Formalizing Reasoning About Change: A Temporal Diagnosis Approach

Johann Gamper and Wolfgang Nejdl

Abstract

In this paper we describe a framework for reasoning about temporal explanation problems, which is based on our previous work on model-based diagnosis of dynamic systems. We use an explicit representation of qualitative temporal information which provides a simpler and more natural representation than the situation calculus. We show how to generate more specific explanations by instantiating explanations and assuming an Open World Assumption. We argue that a framework for reasoning about action should be able to deal with concurrent and durative actions and show how they can be represented in our system.

Keywords: Reasoning about Action and Change, Temporal Reasoning, Model-based Diagnosis

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