Patent ID: 7496413

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving measurement data from at least one sensor at a first controller, the measurement data associated with at least one characteristic of an item being produced using a process; receiving a first output signal at the first controller, the first output signal generated by a second controller and affecting a first portion of the process; determining how to control a second portion of the process using the measurement data and the first output signal, wherein the first and second portions of the process affect the at least one characteristic of the item being produced; and providing a second output signal, the second output signal operable to control the second portion of the process; wherein determining how to control the second portion of the process comprises: estimating multiple states associated with the process using multiple state-space models, at least two of the state-space models associated with the first and second portions of the process, at least two of the estimated states associated with the first and second portions of the process; calculating future predictions of the at least one characteristic of the item being produced using the estimated states; defining an objective function using the future predictions; and solving a problem based on minimizing the objective function using a vector, the vector comprising first and second components associated with the first and second controllers, respectively.