Patent ID: 8311878

Claim:
A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to solve a constrained pricing optimization problem, the solving comprising: defining one or more constraints, wherein each constraint of the one or more constraints comprises a mathematical representation of one or more restrictions on a price; assigning a priority to each of the one or more constraints; generating one or more prices for one or more items that satisfy a maximum number of the prioritized constraints; computing a risk value for each price of the one or more prices, for each item, wherein the risk value represents a deviation of the price from an original price of the corresponding item, wherein the computing the risk value for each price uses: (a) the difference between the price and the original price of the corresponding item, (b) one or more parameters that are assigned numerical values, and (c) one or more objective-weights that are assigned numerical values; dividing a range of the one or more prices into two or more ranges, wherein a change in risk value between each price within one range is different from a change in risk value between each price within the other ranges; and selecting the price from the one or more prices, for each item, whose risk value represents a minimum deviation from the original price of the item.