Patent ID: 7464009

Claim:
A method for determining one or more solution paths between two states using a hierarchy graph that defines a sequence of hierarchy levels, comprising: providing a data model of master data including a state set with a plurality of states pertaining to physical sites, conditions of a physical entity, or the like, wherein each state is assigned to exactly one hierarchy level and wherein to each state zero, one or a plurality of states of lower hierarchy levels are assigned; and a transition set with transitions from one state to a state on the same or on a different hierarchy level; for at least one given source state and at least one given destination state, repeatedly performing the following steps: generating a graph having a plurality of states as vertices, transitions and hierarchical relationships among states as edges, and a cost function; and subjecting the graph to a path optimization mechanism outputting multiple paths from the at least one source state to the at least one destination state that heuristically influence the generation of the succeeding graph; wherein the one or more solution paths are included in the paths generated during the last repetition.