Skip to main content

Abstract

To improve solution robustness, we introduce the concept of super solutions to constraint programming. An (a,b)-super solution is one in which if a variables lose their values, the solution can be repaired by assigning these variables with a new values and at most b other variables. Super solutions are a generalization of supermodels in propositional satisfiability. We focus in this paper on (1,0)-super solutions, where if one variable loses its value, we can find another solution by re-assigning this variable with a new value. To find super solutions, we explore methods based both on reformulation and on search. Our reformulation methods transform the constraint satisfaction problem so that the only solutions are super solutions. Our search methods are based on a notion of super consistency. Experiments show that super MAC, a novel search-based method shows considerable promise. When super solutions do not exist, we show how to find the most robust solution. Finally, we extend our approach from robust solutions of constraint satisfaction problems to constraint optimization problems.

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

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Dechter, R., Frost, D., Bessière, C., Régin, J.C.: Random uniform CSP generator (1996), url: http://www.ics.uci.edu/~dfrost/csp/generator.html

  2. Dechter, A., Dechter, R.: Belief maintenance in dynamic constraint networks. In: Proceedings AAAI 1988, pp. 37–42 (1988)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Hebrard, E., Hnich, B., Walsh, T.: Super CSPs. Technical Report APES-66-2003, APES Research Group (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Fowler, D.W., Brown, K.N.: Branching constraint satisfaction problems for solutions robust under likely changes. In: Dechter, R. (ed.) CP 2000. D.W. Fowler and K.N. Brown, vol. 1894, pp. 500–504. Springer, Heidelberg (2000)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  5. Freuder, E.C.: A sufficient condition for backtrack-bounded search. Journal of the ACM 32, 755–761 (1985)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  6. Freuder, E.C.: Partial Constraint Satisfaction. In: Proceedings IJCAI 1989, pp. 278–283 (1989)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Freuder, E.C.: Eliminating Interchangeable Values in Constraint Satisfaction Problems. In: Proceedings AAAI 1991, pp. 227–233 (1991)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Gaschnig, J.: A constraint satisfaction method for inference making. In: Proceedings of the 12th Annual Allerton Conference on Circuit and System Theory, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (1974)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Gaschnig, J.: Performance measurement and analysis of certain search algorithms. Technical report CMU-CS-79-124, Carnegie-Mellon University, PhD thesis (1979)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Gent, I., MacIntyre, E., Prosser, P., Walsh, T.: The constrainedness of search. In: Proceedings AAAI 1996, pp. 246–252 (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Jussien, N., Debruyne, R., Boizumault, P.: Maintaining arc-consistency within dynamic backtracking. In: Dechter, R. (ed.) CP 2000. LNCS, vol. 1894, pp. 249–261. Springer, Heidelberg (2000)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  12. Parkes, A., Ginsberg, M., Roy, A.: Supermodels and robustness. In: Proceedings AAAI 1998, pp. 334–339 (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Miguel, I.: Dynamic Flexible Constraint Satisfaction and Its Application to AI Planning. PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Schiex, T., Verfaillie, G.: Nogood recording for static and dynamic constraint satisfaction problem. IJAIT 3(2), 187–207 (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Walsh, T.: SAT v CSP. In: Dechter, R. (ed.) CP 2000. LNCS, vol. 1894, pp. 441–456. Springer, Heidelberg (2000)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  16. Walsh, T.: Stochastic constraint programming. In: Proceedings ECAI 2002 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Watson, J.P., Barbulescu, L., Howe, A.E., Whitley, L.D.: Algorithms performance and problem structure for flow-shop scheduling. In: Proceedings of the Sixteenth National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI 1999), pp. 688–695 (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Weigel, R., Bliek, C.: On reformulation of constraint satisfaction problems. In: Proceedings ECAI 1998, pp. 254–258 (1998)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2004 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Hebrard, E., Hnich, B., Walsh, T. (2004). Super Solutions in Constraint Programming. In: Régin, JC., Rueher, M. (eds) Integration of AI and OR Techniques in Constraint Programming for Combinatorial Optimization Problems. CPAIOR 2004. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 3011. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-24664-0_11

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-24664-0_11

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-21836-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-24664-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics