Modeling and scheduling asynchronous incremental workflows

An apparatus comprising at least a processor and a memory, wherein the processor and/or memory are configured to perform operations, comprising:

• obtaining one or more temporal constraints that constrain one or more portions of the workflow;
• periodically obtaining input data and periodically generating, via one or more operators in the processing paths, intermediate or output data, wherein the input, intermediate, and output data together include both incremental and non-incremental data variants;
• dynamically and periodically selecting one or more of the processing paths for generating the intermediate or output data based on received input data or a first subset of the generated intermediate or output data and the one or more temporal constraints;
• and
• executing the selected one or more processing paths of the workflow so that each selected processing path generates a second subset of the intermediate or output data for the workflow.

A computer implemented method for generating an asynchronous workflow having a plurality of processing paths, comprising:

• receiving an indication of one or more operators coupled together to form a workflow, wherein the workflow contains a plurality of processing paths, each of the plurality of processing paths having one or more operators configured for processing input or intermediate data to thereby generate intermediate or output data,
• wherein the input, intermediate, and output data together include both incremental and non-incremental data variants,
• wherein the processing paths include at least one set of selectable processing paths that process incremental and non-incremental data variants, wherein such selectable processing paths are selectable by a scheduler to satisfy one or more of the constraint metrics and/or a processing cost metric;
• and
• obtaining one or more temporal constraints that constrain one or more portions of the workflow.