Patent ID: 6986136

Claim:
A method of relieving competition between processing jobs sharing a production device, said method comprising: from a first user's browser, accessing a destination service representing a production device; retrieving production data of said first user by said destination service, the production data being configured to be processed by the production device; at said first user's browser, selecting production options from among a plurality of production options provided by said destination service, each of the production options corresponding to a processing capability of the production device such that the production options selected by the user determine a first processing job for processing said first user's production data using said production device; estimating a time duration required to process said first processing job using said production device such that, if the time duration estimated to process the first processing job at least equals a threshold duration, the user is enabled to selectively designate the first processing job as non-interruptable, otherwise the first processing job is designated as interruptable; wherein, if said production device is not currently processing a previous processing job of a previous user, then allowing said first processing job to be processed using said production device, subject to interruption by a subsequent processing job of a subsequent user if the first processing job is designated interruptable; and wherein, if said production device is currently processing a previous processing job of a previous user and said previous processing job is subject to interruption, then allowing said processing of said first processing job of said first user to interrupt processing of said previous processing job if the first processing job is designated non-interruptable, such that processing of said previous processing job resumes after said processing of said first processing job is complete.