Patent ID: 7444269

Claim:
A method of designing a route for a transport element comprising: establishing at least one constraint that limits possible routes for the transport element, wherein establishing the at least one constraint comprises establishing at least one inequality constraint which limits the possible routes for the transport element without fixing a position of any portion of the transport element, and wherein establishing the at least one constraint further comprises establishing at least one hard point constraint defining a location of a hard point through which the transport element must pass; establishing a selection criterion for evaluating the possible routes for the transport element, wherein each route for the transport element is defined by a plurality of parameters, wherein establishing the selection criterion comprises: defining a preferred value for each parameter and a violation cost function defining a cost for variances from the preferred value; and defining the selection criterion to be based upon a weighted combination of the cost for variances from the preferred value for each parameter; automatically defining the route for the transport element in accordance with the at least one constraint and pursuant to the selection criterion, wherein automatically defining the route comprises defining the route for the transport element to include straight segments that are non-orthogonal relative to one another; and providing the route for the transport element to a user.