Patent ID: 6728947
Filing Date: 2004-04-27
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
A method of executing a portion of a workflow among a first processing device, a second processing device and a third processing device, wherein the first processing device, the second processing device and the third processing device are nodes in a peer-to-peer network, the method comprising:receiving a workflow file at the second processing device from the first processing device, the workflow file including (i) information identifying the first processing device, (ii) information identifying a first process step which was previously executed by the first processing device, (iii) information identifying the second processing device, the information identifying the second processing device being different than the information identifying the first processing device, (iv) information identifying a second process step to be executed by the second processing device, (v) information identifying the third processing device, the information identifying the third processing device being different than the information identifying the first processing device, the information identifying the third processing device being different than the information identifying the second processing device and (vi) information identifying a third process step to be executed by the third processing device; executing the second process step at the second processing device in response to receiving the workflow file from the first processing device; writing status information to the workflow file at the second processing device; and transmitting the workflow file from the second processing device to the third processing device after executing the second process step.