Patent ID: 8086595
Filing Date: 2011-12-27
Classification: G06F,G06Q

Abstract:
1. An on-line combinatorial search method implemented in a computer control system for utilizing a state-space planner for planning of operations for multi-step production processes in a manufacturing system having a plurality of machines, wherein the state-space planner considers possible combinations of actions, searching for one that correctly transforms an initial state of an object of a plurality of objects into a specified desired final state, wherein each of the combination of actions the state-space planner considers is called a search node, with each search node containing a series of actions to be performed on the object of the plurality of objects, the method comprising: performing, while the manufacturing system is on-line, multiple state-space search operations in a search space having a plurality of the search nodes to find individual solutions to multiple interacting individual problems, wherein at least some of the search nodes include children nodes, and actions of the search nodes and children nodes represent potential solutions to the existing interacting individual problems to be solved, and wherein the performed multiple state-space search operations include: linking, while the manufacturing system is on-line, the solutions found by the multiple state-space search operations for the solved multiple individual problems together as an overall solution.