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Solving Minimal Constraint Networks in Qualitative Spatial and Temporal Reasoning

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Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming (CP 2012)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 7514))

Abstract

The minimal label problem (MLP) (also known as the deductive closure problem) is a fundamental problem in qualitative spatial and temporal reasoning (QSTR). Given a qualitative constraint network Γ, the minimal network of Γ relates each pair of variables (x,y) by the minimal label of (x,y), which is the minimal relation between x,y that is entailed by network Γ. It is well-known that MLP is equivalent to the corresponding consistency problem with respect to polynomial Turing-reductions. This paper further shows, for several qualitative calculi including Interval Algebra and RCC-8 algebra, that deciding the minimality of qualitative constraint networks and computing a solution of a minimal constraint network are both NP-hard problems.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Quantum Computation and Intelligent Systems, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney, Australia

    Weiming Liu & Sanjiang Li

Authors
  1. Weiming Liu
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  2. Sanjiang Li
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. DEIS Universitá di Bologna, V.le Risorgimento, 2, 40136, Bologna, Italy

    Michela Milano

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Liu, W., Li, S. (2012). Solving Minimal Constraint Networks in Qualitative Spatial and Temporal Reasoning. In: Milano, M. (eds) Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming. CP 2012. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7514. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-33558-7_35

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-33558-7_35

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-33557-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-33558-7

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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