Patent Document ID: 7516455
Application ID: 10656355
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving a plurality of task containers, each said task container representing a task to be scheduled at a computer, where each said task container includes a grouping of a plurality of resources containers, wherein each said resource container includes resource information that specifies one or more resources required for the represented task and selection criteria to select from the one or more resources, and wherein each said task container further includes an interface function that, when called, determines a pair-wise probability that the task represented by another task container will influence the task represented by the called task container based on a current schedule state of scheduled tasks, selection criteria specified in resource containers of the another task container, and selection criteria specified in resource containers of the called task container; generating a total cost for each task based on pair-wise costs for each task calculated from determined pair-wise probabilities that the task will influence each other task in the plurality of task containers; and scheduling the task with the least total cost.