Patent Document ID: 6067572
Application ID: 09073558
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. An apparatus for providing a near-optimal path through a plurality of nodes interconnected by edges, each edge associated with a unique connection between two nodes, each node comprising a component, and the nodes configured in granules, the apparatus comprising: granules interconnected in a topology, each granule comprising one or more nodes operably interconnected by an edge, each edge having associated therewith a connection state selectable from an unloaded state and at least one loaded state, and having associated therewith an edge state comprising data corresponding to the connection state; a memory device comprising: a vacuum space containing vacuum data corresponding to the topology of the granules, the topology corresponding to the unloaded state corresponding to each granule and each edge connecting each granule to a proximate granule; a load space containing data corresponding to a topology of the granules in a loaded state comprising the granule states corresponding to a loaded state of the plurality of loaded states for each granule; and a processor operably connected to the memory device and programmed to execute an executable application comprising: a granule manager effective to provide definitions of the granules, a load manager effective to create and update load data stored in the load space, a granule event manager effective to provide data reflecting updated loads associated with edges between granules, an external agent for providing extrinsic data to the granule event manager wherein the extrinsic data influences loading decisions, and a vacuum space manager effective to receive data corresponding to events associated with changes in loading of the granules, and to update the load space with the load data corresponding to the events.