Patent ID: 8386397

Claim:
A method for generating a reduced solution space based on a given solution space that includes routes for conveying a collection of shipments, wherein the method comprises: performing, by one or more computing devices: identifying multiple sets of redundant routes within the given solution space, wherein each route of a given set of redundant routes includes a different permutation of a common set of locations, wherein each permutation indicates a different order in which a particular combination of locations are to be traversed by a vehicle for conveying shipments; for each given set of at least some of the multiple sets of redundant routes: utilizing one or more constraints associated with conveying shipments on routes of the given set to eliminate one or more routes of the given set from consideration; for each of multiple routes of the given set that have not been eliminated from consideration, determining a respective cost associated with utilizing the route; and in response to determining that the cost associated with a particular route of the given set that has not been eliminated from consideration is less than the cost associated with each of one or more other routes of the given set that have not been eliminated from consideration, adding the particular route of the given set to the reduced solution space without adding the other routes of the given set to the reduced solution space; analyzing the reduced solution space to select a particular subset of one or more routes for conveying the collection of shipments, wherein the reduced solution space comprises a plurality of routes from the given solution space including one route from each given set of the at least some of the multiple sets of redundant routes.