Abstract

For many constraint satisfaction problems, there are well known, fast algorithms and functions that solve parts of the problem. Using these methods directly to solve the subproblems significantly speeds up the solving process. Unfortunately, doing this has usually required the solver to be changed, or the correctness criteria to be re-examined. We describe a general mechanism to use procedures with almost any search engine, such that it is easy to add any procedures without changing the engine. Furthermore, the framework is formally defined, which allows us to prove conditions that are sufficient to guarantee systematicity and completeness for search engines using procedures. 1 Introduction For many constraint satisfaction problems there are simple functional relations (e.g. arithmetic equations) and simple subproblems (e.g. linear equations with unknowns) that can be solved quickly, using simple algorithms. Needless to say, taking advantage of such algorithms can significantly decrea...

Citations