Publication - An Implementation of Multiple Worlds for Parallel Rule-Firing Production Systems

Authors: Neiman, D.
Title: An Implementation of Multiple Worlds for Parallel Rule-Firing Production Systems
Abstract: One of the principal advantages of parallelizing a rule-based system, or more generally, any A.I. system, is the ability to pursue alternate search paths concurrently. Conventional memory representations for production systems cannot easily or efficiently support parallel search because of the essentially flat structure of working memory and the combinatorics of pursuing pattern matching in a large memory space. A further obstacle to the effective exploitation of parallelism is the problem of maintaining the internal consistency of each search space while performing parallel activities in other spaces. This paper presents an approach to parallel search for rule-based systems which involves maintaining multiple separate worlds, each representing a search space. Constructs for creating, manipulating, and merging separate spaces are discussed. We describe how the addition of a language mechanism for specifying multiple worlds simplifies the design of parallel search algorithms, increases the efficiency of the pattern matcher, provides a framework for implementing advanced control mechanisms such as task-based or hierarchical problem solvers, and reduces or eliminates the overhead of runtime consistency checking.
Keywords: Control, Parallel Systems
Publication: Technical Report 93-24, Computer Science Department, UMASS @ Amherst
Date: March 1993
Sources: PDF: /Documents/Neiman/tech report_93.pdf
Reference: Neiman, D.. An Implementation of Multiple Worlds for Parallel Rule-Firing Production Systems. Technical Report 93-24, Computer Science Department, UMASS @ Amherst. March 1993.
bibtex: 
@article{Neiman-59,
  author    = "D. Neiman",
  title     = "{An Implementation of Multiple Worlds for Parallel
               Rule-Firing Production Systems}",
  journal   = "Technical Report 93-24, Computer Science
               Department, UMASS @ Amherst",
  month     = "March",
  year      = "1993",
  url       = "http://mas.cs.umass.edu/paper/59",
}