Patent ID: 7653561
Filing Date: 2010-01-26
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. An apparatus that determines allocations in a business operation to maximize profit on a computer system, comprising: a memory; and a processor that accesses the memory to retrieve computer-executable instructions to perform: collecting profit data for a plurality of classes in the business operation, each class including an allocation having a cost function, the allocations being constrained by a total floor area, each class corresponding to a department of the business operation, and each allocation belonging to the group consisting of physical allocations and economic allocations; determining profit functions for the allocations from the profit data by: formulating a Multiple Choice Knapsack Problem to maximize profit based one the profit functions, the cost functions, and a cost constraint; running the Multiple Choice Knapsack Problem to determine values for the allocations, by utilizing a solution vector holding allocation values, and a recursive function that rewrites allocation values into the solution vector by recursively running for possible allocations from 0 up to a predetermined maximum allocation for each class, wherein the recursive function improves local caching performance by evaluating possible allocations for each class in a sequentially increasing order; and selecting the allocation values in the solution vector that maximize profit.