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:
Jun. 17, 2003
Filed:
Jul. 10, 2001
David W. Payton, Woodland Hills, CA (US);
Craig Lee, Redondo Beach, CA (US);
Bruce Hoff, Venice, CA (US);
Mike Howard, Westlake Village, CA (US);
Mike Daily, Thousand Oaks, CA (US);
HRL Laboratories, LLC, Malibu, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for computing properties of a physical environment is provided, using a plurality of agents forming a distributed network embedded within the environment. The method comprises determining an initiating agent transmitting a signal including a cumulative cost value to neighboring agents and processing the signal at each neighboring agent to augment the cumulative cost value with local information If multiple signals are received, determining which has the best cumulative cost value for generating a new signal then treating the neighboring agent as an initiating agent and transmitting the new signal to neighboring agents and retaining the best augmented cost value in memory Methods further include determining paths using shortest path computations, using dual gradients for aligning agents on a path between two reference agents, and discovering and converging agents on choke points.