Skip to main content

An Algorithm for Checking the Dynamic Controllability of a Conditional Simple Temporal Network with Uncertainty - Revisited

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Agents and Artificial Intelligence (ICAART 2013)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 449))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

A Simple Temporal Network with Uncertainty (STNU) is a framework for representing and reasoning about temporal problems involving actions whose durations are bounded but uncontrollable. A dynamically controllable STNU is one for which there exists a strategy for executing its time-points that guarantees that all of the temporal constraints in the network will be satisfied no matter how the uncontrollable durations turn out. A Conditional Simple Temporal Network with Uncertainty (CSTNU) augments an STNU to include observation nodes, the execution of which incrementally and dynamically determines the set of constraints that must be satisfied. Previously, we generalized the notion of dynamic controllability to cover CSTNUs and presented a sound algorithm for determining whether arbitrary CSTNUs are dynamically controllable. That algorithm extends edge-generation/constraint-propagation rules from an existing DC-checking algorithm for STNUs with new rules required to deal with the observation nodes. This paper revisits that algorithm, modifying some of its rules to cover more cases, while preserving the soundness of the algorithm.

L. Hunsberger: Funded in part by the Phoebe H. Beadle Science Fund.

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 EPUB and 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

Notes

  1. 1.

    Hunsberger [8] subsequently corrected a minor flaw in the semantics of dynamic controllability.

  2. 2.

    A preliminary version of this algorithm was presented previously [3].

  3. 3.

    As proven elsewhere [11], the ordinary edges associated with contingent links are not needed for the purposes of DC checking.

  4. 4.

    Recall that an execution strategy need only satisfy labeled constraints in scenarios where their labels are true.

References

  1. Combi, C., Posenato, R.: Controllability in temporal conceptual workflow schemata. In: Dayal, U., Eder, J., Koehler, J., Reijers, H.A. (eds.) BPM 2009. LNCS, vol. 5701, pp. 64–79. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  2. Hunsberger, L., Posenato, R., Combi, C.: The dynamic controllability of conditional STNs with uncertainty. In: Workshop on Planning and Plan Execution for Real-World Systems: Principles and Practices (PlanEx) @ ICAPS-2012, Atibaia, pp. 1–8 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Combi, C., Hunsberger, L., Posenato, R.: An algorithm for checking the dynamic controllability of a conditional simple temporal network with uncertainty. In: 5th International Conference on Agents and Artificial Intelligence (ICAART-2013). SciTePress (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Morris, P.H., Muscettola, N.: Temporal dynamic controllability revisited. In: Veloso, M.M., Kambhampati, S. (eds.) The 20th National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-05), pp. 1193–1198. AAAI Press, Menlo Park (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Conrad, P.R., Williams, B.C.: Drake: an efficient executive for temporal plans with choice. J. Artif. Intell. Res. (JAIR) 42, 607–659 (2011)

    MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  6. Dechter, R., Meiri, I., Pearl, J.: Temporal constraint networks. Artif. Intell. 49, 61–95 (1991)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  7. Morris, P.H., Muscettola, N., Vidal, T.: Dynamic control of plans with temporal uncertainty. In: Nebel, B. (ed.) The 17th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI-01), pp. 494–502. Kaufmann, San Francisco (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Hunsberger, L.: Fixing the semantics for dynamic controllability and providing a more practical characterization of dynamic execution strategies. In: Lutz, C., Raskin, J.F. (eds.) TIME, pp. 155–162. IEEE Computer Society, New York (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Morris, P.: A structural characterization of temporal dynamic controllability. In: Benhamou, F. (ed.) CP 2006. LNCS, vol. 4204, pp. 375–389. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  10. Tsamardinos, I., Vidal, T., Pollack, M.E.: CTP: a new constraint-based formalism for conditional, temporal planning. Constraints 8, 365–388 (2003)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  11. Hunsberger, L.: Magic loops in simple temporal networks with uncertainty. In: 5th International Conference on Agents and Artificial Intelligence (ICAART-2013). SciTePress (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Combi, C., Posenato, R.: Towards temporal controllabilities for workflow schemata. In: Markey, N., Wijsen, J. (eds.) TIME, pp. 129–136. IEEE Computer Society, New York (2010)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roberto Posenato .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Combi, C., Hunsberger, L., Posenato, R. (2014). An Algorithm for Checking the Dynamic Controllability of a Conditional Simple Temporal Network with Uncertainty - Revisited. In: Filipe, J., Fred, A. (eds) Agents and Artificial Intelligence. ICAART 2013. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 449. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44440-5_19

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44440-5_19

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-44439-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-44440-5

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics