Patent Document ID: 20160048765
Application ID: 14458209
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. A computer-aided decision making system, comprising: (a) a user input device; (b) a user output device; and (c) a processor programmed to evaluate decision problems available to a user, the programmed processor; (A) facilitating input of information from the user via the user input device, the information including (i) the decision problem to be solved to maximize a value received by the user (ii) an action set, the action set having elements representing actions available to the user, each element in the action set having a corresponding action cost, the corresponding action costs forming an action cost set, (iii) at least two state dimensions, each state dimension having elements representing values of a condition relevant to the decision problem, (iv) each state dimension having a corresponding reward vector, the corresponding reward vector has reward elements representing the reward associated with the elements of the state dimension, (v) each state dimension having a corresponding transition matrix, the corresponding transition matrix containing, for each element in the state dimension, a probability of moving from each state in the state dimension to each state in the state dimension for each action in the action set, (vi) a time index, the time index containing decision points available to the user, each decision point representing a point in time when the user selects from the action set, (B) the programmed processor combining the reward vectors with the action cost set to form a reward matrix and the programmed processor combining the transition matrices with the action set to form a total transition matrix; (C) the programmed processor forming a functional equation from the state dimensions, the reward matrix, the total transition matrix, and all remaining inputs; (D) the programmed processor evaluating the functional equation; (E) the programmed processor presenting the user with decision-making advice.