Patent ID: 7689694

Claim:
A process management apparatus adapted to be connected to a network to which a plurality of processing devices are connected, each of the processing devices configured to execute a requested task and to transfer the executed result to a destination designated by the requester of the task, comprising: first management means for allowing access to a predetermined memory in which a cluster list and communication setting information for enabling network communication with each of the clusters are listed, wherein the processing devices are sorted into a plurality of clusters in the cluster list, and the number of sorted processing devices corresponds to the size or kind of a previously estimated task, wherein, in the cluster list, each cluster comprising at least one processing device which is/are selected based on a combination of the kind of the task that can be performed in each processing device and a processing capability of the each processing device, and the selection is performed per each kind or size of the task which is estimated to be performed, and wherein, in the cluster list, identification information for each cluster representing whether the each cluster can be assigned or not, is recorded; assigning means for assigning, upon receiving a task demand from any of the processing device through network communication, the task to a specified cluster that is specified by referring the cluster list for a suitable cluster for the size or the kind of the task; and second management means for transferring, to the cluster to which the task is assigned by the assigning means or an original processing device that requested the task demand, the communication setting information for the other processing device or other cluster, thereby allowing direct transfer of the executed result between the cluster and the original processing device through network communication.