Patent ID: 7305449

Claim:
A method of relieving competition between processing jobs sharing a production device, said method comprising: accessing from a user's browser a destination service representing said production device; retrieving imaging information of said user by said destination service; selecting among production options provided by said destination service for determining a first processing job to process said imaging information using said production device; estimating, based on said imaging information and said selected production options for said first processing job, a processing time required to process said first processing job using said production device; providing said user an option of reserving a start time at which deferred processing of said first processing job using said production device is to occur; if said user opts to reserve the start time, setting a first deferred start time, storing said first processing job during a deferral period until said first deferred start time, and processing said first processing job using said production device at said first deferred start time; if processing of a second processing job is requested during a time period conflicting with processing of said first processing job based on the first deferred start time and the estimate processing time of the first processing job, providing an option of reserving a second deferred start time at which deferred processing of the second processing job is to occur, the second deferred start time avoiding conflict with the processing of said first processing job; and if the estimated processing time of the first processing job is greater than an established threshold, providing an alternate production device for processing of the first processing job, wherein if the estimated processing time of the first processing job is greater than the established threshold, enabling the user to select differing production options for said first processing job, and reevaluating, based on said imaging information and said differing production options, a reevaluated processing time required to process said first processing job.