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From: matthew@trader.com (Matthew R. Schantz)
Subject: Re: Product Release:  Evolutionary Algorithm
Message-ID: <b77cc$16c1d.9f@TCNNTP.trader.com>
Date: Fri, 08 Nov 1996 03:12:23 GMT
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Glen Clark <glen@clarkcom.com> wrote:

>Jive Dadson wrote:
>> > I've read Koza's _Genetic Programming_. ... I haven't read the patent, so I don't
>> know how broad it is. I wonder if this group is paying Koza, or if he is
>> associated with them.
> 
>Well the original works was Holland's, so the Koza patent (it would 
>seem to me) has to be on some extension of the basic premise. It 
>might not hurt the group to know the answer to Jive's question:
>"~how broad is the patent?"

>In the absence of someone who knows the answer to that question,
>I would settle for the patent number(s).

A search of the CNIDR patent database (patents.chidr.org) reveals that U.S.
Patent No. 5,390,282 was issued to John R. Koza on Feb. 14, 1995.  The
abstract reads:

An apparatus and process for solving problems using self-replicating and
self-improving entities. The present invention includes an apparatus and
process for solving a problem using a population of entities, wherein each
of the entities is an arrangement of actions and material which are capable
of including an incorporation action and are capable of including an
emission action. The present invention also includes a process and
apparatus for activating each of the entities by presenting each of the
entities with at least one combination of environmental material. If an
entity has an incorporation action then that entity searches the population
for a part of one of the entities and then incorporates the portion of the
one entity associated with the part into itself. If the entity includes an
emission action then the entity searches the population for a part and then
the entity produces at least one emission, such that if the entity responds
effectively to a combination of environmental material then the emission
enters the population and if the entity fails to respond effectively then
the emission fails to enter the population. The activation continues until
one of the entities responds effectively to a specified number of
combinations of material, such that a solution to the problem is generated.

Of course, the patent _claims_ define the patentee's rights, so a post of
the claims (and a talk with a patent lawyer) would be recommended.

Best wishes.

Matthew R. Schantz
matthew@trader.com


