Active Rule Termination Analysis: An Implementation and Evaluation of the Refined Triggering Graph Method

  • Authors:

  • Susan D. Urban;Michael K. Tschudi;Suzanne W. Dietrich;Anton P. Karadimce

  • Affiliations:

  • Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-5406. s.urban@asu.edu;Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-5406.;Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-5406.;Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-5406.

  • Venue:
  • Journal of Intelligent Information Systems
  • Year:
  • 1999

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Abstract

This paper describes the implementation of the RefinedTriggering Graph (RTG) method for active rule terminationanalysis and provides an evaluation of the approach based on theapplication of the method to a sample active application. TheRTG method has been defined in the context of anactive-deductive, object-oriented database language known asCDOL (Comprehensive, Declarative, Object Language). The RTGmethod studies the contents of rule pairs and rule cycles in atriggering graph and tests for: (1) the successful unification ofone rule‘s action with another rule‘s triggering event, and (2)the satisfiability of active rule conditions, asking whether itis possible for the condition of a triggered rule to evaluate totrue in the context of the triggering rule‘s condition. If theanalysis can provably demonstrate that one rule cannot triggeranother rule, the directed vector connecting the two rules in abasic triggering graph can be removed, thus refining thetriggering graph. An important aspect in the implementation ofthe method is the development of a satisfiability algorithm forCDOL conditions. This paper presents the tool that was developedbased on the RTG method, describing how techniques fromconstraint logic programming are integrated with othertechniques for testing the satisfiability of rule triggeringconditions. The effectiveness of the approach within the contextof a sample application is also addressed.