Patent ID: 8577480

Claim:
A computerized method for estimating an optimal value for each of a plurality of input factors of a design space, the design space being defined by the plurality of input factors and a plurality of output responses for a physical process, wherein the optimal values represent a starting point for estimating the design space, the computerized method comprising: receiving, via a computing device, the plurality of input factors, the plurality of output responses and criteria comprising a target response criterion for each of the plurality of output response; estimating, by the computing device, an initial design space, comprising: creating, by the computing device, a multidimensional grid, each dimension of the grid corresponding to an input factor, wherein the grid comprises a plurality of grid points, each grid point representing a set of values, each value being assigned to one input factor in the plurality of input factors; estimating, by the computing device, at each grid point a risk of failure level associate with each output response based on the target response criterion for the output response; and creating, by the computing device, the initial design space by aggregating the grid points at which the corresponding risk of failure levels are below a predetermined threshold; and determining, by the computing device, the optimal values for the plurality of input factors within the initial design space by successively eliminating one or more of the grid points in the initial design space closest to the boundary of the initial design space until at least one grid point remains, wherein the at least one grid point remaining represents the optimal values for the plurality of input factors.