SAT encoding and CSP reduction for interconnected alldiff constraints

Abstract

Constraint satisfaction problems (CSP) or Boolean satisfiability problem (SAT) are two well known paradigm to model and solve combinatorial problems. Modeling and resolution of CSP is often strengthened by global constraints (e.g., Alldiff constraint). This paper highlights two different ways of handling specific structural information: a uniform propagation framework to handle (interleaved) Alldiff constraints with some CSP reduction rules; and a SAT encoding of these rules that preserves the reduction properties of CSP. © 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.