A parallel production system extending OPS5

Abstract

It is shown that by assuming a common model of SIMD (single-instruction-stream, multiple-data-stream) computing and extending the OPS5 production system formalism to take advantage of the SIMD model, an entirely new class of problems lends itself to solution through the intuitive use of a parallel production system (PPS) language. The PPS allows actions on the right-hand sides of a rule to act on classes of working memory elements instead of using the single-element-per-action scheme of OPS5. Novel methods of conflict resolution have also been provided. Parallel conflict resolution resolves only potential conflicts as defined herein. The initial conflict set is formed traditionally, but a maximal set of rule instantiations in the conflict set is executed. Traditional OPS5 conflict resolution is used for any rules in the conflict set with conflicting instantiations, allowing multiple directions of reasoning to be followed concurrently. This facilitates the use of production systems to implement asynchronous concurrent systems using an SIMD computer.<>