US 2004/0107110 A1Published application

Optimization of transport with multiple vehicles

OwnerJens Gottlieb, Christoph Eckertinventors

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Abstract

Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for optimizing a total cost associated with transporting products on a set of vehicles. Orders representing products are assigned to one or more vehicles in the set. The assignment defines a sequence of pickup and delivery activities for the vehicles. One or more orders are deleted from one or more vehicles; at least one order from the deleted orders is inserted into a vehicle; the assignment is changed for at least one vehicle; and a cost is determined for the transportation of the products on the set of vehicles. The steps of deleting one or more orders, inserting at least one order, changing the assignment, and determining a cost, are repeated until an optimal cost has been determined.

Claims36

Dependent claims

A computer program product, tangibly stored on a computer-readable medium, for optimizing a total cost associated with transporting products on a set of vehicles, comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to:

assign one or more orders to one or more vehicles in a set of vehicles, each order representing one or more products;
create an assignment for one or more vehicles in the set of vehicles, the assignment defining a sequence of pickup and delivery activities for orders that are assigned to each of the one or more vehicles;
delete one or more orders from one or more vehicles in the set of vehicles;
insert at least one order from the one or more deleted orders into at least one vehicle in the set of vehicles;
change the assignment for at least one vehicle in the set of vehicles;
determine a cost for the transportation of the products on the set of vehicles;
and
repeat the instructions to delete one or more orders, insert at least one order, change the assignment, and determine a cost, until an optimal cost has been determined.

5 more elements

A method for optimizing a total cost associated with transporting products on a set of vehicles, the method comprising:

assigning one or more orders to one or more vehicles in a set of vehicles, each order representing one or more products;
creating an assignment for one or more vehicles in the set of vehicles, the assignment defining a sequence of pickup and delivery activities for orders that are assigned to each of the one or more vehicles;
deleting one or more orders from one or more vehicles in the set of vehicles;
inserting at least one order from the one or more deleted orders into at least one vehicle in the set of vehicles;
changing the assignment for at least one vehicle in the set of vehicles;
determining a cost for the transportation of the products on the set of vehicles;
and
repeating the steps of deleting one or more orders, inserting at least one order, changing the assignment, and determining a cost, until an optimal cost has been determined.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 10/308,919Filed 2 Dec 2002
Published: 3 Jun 2004
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification8 codes

G06Q 10/047
Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem":…
G06Q 10/025
Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events: coordination of plural reservations, e.g. plural trip segments, transportation combined with…
G06Q 10/0637
Operations research, analysis or management: strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions…
G06Q 10/08
Administration; Management: logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management