Patent ID: 7249003
Filing Date: 2007-07-24
Classification: G05B,G06F

Abstract:
1. A method for calculating a minimal Hitting Set from a collection of sets, comprising using a computer system to analyze a system having a collection of sets to derive the minimal Hitting Set from the collection of sets, the computer system being configured to perform acts of: receiving information regarding the collection of sets from the system; creating an incidence matrix of the collection of sets; creating nodes from the incidence matrix such that each node is a node in a search tree and has a label that includes a sub-matrix of the incidence matrix, and two disjoint subsets of the columns of the incidence matrix; calculating an upper bound and calculating a lower bound for each label, where the upper bound and lower bound define a range of solutions for the minimal Hitting Set; and determining whether each label has any child nodes or is a leaf node without any child nodes;