A constraint maintenance system for the distributed resource allocation problem

The problem of allocating resources to activities may be decomposed into sub-problems, and these sub-problems may in turn be distributed across a society of problem-solving agents. Distribution may be due to the geographical nature of the problem, or may reflect the structure of the organisation within which the activities take place. However, one might anticipate some degree of coupling between sub-problems. Resources may be shared between agents, and relations may exist between activities. This may lead to agents making decisions that are locally consistent, but globally inconsistent. Therefore, one requires a mechanism that will attempt to maintain consistency between agents and detect (and possibly avoid) conflicts that occur between agents. A system that addresses this problem is described, i.e., the distributed constraint maintenance system.