Patent ID: 8682959

Claim:
A system for processing information, the system comprising: a plurality of networked computers for processing a processing job in a distributed manner, the plurality of networked computers comprising a request handler, a plurality of process handlers, and a plurality of task handlers, the processing job comprising a process flow, the process flow including (1) a plurality of processing tasks and (2) state information relating to the processing job; the request handler configured to (1) receive a service request for the processing job, and (2) communicate data representative of the processing job to a process handler; the process handler to which the processing job data was communicated being configured to (1) receive the communicated processing job data, and (2) analyze the processing job data and state information to determine a sequence of processing tasks to be performed by the task handlers; the task handlers configured to (1) perform the processing tasks of the processing job in accordance with the determined sequence, and (2) generate updated state information in response to the performed processing tasks; and wherein the request handler is further configured to (1) maintain state information for the processing job based on the updated state information, (2) determine whether a fault exists, and (3) in response to a determination that a fault exists, initiate a recovery procedure based on the maintained state information for the processing job.