Patent Document ID: 7765319
Application ID: 10902416
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method of using critical nodes in at least one network to define critical regions in the at least one network, comprising: loading network data into at least one system as at least one series of nodes; generating at least one distance matrix; generating at least one adjacency matrix based on the at least one distance matrix; computing at least one shortest path for each node using the at least one adjacency matrix; determining at least one number of connections for each node; ranking the nodes based on the at least one number of connections for each node; creating at least one set of top ranked nodes; for each member of the at least one set of top ranked nodes, generating at least one list of nodes that are x hops away from the member; for each node in the at least one network, determining at least one shortest path until a node in the set of top ranked nodes is reached; and placing each node in the set of top ranked nodes under at least one designated hub and attaching an attribute for each node representing how many hops each node is from its designated hub; wherein the ranking comprises regional ranking, distance ranking, global ranking, or relay ranking, or any combination thereof; wherein the regional ranking global defines connections as links that connect at least two different regions and local connections as links within at least one region; wherein the distance ranking defines global connections as links over a certain distance threshold and local connections as links under a certain distance threshold; wherein the global ranking is based on at least one number of global connections utilizing either the regional ranking or distance ranking; wherein the relay ranking accounts for at least one ratio of total capacity connected to a node and demand for that capacity to identify nodes that are acting as relays between large demand areas.