Patent ID: 8896867

Claim:
A method of assigning a job from a queue to a production device in a print production environment, the method comprising: identifying a queue comprising a plurality of print jobs, wherein each print job is associated with a unique priority value; identifying a plurality of print production devices capable of processing the plurality of print jobs; determining, by a computing device, that one of the identified print production devices is currently an idle print production device; identifying a top priority print job from the queue, wherein the top priority print job is a print job from the plurality of print jobs that is associated with a highest priority value; determining, by the computing device, a completion time associated with processing the top priority print job by each of the identified print production devices by, for each identified print production device: estimating an amount of time for the print production device to complete one or more print jobs that the print production device is currently processing, determining a processing time associated with processing the top priority job by the production device by: determining a size associated with the top priority print job, determining a processing rate associated with the print production device, and dividing the size by the processing rate, determining a setup time associated with processing the top priority job by the production device, and summing the amount of time, the processing time and the setup time; identifying a fastest print production device, wherein the fastest print production device is a print production device from the identified plurality of print production devices that is associated with a shortest completion time for the top priority print job; assigning, by the computing device, the top priority print job to the fastest print production device; determining whether the fastest print production device is the idle print production device; and in response to determining that the fastest print production device is the idle print production device: sending the top priority print job to the fastest print production device, and removing the top priority print job from the queue.