Patent ID: 7406358

Claim:
A method of modelling a process chain, comprising: mapping processes in the process chain to control cycles; designating a control cycle in the process chain to be a leading control cycle; designating a control cycle in the process chain to be a dependent control cycle; defining states for the leading control cycle using a first matrix that defines starting and ending states in the leading control cycle; defining states for the dependent control cycle using a second matrix that defines starting and ending states in the dependent control cycle; and defining couplings between states in the leading control cycle and the dependent control cycle to produce a model of the process chain, at least one of the couplings causing a state change in the leading control cycle to affect a state change in the dependent control cycle; wherein the couplings are defined using a third matrix that relates the first matrix to the second matrix; wherein the at least one of the couplings comprises a one-directional coupling in which the state change in the leading control cycle affects the state change in the dependent control cycle; wherein at least one of the couplings comprises a bi-directional coupling in which a state change in the leading control cycle or in the dependent control cycle affects, respectively, a state change in the dependent control cycle or the leading control cycle; and wherein the third matrix identifies at least some of the couplings as either one-directional or bi-directional.