Patent Document ID: 5541848
Application ID: 08356850
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method of scheduling the delivery of product from a plurality of locations, wherein a first measurement parameter of the product varies among the plurality of locations, comprising the steps of: identifying a plurality of recipients, each having a revenue function associated with the first measurement parameter for the product; randomly generating a first generation of assignment sequences, each assignment sequence in the generation assigning each of the plurality of recipients to one of the plurality of locations; determining a fitness function value for each of the assignment sequences by evaluating a fitness function, wherein the fitness function comprises the sum of the revenue functions for each of the recipients in the assignment sequence, evaluated for each of the recipients according to the first measurement parameter for the product at the location assigned in the assignment sequence; then producing a succeeding generation of assignment sequences according to a genetic algorithm; repeating the step of determining a fitness function value, for each of the assignment sequences in the succeeding generation; and identifying the assignment sequence having the highest fitness function value.