Patent · US Expired

Device to assist adaptive reordering of sequential decisions

US4843567A · kind A · utility

5Cited by
0References
4Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJul 30, 1987
Grant dateJun 27, 1989
Priority date
Expiry dateJul 30, 2007

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY10S706/908
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A system for the adaptive reordering of sequential decisions in the search of a data base is provided with a device that simplifies and speeds up a heuristic search method by implementing in hardware the computation required for the adaptive reordering. The system includes an arithmetic unit for computing for each decision the ratio p/c where p is the probability of a successful outcome of the decision and c is the cost of computation to make that decision. The arithmetic unit includes a device for estimating the logarithms of the prabability p and the cost c for each decision. Logarithms of ratios p/c are calculated for each decision by subtracting the log c from the log p, and then the logarithms of the ratios for the decisions are compared to produce a priority value for each decision. The decisions are reordered based on the priority value assigned to each decision to obtain the optimal ordering of the decisions.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.