Patent ID: 6804017
Filing Date: 2004-10-12
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
An information processing device comprising:a plurality of resources; a processor adapted to process at least two jobs associated with at least one resource, said processor able to simultaneously process tasks of a plurality of jobs that require the at least one resource and jobs that require resources not associated with the at least two jobs; a command determination unit that determines when a command is received that commands the processor to process one of the at least two jobs; and a resource use indication unit that, when the command determination unit determines that a command is received to process the one of the at least two jobs, indicates that the at least one resource and other resources relevant to the one of the at least two jobs being commanded is being used, regardless of whether the at least one resource and the other resources are being used or not, thereby preventing another of the at least two jobs from being processed while the one of the at least two jobs being commanded is being processed, jobs that require resources not associated with the at least two jobs are not prevented from being processed, wherein a job is a series of process operations performed based on a single command that corresponds to a single user operation and a task is one individual process step in the series of process operations that make up a job, each single user operation generating only a single command that starts only a single job; a flag setting unit that, when the command determination unit determines that a command is received to process the one of the at least two jobs, sets a first flag to indicate that the at least one resource is being used, regardless of whether the at least one resource is being used or not, in order to prevent another of the at least two jobs from being processed while the one of the at least two jobs is being processed, and sets a second flag to indicate that the one of the at least two jobs is being processed.