Telecommunications feature subscription as a partial order constraint problem

Abstract

This paper describes the application of a partial order constraint solver to a telecommunications feature subscription configuration problem. Partial order constraints are encoded to propositional logic and solved using a state-of-the-art Boolean satisfaction solver. The encoding is based on a symbol-based approach: symbols are viewed as variables which take integer values and are interpreted as indices in the order. Experimental evaluation indicates that partial order constraints are a viable alternative to previous solutions which apply constraint programming techniques and integer linear programming. © 2008 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.