Distributed Constraint Satisfaction: Foundations of Cooperation in Multi-agent Systems (Springer Series on Agent Technology)

Distributed Constraint Satisfaction gives an overview of Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSPs), adapts related search algorithms and consistency algorithms for applications to multi-agent systems, and consolidates recent research devoted to cooperation in such systems. The techniques introduced are applied to various problems in multi-agent systems. Among the new approaches is a hybrid-type algorithm for weak-commitment search combining backtracking and iterative improvement. Also, an extension of the basic CSP formalization called "Partial CSP" is introduced in order to handle over-constrained CSPs.