PROCESSING REQUEST ALLOCATOR FOR ASSIGNMENT OF LOADS IN A DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING SYSTEM

A distributed processing system having a plurality of processors and/or terminals at a plurality of locations is provided with a processing request allocator which includes a device for storing the waiting time at each processor or terminal for beginning the execution of a service request as well as a device for storing the delay in communication from each location of a processor or terminal to each other processor or terminal in the system. The processing request allocator has a device for calculating the sums of the waiting time and delay for each route through the system where a processing request from a first location is executed by a predetermined processor and the processing result is sent to a second location within the system, and a device is provided for determining the minimum value of these sums to identify the processor or terminal to which the service request is to be allocated. Since a processor or terminal is selected to perform the processing of the service request on the basis of not only the waiting time at each processor but also the communication delay, the performance of the overall system is enhanced and the response time to each service request is minimized.