A constraint satisfaction approach to resolving product configuration conflicts

2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 592-602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dong Yang ◽  
Ming Dong
Keyword(s):  
Constraint Satisfaction ◽  
Product Configuration

Reasoning about conditional constraint specification problems and feature models

2011 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raphael Finkel ◽  
Barry O'Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Constraint Satisfaction ◽  
Directed Acyclic Graphs ◽  
Constraint Satisfaction Problems ◽  
Product Configuration ◽  
Feature Models ◽  
Model Builder ◽  
A Value ◽  
Acyclic Graphs ◽  
All Solutions ◽  
Constraint Specification

AbstractProduct configuration is a major industrial application domain for constraint satisfaction techniques. Conditional constraint satisfaction problems (CCSPs) and feature models (FMs) have been developed to represent configuration problems in a natural way. CCSPs are like constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs), but they also include potential variables, which might or might not exist in any given solution, as well as classical variables, which are required to take a value in every solution. CCSPs model, for example, options on a car, for which the style of sunroof (a variable) only makes sense if the car has a sunroof at all. FMs are directed acyclic graphs of features with constraints on edges. FMs model, for example, cell phone features, where utility functions are required, but the particular utility function “games” is optional, but requires Java support. We show that existing techniques from formal methods and answer set programming can be used to naturally model CCSPs and FMs. We demonstrate configurators in both approaches. An advantage of these approaches is that the model builder does not have to reformulate the CCSP or FM into a classic CSP, converting potential variables into classical variables by adding a “does not exist” value and modifying the problem constraints. Our configurators automatically reason about the model itself, enumerating all solutions and discovering several kinds of model flaws.

scholarly journals MULTI-SITE PRODUCT CONFIGURATION OF TELECOMMUNICATION SWITCHES

2014 ◽  
pp. 101-107
Author(s):  
Alexander Felfernig ◽  
Gerhard Friedrich ◽  
Dietmar Jannach ◽  
Christian Russ ◽  
Markus Zanker
Keyword(s):  
Constraint Satisfaction ◽  
Business Case ◽  
Product Configuration ◽  
Problem Domain ◽  
Implementation Framework ◽  
Industrial Sectors ◽  
Distributed Problem Solving ◽  
Complex Solutions ◽  
Networked Economy ◽  
Configurable Products

Knowledge­based product configurators support their users in tailoring configurable products according to their specific demands and these systems have been successfully applied in many industrial sectors over the last decades. However, within today’s networked economy, the complex solutions of fered to the customers are in many cases assembled from configurable sub­products themselves. Within this paper we describe a business case where due to organisational and confidentiality reasons a single­configurator approach is not applicable and several configurators along the supply chain must cooperate in finding correct product configurations and in presenting them to an online customer. We present an algorithm based on Constraint Satisfaction that takes the specific characteristics of the problem domain into account and compare our approach to other work in the field of Distributed Problem Solving. The implementation framework for distributed configuration which is currently developed in the EU­funded project CAWICOMS1 is discussed in the final sections.

Formulating constraint satisfaction problems for the inspection of configuration rules

2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-328
Author(s):  
Anna Tidstam ◽  
Johan Malmqvist ◽  
Alexey Voronov ◽  
Knut Åkesson ◽  
Martin Fabian
Keyword(s):  
Constraint Satisfaction ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Constraint Satisfaction Problems ◽  
Product Configuration ◽  
Computational Performance ◽  
Multiple Configuration ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Rules Set ◽  
Single Configuration ◽  
Important Activity

AbstractProduct configurationis when an artifact from a product family is assembled from a set of predefined components that can only be combined in certain ways. These ways are defined by configuration rules. The product developers inspect the configuration rules when they develop new configuration rules or modify the configuration rules set. The inspection of configuration rules is thereby an important activity to avoid errors in the configuration rules set. Several formulations of constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) are proposed that facilitate the inspection of configuration rules in propositional logic (IF-THEN, AND, NOT, OR, etc.). Many of the configuration rules are so calledproduction rules; that is, a configuration rule is an IF-THEN expression that fires when the IF condition is met. Several configuration rules build chains that fire during the product configuration. It is therefore important not only to inspect single configuration rules but also to analyze the effect of multiple configuration rules. Formulating the tasks as variations of the CSP can support the inspection activity. More specifically, we address the reformulation of configuration rules, testing of feature variant combinations, and counting of item quantities from an item set. The suggested CSPs are tested on industrial vehicle configuration rules for computational performance. The results show that the time for achieving results from the solving of the CSP is within seconds. Our future work will be to implement the various CSPs into a demonstrator that could be tested by product developers.

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