria (132).

Claims

1. A method comprising the steps of:

enqueuing items in a functional queue stored in memory, the enqueued items being prioritized in memory according to an arbitrary number of sort criteria stored in memory, the functional queue storing in memory a highest priority enqueued item at a head of the functional queue;

modifying at run time the sort criteria in memory while the functional queue contains the enqued items in memory; and

re-prioritizing the enqued items in the functional queue at run time according to the modified sort criteria in memory.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the functional queue comprises a set of functions that operate on a queue data structure in memory to maintain enqued items prioritized in the queue data structure in memory according to the sort criteria stored in memory.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the sort criteria can be changed in memory at run time while the set of functions are operational on the queue data structure to maintain the enqued items prioritized in the queue data structure according to the sort criteria, the functional queue storing in the memory a highest priority enqueued item at a head of the queue data structure.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the queue data structure includes at least one linked list of pointers that point to actual items, respectively, thereby representing the actual items as enqued items in the functional queue.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the re-prioritizing step comprises the step of sorting the at least one linked list of pointers according to the modified sort criteria.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the enqueued items comprise enqueued job items for operating jobs in the computing system according to a priority of enqueued job items in the functional queue.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the sort criteria comprise arbitrary values.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the enqueued items comprise enqueued job items for operating jobs in a computing system according to a priority of enqueued job items in the functional queue, and wherein the re-prioritizing reprioritizes the enqueued job items in the functional queue at run time according to the modified sort criteria in memory.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the enqueued items are enqueued job items for operating jobs in a computing system according to a priority of enqueued job items in the functional queue with the highest priority enqueued job item at the head of the functional queue designating the highest priority job for operating in the computing system.

10. A computing system comprising:

a functional queue in memory for enqueueing job items for operating jobs in the computing system according to a priority of enqueued job items in the functional queue; and

a prioritizer, communicatively coupled to the functional queue in memory, for prioritizing enqued job items in the functional queue based on an arbitrary number of soil criteria stored in memory, the arbitrary number of sort criteria in memory being modifiable at run time, and

wherein the prioritizer re-prioritizes the enqued job items in the operational queue based on the sort criteria in memory after at least one of a change in the sort criteria in memory and a new job item is enqued in the operational queue.

11. A computing system comprising:

memory for storing a functional queue and an arbitrary number of sort criteria; and

a prioritizer, communicatively coupled to the memory, for prioritizing enqued items in the functional queue based on the sort criteria stored in memory, the sort criteria in memory being modifiable at run time, and

wherein the prioritizer re-prioritizes the enqued items in the functional queue in response to the sort criteria being changed the memory at run time.

12. The computing system according to claim 11, wherein the functional queue comprises a set of functions and a queue data structure that are stored in the memory, the functions that operate on the a queue data structure stored in the memory to maintain enqued items in the queue data structure prioritized in the queue data structure according to the sort criteria stored in the memory.

13. The computing system according to claim 12, wherein the sort criteria can be changed in the memory at run time while the set of functions are operational on the queue data structure to maintain the enqued items prioritized in the queue data structure in the memory according to the sort criteria in the memory, the functional queue storing in the memory a highest priority enqueued item at a head of the queue data structure.

14. The computing system according to claim 12, herein the queue data structure includes at least one linked list of pointers that point to actual items, respectively, thereby representing the actual items as enqued items in the functional queue.

15. The computing system according to claim 14, wherein the prioritizer sorts the at least one linked list of pointers according to the sort criteria.

16. The computing system according to claim 11, wherein the enqueued items comprise enqueued job items for operating jobs in the computing system according to a priority of enqueued job items in the functional queue.

17. The computing system according to claim 11, wherein the sort criteria comprise arbitrary values.

18. The computing system according to claim 11, wherein the enqueued items comprise enqueued job items for operating jobs in the computing system according to a priority of enqueued job items in the functional queue, and wherein the re-prioritizing reprioritizes the enqueued job items in the functional queue at run time according to the modified sort criteria in memory.

19. A computer readable medium including computer instructions for a queuing system, the computer instructions comprising instructions for:

enqueuing items in a functional queue stored in memory, the enqueued items being prioritized in memory according to an arbitrary number of sort criteria stored in memory, the functional queue storing in memory a highest priority enqueued item at a head of the functional queue;

modifying at run time the sort criteria in memory while the functional queue contains the enqued items in memory; and

re-prioritizing the enqued items in the functional queue at run time according to the modified sort criteria in memory.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 19, further including computer instructions for:

a set of functions that operate on a queue data structure in memory to maintain enqued items prioritized in the queue data structure in memory according to the sort criteria stored in memory.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the sort criteria can be changed in memory at run time while the set of functions are operational on the queue data structure to maintain the enqued items prioritized in the queue data structure according to the sort criteria, the functional queue storing in the memory a highest priority enqueued item at a head of the queue data structure.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the enqueued items comprise enqueued job items for operating jobs in a computing system according to a priority of enqueued job items in the functional queue.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the sort criteria comprise arbitrary values.