Distributed processing method and information processing apparatus

An information processing apparatus capable of communicating with a remote information processing apparatus, the information processing apparatus comprising a processor configured to perform a procedure including:

• requesting the remote information processing apparatus to execute a processing operation off-loaded from the first information processing apparatus, while the information processing apparatus is capable of executing the processing operation;
• receiving an execution result of the processing operation from the remote information processing apparatus;
• determining whether an amount of elapsed time since the requesting exceeds a threshold before an execution result of the processing operation is obtained from the remote information processing apparatus;
• starting to locally execute the processing operation in the information processing apparatus when the amount of elapsed time is determined to have exceeded the threshold;
• and
• using a local execution result of the processing operation executed in the information processing apparatus or the execution result obtained from the remote information processing apparatus, whichever comes earlier.

A computer-readable storage medium storing a program which causes a first computer to perform a procedure comprising:

• requesting a second computer to execute a processing operation off-loaded from the first computer, while the first computer is capable of executing the processing operation;
• determining whether an amount of elapsed time since the requesting exceeds a threshold before an execution result of the processing operation is obtained from the second computer;
• starting to locally execute the processing operation in the first computer when the amount of elapsed time is determined to have exceeded the threshold;
• and
• using a local execution result of the processing operation executed in the first computer or the execution result obtained from the second computer, whichever comes earlier.