Classifying integrity checking methods with regard to inconsistency tolerance

Abstract

We define and examine six classes of methods for integrity checking: case-based, compositional, relevance-based, simplification-based, total-integrity-dependent, and measure-based ones. Each, except the penultimate, corresponds to a particular form of inconsistency tolerance. Inconsistency measures provide a new approach to integrity checking and inconsistency tolerance. For many methods, proofs or disproofs of their inconsistency tolerance become easier and more transparent by our classification. In general, a better understanding of inconsistency-tolerant integrity checking is achieved