Patent ID: 8074221

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of processing a plurality of print jobs in a document production environment, the method comprising: for each of a plurality of print jobs: determining, by a print job workflow management system, a number of feasible routes for processing the print job, wherein each feasible route comprises at least one resource in at least one of a plurality of autonomous cells, wherein each autonomous cell comprises one or more resources, for each feasible route, determining a job processing time comprising an amount of time required to process the print job via the feasible route, and assigning, by the print job workflow management system, the print job to a first feasible route; determining, by the print job workflow management system, for each of the plurality of autonomous cells, a first value for an objective function based on a total processing time for the autonomous cell to process each print job assigned to the autonomous cell based on the first feasible routes for each of the plurality of print jobs; selecting an assigned print job based on the number of feasible routes for each of the plurality of print jobs; selecting a second feasible route for the assigned print job based on the job processing time for each feasible route for the assigned print job; determining, by the print job workflow management system, for each of the plurality of autonomous cells, a second value for the objective function based on the total processing time for the autonomous cell to process each print job assigned to the autonomous cell based on the second feasible route for the assigned print job and the first feasible routes for the other print jobs of the plurality of print jobs; if the second value is less than a sum of the first value and a threshold: reassigning, by the print job workflow management system the assigned print job to the second feasible route, and replacing the first value with the second value; repeating at least said selecting the assigned print job, said selecting the second feasible route, and said determining the second value a plurality of times for each of the plurality of print jobs; and processing the plurality of print jobs based on the assigned feasible routes.