The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 14, 2002
Filed:
Sep. 02, 1999
William Lam, Fremont, CA (US);
Thomas M. McWilliams, Menlo Park, CA (US);
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
The invention is a method and apparatus for optimizing a real function in the Boolean domain. In accordance with an embodiment of the method, the real function is represented as a Boolean function. A binary decision diagram for the Boolean function is generated, the binary decision diagram having a root and at least one variable node. The number of vertices for at least one variable node of the binary decision diagram is determined. The function is optimized by selecting a path or paths from the root to at least one variable node of the binary decision diagram having the least number of vertices. The solution values of one or more variables of the Boolean function are determined in accordance with the path(s) through the binary decision diagram. These values comprise an optimized solution set for the real function.