US 8,266,601 B2Granted

Framework for interoperability of solvers

AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation

InventorsAlexander Sasha Stojanovic, Min Wei

Life of this patent

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Abstract

A framework may be provided for facilitating adoption of mathematical and logical solvers. A model, representing a problem, may be defined. The model may be defined: via a series of statements in a type safe common-language-specification compliant modeling language; via an intermediate format; or via a series of calls to a standardized application program interface. The framework may translate the defined model to an intermediate format, which many solvers may understand. The framework may provide a number of solver-related services including, but not limited to, services for creating a model, analyzing a model, selecting a well-suited solver based on analysis of a model, decomposing a model into multiple sub-models and providing the multiple sub-models to multiple solvers as multiple parallel threads, data binding, simulation, and post optimality analysis.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A system to be executed within one or more processing devices to provide a framework for facilitating adoption of a plurality of solvers, the system comprising:

a modeling language translator embedded in the framework for receiving a model defined in a particular modeling language and outputting the model defined in a second modeling language;
a plurality of solvers for solving a problem as defined by a model;
an application program interface for interfacing with any of the plurality of solvers;
a data binder for binding either modeling input to a data source or modeling output to a data sink, or for binding both the modeling input to the data source and the modeling output to the data sink;
and
a parallel solver scheduler for analyzing the model, decomposing the model into a plurality of sub-models of the model, providing respective ones of the sub-models to respective ones of the plurality of solvers that are well-suited for solving respective problems represented by the respective ones of the sub-models, launching the respective ones of the plurality of solvers as multiple parallel threads, and collecting respective produced solutions from the respective ones of the plurality of solvers, wherein
the particular modeling language is a common-language-specification compliant modeling language that ensures interoperability by defining a set of features that solver developers can rely on to be available.

4 more elements

A tangible machine-readable storage medium having instructions recorded thereon for at least one processor, the instructions comprising:

instructions for providing a facility for specifying a model associated with a problem, the facility providing for the specifying of the model via a common-language-specification-compliant modeling language, an intermediate format, and a standardized application program interface, the common-language-specification-compliant modeling language ensuring interoperability by defining a set of features that solver developers can rely on to be available;
instructions for providing a facility for translating the specified model in the common-language-specification-compliant modeling language to the intermediate format;
instructions for providing the model to one of a plurality of solvers for solving the problem, the model being provided to the one of the plurality of solvers as input in the intermediate format;
and
instructions for collecting a solution produced by the one of the plurality of solvers and reporting a result.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 12/338,159Filed 18 Dec 2008
Published: US 2010/0161289 A124 Jun 2010
Granted: 11 Sep 2012
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification5 codes

G06F 17/10
Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions: complex mathematical operations
G06F 8/51
Transformation of program code: source to source
G06N 5/01
Computing arrangements using knowledge-based models: dynamic search techniques; Heuristics; Dynamic trees; Branch-and-bound
G06F
Computing and data processing