System, computer-implemented method, and software for vessel scheduling for product distribution
First Claim
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1. A system that generates a schedule for delivery of products via an ocean-going vessel, the system comprising:
- a computer system comprising a processor that receives a schedule request and one or more constraints for scheduling one or more vessels; and
an optimization engine tangibly embodied on the computer system, the optimization engine generating a schedule comprising one or more vessel assignments to one or more terminals based on the one or more constraints using;
a beam search algorithm comprising a branch-and-bound algorithm with a greedy heuristic estimating the desirability of one or more nodes, the branch-and-bound algorithm uses possible vessel assignments as branches and orders terminal/product pairs according to criticality,the optimization engine further verifies short term feasibility of a vessel candidate using a backtracking algorithm and determines the one or more vessel assignments according to a recursive process that includes determining the feasibility of assigning each of a plurality of vessel candidates to the one or more terminals.
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Abstract
A system, computer-implemented method, and software for automatically planning and scheduling ocean-going vessels for oil distribution is provided. The scheduling of the vessels is based on a filtered beam search and greedy heuristic. A server can be used for receiving a schedule request and one or more constraints for scheduling one or more vessels from one or more users. An optimization engine can be used for generating a schedule based at least in part on the one or more constraints using a beam search algorithm.
9 Citations
12 Claims
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1. A system that generates a schedule for delivery of products via an ocean-going vessel, the system comprising:
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a computer system comprising a processor that receives a schedule request and one or more constraints for scheduling one or more vessels; and an optimization engine tangibly embodied on the computer system, the optimization engine generating a schedule comprising one or more vessel assignments to one or more terminals based on the one or more constraints using; a beam search algorithm comprising a branch-and-bound algorithm with a greedy heuristic estimating the desirability of one or more nodes, the branch-and-bound algorithm uses possible vessel assignments as branches and orders terminal/product pairs according to criticality, the optimization engine further verifies short term feasibility of a vessel candidate using a backtracking algorithm and determines the one or more vessel assignments according to a recursive process that includes determining the feasibility of assigning each of a plurality of vessel candidates to the one or more terminals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A method of generating a schedule for delivery of products via an ocean-going vessel, the method comprising:
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receiving, by a computer system comprising a processor, a schedule request and one or more constraints for scheduling one or more vessels; generating, by the computer system, a schedule comprising one or more vessel assignments to one or more terminals based on the one or more constraints using a beam search algorithm comprising a branch-and-bound algorithm with a greedy heuristic estimating the desirability of one or more nodes, the branch-and-bound algorithm using possible vessel assignments as branches and ordering terminal/product pairs according to criticality; and verifying, by the computer system, short term feasibility of a vessel candidate using a backtracking algorithm and determining the one or more vessel assignments according to a recursive process that includes determining the feasibility of assigning each of a plurality of vessel candidates to the one or more terminals. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8)
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9. A non-transitory computer-readable media embodied with software that generates a schedule for delivery of products via an ocean-going vessel, the software when executed by one or more computers is configured to:
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receive a schedule request and one or more constraints for scheduling one or more vessels; generate a schedule comprising one or more vessel assignments to one or more terminals based on the one or more constraints using a beam search algorithm comprising a branch-and-bound algorithm with a greedy heuristic estimating the desirability of one or more nodes, the branch-and-bound algorithm uses possible vessel assignments as branches and orders terminal/product pairs according to criticality; and verify short term feasibility of a vessel candidate using a backtracking algorithm and determine the one or more vessel assignments according to a recursive process that includes determining the feasibility of assigning each of a plurality of vessel candidates to the one or more terminals. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
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Specification