Patent ID: 7664858

Claim:
A computer implemented method of assigning objects to a plurality of processing units, each of the objects having an object size and an object load, the method comprising: a) for each of the processing units, setting a storage capacity threshold and a load capacity threshold to initial values according to actual storage capacity and load capacity of the respective processing units; b) calculating an index value of each object based on the object's size and the object's load; c) sorting the objects by their index values to provide a sequence of objects; d) selecting at least one processing units to assign objects to, for each selected processing unit, assigning as many of the objects to the processing unit as fit within the storage capacity threshold and the load capacity threshold of the respective processing unit, the objects being assigned in sequence, and removing the assigned object(s) from the sequence; e) revising the storage capacity threshold and load capacity threshold to new values based on a total number of the processing units to which objects are assigned and unused capacity of the selected processing units; comprising: determining a first largest gap between the aggregated size of objects being assigned to one of the selected processing units and the actual storage capacity of the processing unit, determining a second largest gap between the aggregated load of objects being assigned to one of the selected processing units and the actual load capacity of the processing unit, subtracting from the initial value of the storage capacity the first largest gap divided by the total number of selected processing units from the storage capacity to provide a revised storage capacity threshold, and subtracting from the initial value of the load capacity the second largest gap divided by the total number of selected processing units from the load capacity to provide a revised load capacity threshold; f) performing step d) again using the revised storage capacity threshold and the revised load capacity threshold.