Java，系统架构，正确的实现

Question

I am not a java expert, and my question is somewhat abstract, i need an advice on how is a best to implement my suggested architecture and requirements.

I will describe my requirements:

I have a manager object that receives tasks to process (holds aa task queue), the manager should distribute tasks between dedicated threads. each thread knows to execute only specific type of tasks.

I created a Main Manager class with a collection of type specific threads, When a Main manager receives a new task it will push a task to the queue of a thread class object that knows how to handle this task (each thread has it's own task queue).

A thread need to pool a task from his queue when he finished to handle previous task, but if the queue is empty , he should not use resources and need to be awaken when a new task arrives.

My though (may be not so good) was to use threads that extend timer object and with a timed task of checking its queue, but this does not fit to my requirement to free resources until a new task arrives.

Any suggestion of the best way to handle those system requirement will be appreciated (My Question is not a homework but rather a part of my developing tasks).

EDIT

(An answer to @Alexander Torstling) I am using currently a Blocking Queue as a tasks queue, my question is not a concurrency issue but rather an architectural , i want to free resources when the queue is empty and i want to be awaken maybe by event if a new task arrives, if i have finished handling with a task and i have more of them i will continue to handle next task;

Answer 1

Have a look at BlockingQueue . And in order to avoid creating too many threads, you might want to consider using an Executor , which can manage a thread pool for you.

Answer 2

I would use an ExecutorService. This wraps a Queue and a pool of Thread(s)

ExecutorService service = Executors.newXxxx(); // new thread pool.


service.submit(new Runnable() {
    public void run() {
        process(task);
    }
});

This way a single thread pool can process any number of different types of tasks (or just one if you prefer)