Patent ID: 7616205

Claim:
An image processing system for generating an image of a three dimensional structure using a volume data, said image processing system having a plurality of nodes coupled via a network, each of which belonging to at least any one of a job requesting side and a job accepting side, where at least one of said plurality of nodes is on the job requesting side, said one of plurality of nodes on the job requesting side is constituted in combination with a control portion comprising at least a processor, a memory, and a communication control portion, said control portion being operative to: segment at least one of a plurality of image processing requests into a plurality of jobs in an image processing operation that use the volume data; monitor a calculation resource amount for each of said plurality of nodes on the job accepting side to obtain a calculation resource information, said calculation resource information being calculated from at least any one of a current load factor, a performance record in the past, a node status specification, and a distance to the node on the network; select at least two nodes on the job accepting side based on said calculation resource information; transmit an identical one of said segmented jobs to each of said at least two nodes, so that said identical one of said segmented jobs is a competitively parallel processed job that is simultaneously and competitively processed by each of said at least two nodes; receive a processing result of said competitively parallel processed job; and select some but not all of said at least two nodes, wherein the selected some of said at least two nodes are still engaged in processing said competitively parallel processed job, and transmit a halt command to each of the selected some of said at least two nodes, based on a progress of or a completion of said competitively parallel processed job.