Patent ID: 8312111

Claim:
A computer system comprising: a first computer connected to a communication network, the first computer including one or more image files stored thereon and a first image processing program executable by the first computer for processing the one or more image files, and a memory for storing an effective rate of image file transfers over the communication network calculated by the first computer, and for storing a first and second processing costs and a combined cost calculated by the first computer based on the effective rate of image file transfers; a second computer connected to the communication network, the second computer including said one or more image files and said first image processing program executable by the second computer for processing the one or more image files; the first computer further including a costing program for determining the first processing cost for the first computer to process the one or more image files stored thereon, for determining a first transfer cost for transferring the one or more image files from the first computer to the second computer, for determining the second processing cost for the second computer to process the one or more image files, for determining a second transfer cost for transferring a processed one or more of the image files from the second computer to the first computer, and for determining the combined cost for the first transfer cost, the second processing cost, and the second transfer cost; and a network connection for transferring the one or more image files over the network from the first computer to the second computer if the costing program determines that the combined cost is smaller than the first processing cost.