Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080300706 | System and method for real-time system control using precomputed plans - Features described herein relate to optimizing a job plan procedure for selecting a plan for executing a manufacturing job. A planner can receive a model of a system that is to perform a job, and may select a precomputed plan that is sufficient to perform the job. The precomputed plan is identified during a first portion of a planning period, and the remainder of the planning period may be utilized to search for and identify a better plan for executing the job. If a better plan cannot be identified by the end of the planning period, then the selected precomputed plan can be executed. | 12-04-2008 |
20080300707 | System and method for on-line planning utilizing multiple planning queues - Features described herein relate to concurrently processing multiple batches of job requests for one or more machines and/or components thereof, using a plurality of job planning queues. Each batch of job requests is allocated to a planning queue, and each planning queue comprises an unplanned subqueue that stores unplanned jobs, an unsent subqueue that stores planned jobs waiting to be executed, and a sent subqueue that stores planned jobs that have been output to the machine(s) for execution. A job planner and related components determine which unsent subqueue has the fewest planned jobs at a given point in time, and selects an unplanned job from the unplanned subqueue in the same planning queue as the identified unsent subqueue. The planner then generates a plan for the selected job and inserts the planned job into the unsent subqueue for eventual output to the machine(s) for execution. In this manner, the unsent subqueues for each planning queue are maintained with substantially equal numbers of planned jobs ready for execution, which improves throughput by ensuring that all machines and/or associated components are kept busy. | 12-04-2008 |
20080300708 | Model-based planning using query-based component executable instructions - A method for planning machine control for a system includes determining one or more capabilities and one or more capability constraints for each component used to execute a plan for processing a job by the system. The plan is incrementally constructed based on the components, the one or more capabilities, and the one or more constraints. One or more sets of executable instructions are queried with incremental portions of the plan, wherein each set of executable instructions is associated with a different one of the components and represents the actions that are performed by its corresponding component, each incremental portion includes actions that are to be performed by its corresponding component, and each set of executable instructions executes the incremental portion it received. Upon receiving confirmation from each of the queried sets of executable instructions that indicates each of the components is able to perform the actions in the incremental portions, a final plan for processing the job is generated. | 12-04-2008 |
20080301690 | Model-based planning with multi-capacity resources - Systems and methods are described that facilitate performing model-based planning techniques for allocations of multi-capacity resources in a machine. The machine may be, for instance, a printing platform, such as a xerographic machine. According to various features, the multi-capacity resource may be a sheet buffer, and temporal constraints may be utilized to determine whether an insertion point for a new allocation of the sheet buffer is feasible. Multiple insertion points may be evaluated (e.g., serially or in parallel) to facilitate determining an optimal solution for a print job or the like. | 12-04-2008 |
20090268247 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ON-LINE PLANNING UTILIZING MULTIPLE PLANNING QUEUES - Features described herein relate to concurrently processing multiple batches of job requests for one or more machines and/or components thereof, using a plurality of job planning queues. Each batch of job requests is allocated to a planning queue, and each planning queue comprises an unplanned subqueue that stores unplanned jobs, an unsent subqueue that stores planned jobs waiting to be executed, and a sent subqueue that stores planned jobs that have been output to the machine(s) for execution. A job planner and related components determine which unsent subqueue has the fewest planned jobs at a given point in time, and selects an unplanned job from the unplanned subqueue in the same planning queue as the identified unsent subqueue. The planner then generates a plan for the selected job and inserts the planned job into the unsent subqueue for eventual output to the machine(s) for execution. In this manner, the unsent subqueues for each planning queue are maintained with substantially equal numbers of planned jobs ready for execution, which improves throughput by ensuring that all machines and/or associated components are kept busy. | 10-29-2009 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090144261 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SOLVING MULTIPLE INTERACTING STATE-SPACE SEARCH PROBLEMS - A combinatorial search method and system is implemented in a computer control system for utilizing state-space planning of operations for multi-step production processes. The planner considers various possible combinations of actions, searching for one that correctly transforms the initial state of the object (or commodity) into the specified desired final state, where each combination of actions the planner considers is called a search node. Each node contains a plan representing a series of actions of a plurality of machines on a single object and also containing the predicted state of the object with those actions applied either forward or backward. The state of the object consists of the set of attributes of the object. The method and system include multiple individual state-space search operations having a plurality of nodes, at least some of the nodes include children, and the children of the nodes represent potential solutions to existing problems to be solved, and the multiple state-space search operations are linked into a single search tree. | 06-04-2009 |
20090144310 | BOUNDED SUB-OPTIMAL PROBLEM SOLVING - A data structure is described that comprises a balanced binary tree and a binary heap, which may be utilized for combinatorial searching algorithms. For instance, solutions for performing a task, such as a print job or the like, are associated with nodes that are utilized to generate the data structure. Each node is associated with a quality indicator that describes a most optimal solution that may be reached through the node when traversing the binary tree. The binary heap is generated from a subset of the nodes in the tree, wherein each node in the subset has a quality indicator value that is within a predefined range of a best known solution quality. The binary heap is sorted according to a search effort indicator value for each node, where nodes that are more easily reached in the tree are placed higher in the heap to facilitate rapid identification. | 06-04-2009 |
20110238614 | AI PLANNING BASED QUASI-MONTECARLO SIMULATION METHOD FOR PROBABILISTIC PLANNING - A computer-based method and system for AI planning based quasi-Monte Carlo simulation for probabilistic planning are provided. The method includes generating a set of possible actions for an initial state, generating a set of sample future outcomes, generating solutions for each of the sample future outcomes, using an AI planner, generating a set of future outcome solutions that are low probability and high-impact, combining the solutions generated from each of the sample future outcomes with the future outcome solutions generated by the AI Planner into an aggregated set of future outcome solutions, analyzing the aggregated set of future outcome solutions, selecting a best action based at least partially on the analysis of the aggregated set of future outcome solutions, and outputting the selected best action to computer memory. | 09-29-2011 |