Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                
Skip to main content

Global consistency for continuous constraints

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming (PPCP 1994)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 874))

Abstract

This paper provides a technique for solving general constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) with continuous variables. Constraints are represented by a hierarchical binary decomposition of the space of feasible values. We propose algorithms for path- and higher degrees of consistency based on logical operations defined on this representation and demonstrate that the algorithms terminate in polynomial time. We show that, in analogy to convex temporal problems and discrete row-convex problems, convexity properties of the solution spaces can be exploited to compute minimal and decomposable networks using path consistency algorithms. Based on these properties, we also show that a certain class of non binary CSPs can be solved using strong 5-consistency.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Davis E.: “Constraint propagation with interval labels”, Artificial Intelligence 32 (1987)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Dechter R., Meiri I., Pearl J.: “Temporal constraint networks”, Artificial Intelligence 49(1–3) (1990)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Dechter R.: “From local to global consistency”, Proceedings of the 8th Canadian Conference on AI (1990)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Deville Y., Van Hetenryck P.: “An efficient arc consistency algorithm for a class of CSP problems”, Proceedings of the 12th International Joint Conference on AI (1991)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Faltings B.: “Arc consistency for continuous variables”, Artificial Intelligence 65 (2) (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Freuder E.C.: “Synthesizing constraint expressions”, Comm. ACM 21 (1978)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Freuder E.C.: “A sufficient condition for backtrack-free search”, J ACM 29 (1982)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Freuder E.C.: “A sufficient condition for backtrack-bounded search”, J. ACM 32 (1985)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Hyvönen E.: “Constraint reasoning based on interval arithmetic: the tolerance propagation approach”, Artificial Intelligence 58(1–3) (1992)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Lhomme O.: “Consistency techniques for numeric CSPs”, Proceedings of the 13th International Joint Conference on AI (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Mackworth A.: “Consistency in networks of relations”, Artificial Intelligence 8 (1977)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Montanari U.: “Networks of constraints: fundamental properties and applications to picture processing”, Inform. Scie. 7 (1974)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Tanimoto T.: “A constraint decomposition method for spatio-temporal configurations problems”, Proceedings of the the 11th National Conference on AI (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Van Beek P.: “Approximation algorithms for temporal reasoning”, Proceedings of the 11th International Joint Conference on AI (1989)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Van Beek P.: “On the minimality and decomposability of constraint networks”, Proceedings of the 10th National Conference on AI (1992)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Alan Borning

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1994 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Haroud, D., Faltings, B. (1994). Global consistency for continuous constraints. In: Borning, A. (eds) Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming. PPCP 1994. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 874. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-58601-6_88

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-58601-6_88

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-58601-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-49032-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics