Importance

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Abstract

A load balancing method and apparatus are provided, by which loads in a wide range of the entire system can be balanced with a small overhead with respect to load balancing processing, and the mean response time of the entire system can be shortened. The method has the steps of (i) estimating a load of the present node based on the number of tasks being or waiting to be processed and determining an estimated load value of the node; (ii) accepting a task passing through a logical ring network, and every time a task is accepted, comparing the estimated load value and a threshold value which is set with respect to the number of tasks existing in the node so as to limit the load of the node; and (iii) judging, based on a result of the comparison, whether the accepted task is handed over to a task processing unit, or is transmitted to the logical ring network again without handing over the task to the task processing unit. The threshold value may be changed in accordance with a change of the number of tasks passing through the logical ring network during a fixed period, or when a round trip task is detected.

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First Claim