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Distributed partial constraint satisfaction problem

  • Session 4
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Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming-CP97 (CP 1997)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 1330))

Abstract

Many problems in multi-agent systems can be described as distributed Constraint Satisfaction Problems (distributed CSPs), where the goal is to find a set of assignments to variables that satisfies all constraints among agents. However, when real problems are formalized as distributed CSPs, they are often over-constrained and have no solution that satisfies all constraints. This paper provides the Distributed Partial Constraint Satisfaction Problem (DPCSP) as a new framework for dealing with over-constrained situations. We also present new algorithms for solving Distributed Maximal Constraint Satisfaction Problems (DMCSPs), which belong to an important class of DPCSP. The algorithms are called the Synchronous Branch and Bound (SBB) and the Iterative Distributed Breakout (IDB). Both algorithms were tested on hard classes of over-constrained random binary distributed CSPs. The results can be summarized as SBB is preferable when we are mainly concerned with the optimality of a solution, while IDB is preferable when we want to get a nearly optimal solution quickly.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kobe University of Mercantile Marine, 5-1-1 Fukae-minami-machi, 658, Kobe, Japan

    Katsutoshi Hirayama

  2. NTT Communication Science Laboratories, 2-2 Hikaridai, Seika-cho, Soraku-gun, 619-02, Kyoto, Japan

    Makoto Yokoo

Authors
  1. Katsutoshi Hirayama
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  2. Makoto Yokoo
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Editor information

Gert Smolka

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© 1997 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Hirayama, K., Yokoo, M. (1997). Distributed partial constraint satisfaction problem. In: Smolka, G. (eds) Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming-CP97. CP 1997. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1330. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0017442

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0017442

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-63753-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-69642-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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