Patent ID: 7623462

Claim:
A method executed in a processor for assisting in operating an enterprise which employs a network that includes nodes and links between various pairs of said nodes, where in the course of operating the enterprise a path is to be identified which begins at a chosen one of said nodes, it being a source node, and ends at another chosen one of said nodes, it being a terminus node, and where a representation of the network is stored in a database accessible to said processor, said representation including coordinates assigned to said nodes such that distance computed from said coordinates between each node pair that shares a link corresponds, to within a preselected approximation factor, to cost of traversing the link, and a representation of said network is stored in a database, comprising the steps of: designating the source node as a working node, and including in said memory information that includes the working node in said path, designating a node as a next working node, and including in said memory information that includes the designated node in said path, where the designated node is a node of said network that shares a connecting link with the working node and the coordinates of the designated node are such that a line from the working node to the designated node forms the smallest angle with a line from the working node to the terminus node, relative to angles of all other nodes that share a link with the working node; and repeating the step of designating a working node as the next node until the designated node is the terminus node.