Patent ID: 7099851

Claim:
A computer system for solving an interval global optimization problem specified by a function ƒ and a set of equality constraints, the computer system comprising: a processing unit; a memory; an interval arithmetic unit within the processing unit, wherein the interval arithmetic unit is configured to receive floating-point numbers representing a first endpoint and a second endpoint for a first interval and floating-point numbers representing a first endpoint and a second endpoint for a second interval, and is configured to perform arithmetic operations to produce a first endpoint and a second endpoint representing a resulting interval; wherein computational code within the memory is configured to perform an interval global optimization process to compute guaranteed bounds on a globally minimum value of the function ƒ(x) subject to the set of equality constraints; wherein the interval global optimization process is configured to, apply term consistency to the set of equality constraints over a subbox X, and to exclude portions of the subbox X that can be shown by using term consistency to violate any of the equality constraints, wherein using term consistency involves intersecting the first interval with an inverse of a function derived from the first interval.