Patent Document ID: 4607325
Application ID: 06595117
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method of operating a process with the aid of a digital computer to minimize the cost of producing desired outputs of the processor, said process having a plurality of process components with each component having a mathematical model, at least some of said mathematical models being discontinuous, said process components being capable of being placed in a run or idle status, said process being capable of having applied to it one or more inputs and capable of producing one or more outputs, comprising the steps of: constantly providing said computer with data concerning the status of operation of each component, each output and each input of the process; providing the computer with a mathematical model of the process which includes mathematical models of each component; providing the computer with a real time discontinuous optimization procedure for producing an optimum state of operation of the process, said discontinuous optimization procedure determining the run or idle status of each component to minimize cost of the process; providing the computer with a procedure to update the model; providing the computer with a scheduling procedure; said scheduling procedure substantially continuously monitoring the state of operation of the process, comparing the current state of operation of the process with the last optimum state produced by the optimization procedure; said scheduling procedure initiating the operation of the optimization procedure to produce an updated optimum state if the current state of the process and the most recently calculated optimum state differ significantly or after the passage of a predetermined period of time; and said scheduling procedure changing the status of process components from run to idle or idle to run to be in accord with the updated optimum state of the process, as well as optimizing the operation of each process component to produce the desired outputs at minimum cost.