SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MODELING AND ANALYZING COMPLEX SCENARIOS

• US 20110066621A1
• Filed: 09/17/2009
• Published: 03/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TRIAD National Security, LLC
• Original Assignee: Los Alamos National Security LLC (Government of the United States of America)
• Inventors: SHEVITZ, Daniel Wolf
• Granted Patent: US 8,412,708 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/741
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/02 Knowledge representation; Symbolic representation

Abstract

An embodiment of the present invention includes a method for analyzing and solving possibility tree. A possibility tree having a plurality of programmable nodes is constructed and solved with a solver module executed by a processor element. The solver module executes the programming of said nodes, and tracks the state of at least a variable through a branch. When a variable of said branch is out of tolerance with a parameter, the solver disables remaining nodes of the branch and marks the branch as an invalid solution. The valid solutions are then aggregated and displayed as valid tree solutions.

Claims

1. A method of possibility tree analysis, the method comprising:

constructing a possibility tree having a plurality of nodes, wherein at least one said node being a logic gate node, and populating said at least one logic gate node with two or more options;

solving said possibility tree, where said solving is performed by a solver module executed by a processor element, and where said solving includes;

tracking the state of at least a variable through a branch,

disabling remaining nodes of said branch during the execution of said branch when a said variable of said branch meets a user defined condition,

marking said branch as an invalid solution when said variable of said branch meets said user defined condition,

repeating said tracking and disabling steps for a plurality of branches, and

aggregating and displaying completed branches as valid tree solutions.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a plurality of nodes being logic gate nodes.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one said node being programmable.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein a said programmable node being programmable to create and modify a said variable.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein a said programmable node being programmable to determine when said variable of said branch meets said user defined condition.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein at least a first said programmable node being a replicant of a model programmable node such that an alteration of a replicant node or the model node during the construction of said possibility tree propagates to another replicant node.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a user defined condition includes at least a parameter as compared with a said variable.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one logic gate node is populated manually with options.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one logic gate node is populated with at least one option stored electronically in a database, where said at least one logic gate node being programmed to retrieve said at least one option from said database.

10. A method of creating a dynamic possibility tree, the method comprising:

constructing a possibility tree having a plurality of nodes, wherein at least one said node being a logic gate node, and populating said at least one logic gate node with options;

programming at least a said node to disable remaining nodes of a branch during the execution of said branch when a variable meets a user defined condition, and marking said branch having disabled nodes as an invalid solution;

solving said possibility tree, where said solving is performed by a solver module executed by a processor element; and

;

aggregating and displaying remaining valid branches as branch solutions.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein a plurality of nodes being logic gate nodes.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein a said programmable node being programmable to create and modify a said variable.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein at least a first said programmable node being a replicant of a model programmable node such that an alteration of a replicant node or the model node during the construction of said possibility tree propagates to another replicant node.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein said at least one logic gate node is populated manually with options.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein said at least one logic gate node is populated with at least one option stored electronically in a database, where said at least one logic gate node being programmed to retrieve said at least one option from said database.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein said solving step including:

tracking the state of at least a variable through a branch;

disabling remaining nodes of said branch during the execution of said branch when said variable of said branch meets said user defined condition;

marking said branch as an invalid solution when said variable meets said user defined condition; and

repeating said tracking and disabling steps for a plurality of branches.

17. A method of possibility tree analysis, the method comprising:

constructing a possibility tree having a plurality of nodes, wherein at least one said node being programmable, and populating said at least a programmable node with at least a variable;

programming at least a said programmable node with instructions for utilizing said at least a variable during the execution of said possibility tree;

solving said possibility tree, where said solving is performed by a solver module executed by a processor element, and where said solving includes;

tracking a path state dictionary of variables specific to a path of said possibility tree along said path, where a said programmable node is operable to create and add a variable to said path state dictionary, and is operable to modify the state of an existing said variable in said path state dictionary,

comparing at least a said variable to a user defined condition as instructed within the programming of a said programmable node,

disabling remaining nodes of said path during the execution of said path and marking said path as an invalid solution when a said variable of said path meets a user defined condition,

repeating said tracking, comparing and disabling steps for a plurality of paths, and

aggregating and displaying completed paths as valid tree solutions.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein said populating of said at least a programmable node includes programming said programmable node with database lookups, accessing a database according to said database lookups, and importing at least a said variable according to said database lookups for use in the possibility tree.

19. The method of claim 17 where, upon reaching the conclusion of a path, the possibility tree is rolled back to its state as of its last OR gate node with an unused option, allowing the execution of said possibility tree to continue with the selection of the unused option.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the construction of the possibility tree includes creating and placing nodes within the possibility tree, said creating and placing including the steps of:

creating a gate information module containing instructions for executing a node, said instructions including programming;

creating at least two context information modules, where each context information module contains information defining the location within the possibility tree of a respective node;

associating the at least two context information modules with the gate information module, thereby creating at least two replicant nodes.