US 11,720,070 B2
Determining causal models for controlling environments
Brian E. Brooks, St. Paul, MN (US); Gilles J. Benoit, Minneapolis, MN (US); Peter O. Olson, Andover, MN (US); Tyler W. Olson, Woodbury, MN (US); Himanshu Nayar, St. Paul, MN (US); Frederick J. Arsenault, Stillwater, MN (US); and Nicholas A. Johnson, Burnsville, MN (US)
Assigned to 3M INNOVATIVE PROPERTIES COMPANY, St. Paul, MN (US)
Appl. No. 17/438,096
Filed by 3M INNOVATIVE PROPERTIES COMPANY, St. Paul, MN (US)
PCT Filed Sep. 11, 2019, PCT No. PCT/US2019/050699
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Sep. 10, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/190326, PCT Pub. Date Sep. 24, 2020.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/818,816, filed on Mar. 15, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0187774 A1, Jun. 16, 2022
Int. Cl. G05B 13/04 (2006.01); G05B 13/02 (2006.01); G06N 5/043 (2023.01); G05B 23/02 (2006.01); G06N 5/046 (2023.01); G05B 19/4065 (2006.01); G05B 19/418 (2006.01); G06Q 10/0631 (2023.01); G06Q 10/0639 (2023.01); G06Q 30/0202 (2023.01); B60W 40/064 (2012.01); B60W 40/08 (2012.01); B60W 40/105 (2012.01); G06F 18/21 (2023.01); G06N 7/01 (2023.01); G06Q 10/087 (2023.01)
CPC G05B 13/042 (2013.01) [B60W 40/064 (2013.01); B60W 40/08 (2013.01); B60W 40/105 (2013.01); G05B 13/021 (2013.01); G05B 13/024 (2013.01); G05B 13/0265 (2013.01); G05B 13/041 (2013.01); G05B 19/4065 (2013.01); G05B 19/41835 (2013.01); G05B 23/0229 (2013.01); G06F 18/2193 (2023.01); G06N 5/043 (2013.01); G06N 5/046 (2013.01); G06N 7/01 (2023.01); G06Q 10/06315 (2013.01); G06Q 10/06395 (2013.01); G06Q 30/0202 (2013.01); G05B 2219/36301 (2013.01); G06Q 10/087 (2013.01)] 12 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for controlling an environment, the method comprising:
obtaining data specifying baseline probability distributions over possible settings for each of a plurality of controllable elements of an environment;
maintaining a causal model that identifies causal relationships between the possible settings and environment responses to the possible settings;
repeatedly performing the following:
selecting, by a control system, control settings for the environment based on the causal model and values for a particular internal parameter of the control system that are sampled from a range of possible values for the particular internal parameter;
selecting control settings for the environment based on the baseline probability distributions;
monitoring environment responses to (i) the control settings selected based on the causal model and (ii) the control settings selected based on the baseline probability distributions;
determining, for each of the possible values of the particular internal parameter, a measure of a difference between (i) a current system performance when the control settings are selected based on the causal model and on the possible value of the particular internal parameter and (ii) a baseline system performance measure for the control settings selected based on the baseline probability distributions; and
updating how frequently each of the possible values is sampled based on the measures of difference.