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. 21, 2011
Filed:
Nov. 30, 2007
Wheeler Ruml, Durham, NH (US);
Wheeler Ruml, Durham, NH (US);
Palo Alto Research Center Incorporated, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A data structure is described that comprises a balanced binary tree and a binary heap, which may be utilized for combinatorial searching algorithms. For instance, solutions for performing a task, such as a print job or the like, are associated with nodes that are utilized to generate the data structure. Each node is associated with a quality indicator that describes a most optimal solution that may be reached through the node when traversing the binary tree. The binary heap is generated from a subset of the nodes in the tree, wherein each node in the subset has a quality indicator value that is within a predefined range of a best known solution quality. The binary heap is sorted according to a search effort indicator value for each node, where nodes that are more easily reached in the tree are placed higher in the heap to facilitate rapid identification.