| US 7,610,249 B2 | ||
| Method and apparatus for evolutionary design | ||
| Noubar B. Afeyan, Lexington, Mass. (US); Kamal M. Malek, Weston, Mass. (US); Nigel J. Bufton, OxfordShire (United Kingdom); Sevan G. Ficici, Cambridge, Mass. (US); and Howard A. Austin, Lexington, Mass. (US); Larry J. Austin, legal representative, and Honor E. McClellan, legal representative | ||
| Assigned to Affinova, Inc., Waltham, Mass. (US) | ||
| Filed on Sep. 16, 2005, as Appl. No. 11/229,020. | ||
| Application 11/229020 is a continuation of application No. 10/831881, filed on Apr. 26, 2004, granted, now 7,016,882. | ||
| Application 10/831881 is a continuation of application No. 10/053353, filed on Nov. 09, 2001, granted, now 7,177,851. | ||
| Claims priority of provisional application 60/247271, filed on Nov. 10, 2000. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2006/0080268 A1, Apr. 13, 2006 | ||
| Int. Cl. G06N 5/00 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 706—13 [706/45] | 58 Claims |
| 1. A method of selecting a preferred one or a preferred group of forms of a product, each product form comprising a plurality
of attributes, the method comprising the steps of:
(a) presenting, over an electronic network, to a plurality of selectors, one or more groups of product forms;
(b) obtaining information from a selector about the selector's preference among the presented product forms;
(c) using the obtained information to determine a derived group of product forms, each of at least some of the derived product
forms comprising a combination of attributes different than the plurality of attributes of each of at least some of the presented
product forms;
(d) iterating steps (a) through (c), using a derived group from step (c), until a stopping criterion is achieved; and
(e) upon achieving the stopping criterion, selecting one or a group of preferred product forms, wherein each of the attributes
comprises a structural, functional, stylistic, or economic feature of the product.
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