Patent Document ID: 5481649
Application ID: 08028662
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for use in a control system, said method for monitoring and controlling a linear or non-linear physical system capable of operating in a plurality of physical system states, said physical system performing a function and producing sets of data that include information as to the performance of the function by the physical system, said control system including a monitor for receiving and monitoring the data of the physical system, a currently active decision tree for making decisions; and a controller for issuing commands for changing the operation of the physical system in accordance with the decisions, the method comprising: a. collecting data and producing attributes and system state information; b. using the attributes and system state information to evaluate the currently active decision tree to produce decisions. c. applying the decisions in the controller to issue commands; d. transmitting the commands to the physical system to control its operation; e. repeating the aforementioned steps a-d to repetitively control the operation of the physical system; f. while repeating steps a-d: i. identifying decisions made by the currently active decision tree that were bad decisions based on an evaluation of the collected data; ii. adapting a tree corresponding to the currently active decision tree based on the identified bad decisions to produce an adapted decision tree that has improved performance as compared to the currently active decision tree; iii. maintaining the size of the adapted decision tree within a constant limit; iv. using the adapted decision tree for the currently active decision tree to improve performance of the physical system; and v. repeating the aforementioned steps i-iv to repetitively produce adapted decision trees that are successively used for the currently active decision tree while the size of each successive adapted decision tree is maintained within the constant limit, whereby the currently active decision tree is constantly updated to improve performance.