Hierarchical Constraint Network Representation of Concurrent Engineering Models

동시성공학 모형의 계층적 제약식 네트워크 표현 방법론

Constraint networks are a major approach to knowledge representation in Concurrent Engineering (CE) systems. The networks model various factors in CE as constraints linked by shared variables. Many systems have been developed to assist constraint network processing. While these systems can be useful, their underlying assumption that a solution must simultaneously satisfy all the constraints is often unrealistic and hard to achieve. Proposed in this paper is a hierarchical representation of constraint networks using priorities, namely Prioritized Constraint Network (PCN). A mechanism to propagate priorities is developed, and a new satisfiability definition taking into account the priorities is described. Strength of constraint supporters can be derived from the propagated priorities. Several properties useful for investigating PCN's and finding effective solving strategies ore developed.