Simpler and Faster Algorithm for Checking the Dynamic Consistency of Conditional Simple Temporal Networks

Simpler and Faster Algorithm for Checking the Dynamic Consistency of Conditional Simple Temporal Networks

Luke Hunsberger, Roberto Posenato

Proceedings of the Twenty-Seventh International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence
Main track. Pages 1324-1330. https://doi.org/10.24963/ijcai.2018/184

Recent work on Conditional Simple Temporal Networks (CSTNs) has focused on checking the dynamic consistency (DC) property assuming that execution strategies can react instantaneously to observations. Three alternative semantics---IR-DC, 0-DC, and π-DC---have been presented. The most practical DC-checking algorithm for CSTNs has only been analyzed with respect to the IR-DC semantics, while the 0-DC semantics was shown to have a serious flaw that the π-DC semantics fixed. Whether the IR-DC semantics had the same flaw and, if so, what the consequences would be for the DC-checking algorithm remained open questions. This paper (1) shows that the IR-DC semantics is also flawed; (2) shows that one of the constraint-propagation rules from the IR-DC-checking algorithm is not sound with respect to the IR-DC semantics; (3) presents a simpler algorithm, called the π-DC-checking algorithm; (4) proves that it is sound and complete with respect to the π-DC semantics; and (5) empirically evaluates the new algorithm.
Keywords:
Constraints and SAT: Constraint Satisfaction
Knowledge Representation and Reasoning: Geometric, Spatial, and Temporal Reasoning
Constraints and SAT: Constraints: Evaluation and Analysis