Systems and methods for assigning priority to jobs in a reporting system

• US 7,509,671 B1
• Filed: 06/20/2001
• Issued: 03/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microstrategy Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Microstrategy Incorporated
• Inventors: Bedell, Jeffrey A., Li, Benjamin Z., Polana, Ramprasad, Orozco, Luis V.
• Primary Examiner(s): SMITHERS, MATTHEW
• Application Number:
  US09/884,475
• Time in Patent Office: 2,834 Days
• Field of Search: 713/200, 713/202, 726/18, 726/19, 726/5, 726/6, 726/7, 726/26, 370/60.1, 370/94.2, 718/103
• US Class Current: 726/6
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

The methods and systems of the invention provide for processing of jobs, that comprise one or more reports to be processed in a reporting system, by assigning a priority to a job. The priority may include a queue or a queue set priority, as well as a sub-queue priority in accordance with some embodiments of the methods and systems of the invention. Once the priority is assigned, the job is placed into a selected queue, selected from a plurality of possible queues, based on the queue priority assigned to the job. The job may also be designated to a particular sub-queue within the selected queue, i.e., based on the sub-queue priority. Then, the job is processed based on the priority.

Claims

1. A method of processing multiple incoming jobs in a reporting system, the method comprising the steps of:

assigning each of the multiple incoming jobs a plurality of priority values; and

servicing each of the multiple incoming jobs based on the plurality of priority values assigned to each of the multiple incoming jobs and on a non-random servicing scheme, wherein the servicing of each of the multiple incoming jobs includes scheduling each of the multiple incoming jobs for servicing at a later time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of assigning each of the multiple incoming jobs a plurality of priority values is based on at least one attribute of each of the multiple incoming jobs.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one attribute of each of the multiple incoming jobs includes at least one of an assigned value of each of the multiple incoming jobs, an estimated cost of each of the multiple incoming jobs, a project to which each of the multiple incoming jobs belongs, a requestor of each of the multiple incoming jobs, and a group to which the requester of each of the multiple incoming jobs belongs.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the multiple incoming jobs is one of a report or a request.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-random servicing scheme effects processing of each of the multiple incoming jobs based solely on the plurality of priority values of each of the multiple incoming jobs.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-random servicing scheme effects processing of each of the multiple incoming jobs based on the plurality of priority values of each of the multiple incoming jobs and on a servicing formula.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the servicing formula is a fair share formula, the fair share formula effecting servicing of each of the multiple of incoming jobs, which has been submitted by a requestor, based on a number of incoming jobs the requester has submitted.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the servicing formula is a first in-first out formula.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the servicing formula is overridden by an administrator.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein the servicing formula is altered on a scheduled basis.

11. The method of claim 1, further including the step of:

placing each of the multiple incoming jobs into a selected queue, selected from a plurality of queues, based on the plurality of priority values assigned to each of the multiple incoming jobs; and

the step of servicing each of the multiple incoming jobs is performed based on the selected queue into which each of the multiple incoming jobs is placed.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein assigning the plurality of priority values to each of the multiple incoming jobs is based on a priority function, the priority function determining the plurality of priority values based on a set of priority variables, the priority variables associated with each of the multiple incoming jobs.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the selected queue includes a plurality of sub-queues, and wherein the step of assigning each of the multiple incoming jobs a plurality of priority values includes assigning a queue priority value and a sub-queue priority value;

and

the step of placing each of the multiple incoming jobs into a selected queue includes placing each of the multiple incoming jobs into the selected queue based on the queue priority value and into a selected sub-queue, within the selected queue, based on the sub-queue priority value.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the non-random servicing scheme assigns threads to the plurality of queues.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the priority scheme is altered on a schedule basis.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the priority scheme is overridden by an administrator.

17. The method of claim 14, further including the step of moving the threads from a first queue to a second queue of the plurality of queues based on the non-random servicing scheme.

18. A system for processing multiple incoming jobs in a reporting system, the system comprising:

a priority setting portion that assigns a plurality of priority values to each of the multiple incoming jobs,

a service portion that processes each of the multiple incoming jobs based on the plurality of priority values assigned to each of the multiple incoming jobs and on a non-random servicing scheme, wherein the service portion that processes each of the multiple incoming Jobs includes scheduling each of the multiple incoming jobs for servicing at a later time.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the priority setting portion assigns the plurality of priority values to each of the multiple incoming jobs based on at least one attribute of each of the multiple incoming jobs.

20. The system of claim 18, further including a queue placement portion that places each of the multiple incoming jobs into a selected queue, selected from a plurality of queues, based on the plurality of priority values assigned to each of the multiple incoming jobs;

and the service portion processes each of the multiple incoming jobs based on the selected queue into which each of the multiple incoming jobs is placed.

21. A processor-readable medium comprising code for execution by a processor to prioritize and service multiple incoming jobs, that comprise one or more reports to be processed in a reporting system, the medium comprising:

code for assigning a plurality of priority values to each of the multiple incoming jobs; and

code for processing each of the multiple incoming jobs based on the plurality of priority values assigned to each of the multiple incoming jobs and a non-random servicing scheme, wherein the code for processing each of the multiple incoming jobs includes scheduling each of the multiple incoming jobs for servicing at a later time.

22. The medium of claim 21, wherein the code for assigning a plurality of priority values to each of the multiple incoming jobs uses at least one attribute of each of the multiple incoming jobs.

23. The medium of claim 21, wherein the code for assigning a plurality of priority values to each of the multiple incoming jobs effects placement of each of the multiple incoming jobs into a selected queue, which is selected from a plurality of queues, and the code for processing each of the multiple incoming jobs processes each of the multiple incoming jobs based on the selected queue into which each of the multiple incoming jobs is placed.