US Patent 7580145 Method and apparatus for effective job management

The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for the job management of document processing wherein job management is divided into a pipeline assembly phase and a job processing phase. The job manager is heavily involved in the pipeline assembly phase. The job processing phase involves only the job processors, which were identified during the pipeline assembly phase. The processors signal the job manager when they start or finish processing of a job. The job manager controls resource consumption by controlling the amount of data in the pipes by parameterizing connector elements. For example, the job manager will preferably input data relating to stapling operations into the pipeline after data relating to collating operations is feed into the pipeline. The job manager assembles partial data or operations into the pipeline in the event that all resources needed are not available. In the event that a stapling operation is not possible, the job manager will still feed data related to other jobs so that the process may be completed to the extent possible.