Assignment manager
First Claim
1. A method in a computing system for assigning resources to tasks in a rule-based, resource constrained system, the method comprising:
- under control of the computing system, receiving indications of multiple tasks, each task being of one of multiple task types and having multiple task attributes that specify constraints on which resources are able to perform the task;
receiving indications of multiple resources each having multiple resource attributes, the resource attributes of a resource describing aspects of the resource that affect ability of the resource to perform tasks;
receiving indications of multiple distinct assignment rules that are each associated with one of the task types, each assignment rule able to individually assess whether a resource is capable of performing a task of the associated task type; and
using the assignment rules to assign resources to tasks by, for each of the tasks, selecting one or more of the assignment rules that are associated with the task type to which the task belongs; and
using the selected assignment rules to assess whether resources are capable of performing the task based upon the resource attributes of the resources and the task attributes of the task, the assessing by determining for each of one or more resources whether the resource attributes of the resource indicate that the resource satisfies the constraints of the task attributes for that task.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method, a program product, and a system for assigning resources to tasks in a rule based, resource constrained system. This is done by receiving as inputs tasks and task attributes; resources and resource attributes; and assignment rules. These inputs are used to searching a database of tasks, task attributes, and assignment rules thereof, to search a database of resources including resource attributes thereof, and to retrieve resources based upon the resource attributes. Resources are assigned to tasks based upon matches and scores of the resource attributes, the task attributes, and the assignment rules.
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Citations
70 Claims
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1. A method in a computing system for assigning resources to tasks in a rule-based, resource constrained system, the method comprising:
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under control of the computing system, receiving indications of multiple tasks, each task being of one of multiple task types and having multiple task attributes that specify constraints on which resources are able to perform the task;
receiving indications of multiple resources each having multiple resource attributes, the resource attributes of a resource describing aspects of the resource that affect ability of the resource to perform tasks;
receiving indications of multiple distinct assignment rules that are each associated with one of the task types, each assignment rule able to individually assess whether a resource is capable of performing a task of the associated task type; and
using the assignment rules to assign resources to tasks by, for each of the tasks, selecting one or more of the assignment rules that are associated with the task type to which the task belongs; and
using the selected assignment rules to assess whether resources are capable of performing the task based upon the resource attributes of the resources and the task attributes of the task, the assessing by determining for each of one or more resources whether the resource attributes of the resource indicate that the resource satisfies the constraints of the task attributes for that task. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A system for assigning resources to tasks, said system having:
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one or more databases that store indications of resources each having multiple resource attributes describing aspects of the resource that affect ability of the resource to perform tasks, that store indications of tasks that are each of one of multiple task types and that each have multiple task attributes reflecting constraints on which resources are able to perform the task, and that store assignment rules that are each associated with one or more task types and are for assessing whether a resource is capable of performing a task of one of the associated task types by determining whether the resource attributes of the resource indicate that the resource has the ability to satisfy the constraints of the task attributes for that task;
a database management system able to retrieve the stored indications for resources based upon their resource attributes and/or able to retrieve the stored indications for tasks based upon their tasks attributes; and
an assignment engine able to assign resources to tasks based upon the resource attributes, the task attributes, and the assignment rules, the assigning based on selecting assignment rules for tasks of a task type based on those assignment rules being associated with that task type and on using the selected assignment rules to assess whether the resources are capable of performing the tasks of that task type. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51)
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52. A computer-readable medium whose contents cause a computing device to assign resources to tasks of multiple task types, by repeatedly performing a method comprising:
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receiving an indication of a task that has multiple task attributes representing constraints on which resources are able to perform the task, the task being of one of the multiple task types;
identifying multiple distinct assignment rules that are each associated with the indicated task by selecting assignment rules that are defined for the one task type to which the indicated task belongs, each of the assignment rules able to assess whether a resource is capable of performing tasks of that one task type so as to each individually identifying resources capable of performing the indicated task;
using the multiple identified assignment rules for assigning resources to tasks by, for each of the identified assignment rules, identifying multiple candidate resources that each possess sufficient capabilities for performing the indicated task to meet a minimum threshold, each of the candidate resources having multiple resource attributes that describe aspects of the resource affecting ability of the resource to perform tasks; and
assessing for each of the candidate resources a degree of ability to perform the indicated task; and
selecting at least one of the candidate resources to perform the indicated task based at least in part on the assessed degrees of ability. - View Dependent Claims (53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66)
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67. A computer-implemented method for assigning resources to tasks, comprising:
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under control of a computing system, receiving indications of multiple distinct types of tasks;
for each of the multiple task types, defining one or more assignment rules that are associated with the task type based on input received from a user, each of the assignment rules having a defined mechanism for assessing whether a resource is capable of performing tasks of the task type; and
after the defining of the assignment rules, repeatedly assigning resources to tasks by, receiving an indication of a task;
determining the type of the indicated task;
identifying the defined assignment rules that are associated with the determined task type;
using the identified assignment rules to assess multiple resources to determine whether those resources are capable of performing the indicated task; and
selecting one or more of the multiple resources for the indicated task based at least in part on the assessments of those resources. - View Dependent Claims (68, 69, 70)
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Specification