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Ambient Intelligence (AmI)

SEMINAR REPORT 2009-2011

In partial fulfillment of Requirements in Degree of Master of Technology In COMPUTER & INFORMATION SCIENCE SUBMITTED BY

RENETHA J B

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE COCHIN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY KOCHI – 682 022

COCHIN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY KOCHI – 682 022 DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

CERTIF I CATE This is to certify that the seminar report entitled “A Ambient Intelligence (AmI)” is being submitted by Renetha J B in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of M.Tech in Computer & Information Science is a bonafide record of the seminar presented by her during the academic year 2010.

Mr. G.Santhosh Kumar Lecturer Dept. of Computer Science

Prof. Dr.K.Poulose Jacob Director Dept. of Computer Science

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all let me thank our Director Prof: Dr. K. Poulose Jacob, Dept. of Computer Science, CUSAT who provided with the necessary facilities and advice. I am also thankful to Mr. G.Santhosh Kumar, Lecturer, Dept of Computer Science, CUSAT for his valuable suggestions and support for the completion of this seminar. With great pleasure I remember Dr. Sumam Mary Idicula, Reader, Dept. of Computer Science, CUSAT for her sincere guidance. Also I am thankful to all of my teaching and non-teaching staff in the department and my friends for extending their warm kindness and help. I would like to thank my parents without their blessings and support I would not have been able to accomplish my goal. I also extend my thanks to all my well wishers. Finally, I thank the almighty for giving the guidance and blessings.

ABSTRACT Philips Research introduced Ambient Intelligence(AmI) in the year 1998. In 2001, AmI was taken up by The European Commission’s Information Society Technologies Advisory Group (ISTAG). In computing, AmI refers to electronic environments that are sensitive and responsive to the presence of people. Ambient intelligence is a vision on the future of consumer electronics, telecommunications and computing for the time frame 2010–2020. The development of ambient intelligence applications that effectively adapt to the needs of the users and environments requires the presence of planning mechanisms for goal-oriented behavior. A planning system for AmI applications is based on the hierarchical task network (HTN) approach and is called distributed hierarchical task network (D-HTN). D-HTN is able to find courses of actions to address given goals. The application areas of AmI include health-related applications, public transportation sector, education services etc. This seminar aims to give an insight into ambient intelligence technology and a planner for AmI applications.

Keywords: Ambient intelligence, context awareness, sensors, planning, multiiagents

CONTENTS Slno

Title

Page no.

1

Introduction to AmI

1

2

History

2

3

AmI 3.1

Vision

3

3.2

Semantics

4

3.3

Key concepts

4

3.4

Key Technologies

5

4

Social and political aspects of AmI

6

5

Relation between AmI and other Computer Science areas

7

6

5Ws and 3Ps of AmI

9

7

Architecture of AmI system

11

8

Components of AmI system

12

9

AmI System - Planning 9.1

Features of AmI systems

15

9.2

Why planning needed for AmI Applications?

15

9.3

Planning and D-HTN planner

16

9.4

D-HTN algorithms

18

9.5

Application Scenario

19

10

Application areas

25

11

Challenges

26

12

Conclusion

28

13

References

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Ambient Intelligence (AmI)

1. Introduction Ambient Intelligence (AmI) is a new paradigm in Information Technology that has potential for great impact in the future. The vision of AmI is that the people will be surrounded by intelligent objects that can sense the context and respond according to the desire of the people. AmI is a multidisciplinary topic, since it combines the features of many of the areas in Computer Science. In the last five years, we have seen significant advances in three promising technology areas: virtual environments, in which 3D displays and interaction devices immerse the user in a synthesized world, mobile communication and sensors, in which increasingly small and inexpensive terminals and wireless networking allow users to roam the real world without being limited to stationary machines. The merging of these areas allows the emergence of a new vision: the Ambient Intelligence (AmI). AmI refers to a digital environment that proactively, but sensibly, supports people in their everyday lives. It will make the feeling that the people live with technology. It is aligned with the concept of ‘disappearing computer’, since the AmI environment make the technology invisible. As the devices grow smaller, more connected and more integrated into our environment, the technology disappears into our surroundings. “The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it.” M. Weiser The basic idea behind AmI is that by enriching an environment with technology (mainly sensors and devices interconnected through a network), a system can be built to take decisions to benefit the users of that environment based on real-time information gathered and historical data accumulated. An important aspect of AmI has to do with interaction. On one side there is a motivation to reduce the human-computer interaction as the system is supposed to use its intelligence to infer situations and user needs from the recorded activities, as if a passive human assistant was observing activities unfold with the expectation to help when (and only if) required. On the other side, a diversity of users may need or voluntarily seek direct interaction with the system to indicate preferences and needs. The entire environment around us, homes and offices, cars and cities, will collectively develop a pervasive network of intelligent devices that will cooperatively gather, process and transport information.

Dept. of Computer Science, Cochin University of Science & Technology

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2. History In 1998, the board of management of Philips commissioned a series of presentations and internal workshops, organized by Eli Zelkha and Brian Epstein of Palo Alto Ventures (who coined the name 'Ambient Intelligence') to investigate different scenarios that would transform the high-volume consumer electronic industry from the current “fragmented with features” world into a world in 2020 where user-friendly devices support ubiquitous information, communication and entertainment. In the years after, these developments grew more mature. In 1999, Philips joined the Oxygen alliance, an international consortium of industrial partners within the context of the MIT Oxygen project, aimed at developing technology for the computer of the 21st century. In 2000, plans were made to construct a feasibility and usability facility dedicated to Ambient Intelligence. This HomeLab officially opened on 24 April 2002. Along with the development of the vision at Philips, a number of parallel initiatives started to explore ambient intelligence in more detail. In 2001, the concept of Ambient Intelligence (AmI) was taken up by European Commission’s Information Society Technologies Advisory Group (ISTAG). The term Ambient Intelligence is defined by ISTAG as "the convergence of ubiquitous computing, ubiquitous communication, and interfaces adapting to the user". Following the advice of the ISTAG, the European Commission used the vision for the launch of their sixth framework (FP5) in Information, Society and Technology (IST), with a subsidiary budget of 3.7 billion euros. EU FP6: driving vision in a 3.7BEuro 5 year ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) research programme (2002-2006). EU FP7 (9.1 BEuro for ICT): acknowledged (mainstreamed) but more focussed, systemic and transformational (2007-2012) The European Commission played a crucial role in the further development of the AmI vision. As a result of many initiatives the AmI vision gained traction. Fraunhofer Society started several activities in a variety of domains including multimedia, microsystems design and augmented spaces. MIT started an AmI research group at their Media Lab. Several more research projects started in a variety of countries such as USA, Canada, Spain, France and the Netherlands. In 2004, the first European symposium on AmI (EUSAI) was held and many other conferences have been held that address special topics in AmI.

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3. AmI: Vision, semantics, key concepts and key technologies 3.1 Vision Ambient Intelligence (AmI) will radically change how people interact with technology. In AmI, people will be surrounded by a multitude of interconnected embedded systems. These devices will be able to locate and recognize objects and people, as well as people’s intentions. The vision of AmI is characterized by two key features: intelligence and embedding. The feature of “intelligence” refers to the fact that the digital environment is able to analyze the context, adapt itself to the people and objects that reside in it, learn from their behavior, and eventually recognize as well as express emotion. The feature of “embedding” means that miniaturized devices will increasingly become part of the invisible background of peoples’ activities, and that social interaction and functionality will move to the foreground. According to the AmI vision,” people will not just use technology: they will live with it.” Hence, AmI is :

vision for our environment



‘smart electronic environments that are sensitive and responsive to the presence of people’



‘Electronics embedded in every-day objects; natural interaction; context aware; personalised; adaptive; responsive; pro-active.’



Enhancing productivity, healthcare, well-being, expressiveness, creativity.

Dept. of Computer Science, Cochin University of Science & Technology

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3.2 Semantics Ambient Intelligence refers to electronic environments that are sensitive and responsive to the presence of people The term ambient refers to the environment and reflects the need for typical requirements such as distribution, ubiquity, and transparency. 

Distribution refers to noncentral systems control and computation.



Ubiquity means the embedding is present everywhere.



Transparency indicates that the surrounding systems are invisible and unobtrusive.

The term Intelligence means the digital surroundings exhibit specific forms of social interaction. In other words, an environment must recognize the people that live in it, adapt itself to them, learn from their behavior, and possibly show emotion. In short, the environment should be intelligent.

3.3 Key Concepts AmI provides ‘Smarter’ living. ie. AmI is a technology for people. To refine the notion of ambient intelligence, Marzano and Emile Aarts formulated the following five key concepts of AmI: 

Embedded. Many networked devices are integrated into the environment.



Context aware. The system can recognize you and your situational context.



Personalized. The system can tailor itself to meet your needs.



Adaptive. It can change in response to you.



Anticipatory. The system anticipates your desires without conscious mediation.

The first two elements relate to the integration of hardware devices into the environment, and refer to embedded systems in general. Embedded systems play an

Dept. of Computer Science, Cochin University of Science & Technology

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important role in the realization of ambient intelligence because they account for the embedding of electronic devices into people’s surroundings. The three other key elements of ambient intelligence concern the adjustment of electronic systems in response to users. These system adjustments occur on different time scales. Personalization refers to those occurring on a short time scale (for example, installing personalized settings). Adaptation involves adjustments to changing user behaviors detected by monitoring the user over longer periods of time. Ultimately, when the system gets to know the user so well that it can detect behavioral patterns, adjustments are possible over a very long period of time.

3.4 Key Technologies The benefit of an AmI system is measured by how much can give to people while minimizing explicit interaction. The aim is to enrich specific places (a room, a building, a car, a street) with computing facilities which can react to people’s needs and provide assistance. In order for AmI to become a reality a number of key technologies are required: 

Unobtrusive hardware (Miniaturisation, Nanotechnology, smart devices, sensors etc.)



Seamless

mobile/fixed

communication

and

computing

infrastructure

(interoperability, wired and wireless networks, service-oriented architecture, semantic web etc.) 

Dynamic and massively distributed device networks, which are easy to control and

program

(e.g.

service

discovery,

auto-configuration,

end-user

programmable devices and systems etc.). 

Human-centric computer interfaces (intelligent agents, multimodal interaction, context awareness etc.)



Dependable and secure systems and devices (self-testing and self repairing software, privacy ensuring technology etc.)

Dept. of Computer Science, Cochin University of Science & Technology

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4. The social and political aspects of ambient intelligence Ambient intelligence is more than just a question of embedding technology into objects. It involves human culture in its broadest sense: universal desires; complex social relationships; diverse value systems; individual likes and dislikes; the sustainability of economic and natural ecosystems; and codes of ethics, conduct, and communication, both in civil society and in business. This is also what makes ambient intelligence markedly different from other concepts such as pervasive computing and ubiquitous computing In AmI, technology lives with the people, hence AmI has both social and political influences. The current phase of AmI/pervasive computing, in which computers are already being embedded in many devices, has begun to affect our everyday lives in ways we do not even notice. ISTAG identified a series of necessary characteristics that will permit the eventual societal acceptance of AmI. AmI should:  facilitate human contact.  be orientated towards community and cultural enhancement.  help to build knowledge and skills for work, better quality of work, citizenship and consumer choice.  inspire trust and confidence.  be consistent with long term sustainability - personal, societal and environmental and with life-long learning.  be made easy to live with and controllable by ordinary people.

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5. Relation between AmI and other Computer Science areas

Fig 1 Networks, Sensors, Human Computer Interfaces (HCI), Pervasive Ubiquitous Computing and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are all relevant and interrelated but none of them conceptually covers the full scope of AmI. Ambient Intelligence puts together all these resources to provide flexible and intelligent services to users acting in their environments. Ambient intelligence involves the convergence of several computing areas. It is a multi-disciplinary approach which aims to enhance the way environments and people interact with each other. The ultimate goal of the area is to make the places we live and work in more beneficial to us. First, a machine was shared by many highly trained programmers. Then it became possible in many countries around the world that many people, not necessarily with a high

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level of training, will have access to one PC in an individual basis. Now many people can have access to several computing devices like a PC, a laptop and a PDA at work plus a PC at home and various smaller processing units embedded in electro-domestic appliances. All seems to indicate this trend will continue. Slowly systems are being designed in such a way that people do not need to be a computer specialist to benefit from computing power. This technical possibility is being explored in an area called Ambient Intelligence (AmI) where the idea of making computing available to people in a non-intrusive way is at the core of its values. The benefit of an AmI system is measured by how much can give to people whilst minimizing explicit interaction. The aim is to enrich specific places (a room, a building, a car, a street) with computing facilities

Fig 2

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6. 5Ws and 3Ps of AmI Of Importance for AmI are the “5Ws” (Who, Where, What, When and Why) principle of design: Who: the identification of a user of the system and the role that user plays within the system in relation to other users. This can be extended to identifying important elements like pets, robots and objects of interest within the environment. Where: the tracking of the location where a user or an object is geographically located at each moment during the system operation. This can demand a mix of technologies, for example technology that may work well indoors may be useless outdoors and vice-versa. When: the association of activities with time is required to build a realistic picture of a system’s dynamic. For example, users, pets and robots living in a house will change location often change location and knowing when those changes happened and for how long they lasted are fundamental to the understanding of how an environment is evolving. What: the recognition of activities and tasks users are performing is fundamental in order to provide appropriate help if required. The multiplicity of possible scenarios that can follow an action makes this very difficult. Spatial and temporal awareness help to achieve task awareness. Why: the capability to infer and understand intentions and goals behind activities is one of the hardest challenges in the area but a fundamental one which allows the system to anticipate needs and serve users in a sensible way

There seems to be a growing consensus that achieving sustainability requires a good balance between three factors, sometimes referred to as the three P’s: people, planet, and profit. People: Humans exploit everything around them to improve their lives and expand their powers. They want to acquire everything with minimum effort and maximum comfort. This desire, to have devices that amplify human powers without hindering or cluttering their lives is what drives the increasing miniaturization of devices. Many devices have already made the Dept. of Computer Science, Cochin University of Science & Technology

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transition from big static objects to small objects that people can carry around on their bodies. Clocks are now wristwatches, and more recently phones and audio systems have reached the stage of becoming worn on the body. This instinct to find greater comfort, power, knowledge, and freedom has been the main driving force behind technological innovation. Ambient intelligence intends to improve the quality of people’s lives. Not everything that’s possible with technology is actually desirable. Therefore, it’s crucial that people make the right choices with ambient intelligence. This is only possible if people agree on what quality of life and what sort of world they would like to see develop. Planet: AmI has a great contribution to the planet. AmI provides better care for the environment. Numerous novel ecological developments are possible by integrating smart electronics into the environment. They aid in checking pollution and checking uncontrolled dumping of waste products. There are also techniques for determining energy wastage and reduce needless consumption. Profit: Ambient Intelligence describes a new economy called “experience economy”. It is positioned as the fourth major wave following the classic economies of commodity, goods, and service. People are willing to spend money for getting better experience. Recollection of a personal event might just bring back that good old feeling. Virtual worlds in an ambient-intelligent environment might support such events. There are many other applications, such as ambient lighting, ambient sounds and poetic interfaces which all could bring good feel to people. A salient property of an experience is that it can feel real, whether it has been generated by a real or a virtual cause; what counts is the belly feeling.

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7. Architecture of AmI system

Fig 3 Sensors bring data to the system. The data collected is transmitted by the network and pre-processed by the middleware, which collates and harmonises data from different devices. In order to make decision-making easier and more beneficial to the occupants of the environment the system will have a higher level layer of reasoning which will accomplish diagnosis and advise or assist humans with responsibility for intervention. Elements that may be included in the high level ‘Decision Making’ process are a ‘Knowledge Repository’ where the events are collected and an ‘AI Reasoner’ which will apply for example spatio-temporal reasoning to take decisions. For example, a decision could be to perform some action in the environment and this is enabled via ‘Actuators’. Knowledge discovery and machine learning techniques learn from the acquired information in order to update

the

AI

Reasoner

in

the

light

of

experience

Dept. of Computer Science, Cochin University of Science & Technology

of

the

system.

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8. Components of AmI system AmI system is comprised of three main components: ubiquitous computing, ubiquitous communication, and user adaptive interfaces. Ubiquitous computing means any computing device, while moving with you, can build incrementally dynamic models of its various environments and configure its services accordingly. The devices will be able to either "remember" past environments they operated in, or proactively build up services in new environments. Ubiquitous computing" refers to omnipresent computers that serve people in their everyday lives at home and at work, functioning invisibly and unobtrusively in the background and freeing people to a large extent from tedious routine tasks. This includes pen-based technology, hand-held or portable devices, large-scale interactive screens, wireless networking infrastructure, and voice or vision technology. Ubiquitous communication: Ubiquitous computing is the introduction and expansion of wireless network technology, which enables flexible communication between interlinked devices that can be stationed in various locations or can even be portable. Wireless LAN (W-LAN) applications per standard IEEE 802.11b offer high-speed transfer rates of 11 Mbit/s and can be extended over entire office buildings and production areas by using several access points. While W-LAN is considerably cheaper than a traditional stationary LAN, it is often still too costly to be included in small individual devices Bluetooth technology is used in today's handheld applications like cellular phones or personal digital assistants (PDAs) per standard IEEE 802.15 to allow wireless connection within a personal area network (W-PAN). While the cost of Bluetooth equipment is significantly lower than the cost of W-LAN, the transmission range of up to 10 meters and the data transfer rate of less than 720 Kbit/s are inferior. New Bluetooth versions are currently under development that attempt to eliminate the latter drawback. V1.2 allows rates of up to 3 Mbit/s, V2.0 of up to 12 Mbit/s High rate W-PANs per standard IEEE 802.15 TG3, launched in 2003, use higher power devices (8 dBm) than regular Bluetooth equipment (0 dBm) to transmit data at a rate of up to 55 Mbit/s and over a range of up to 55 m. This technology is, therefore, an attractive Dept. of Computer Science, Cochin University of Science & Technology

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alternative to W-LAN, especially considering the comparatively lower cost. Low power W-PANs per standard IEEE 802.15 TG4 are particularly useful for handheld devices since energy consumption for data transmission purposes, and costs, are extremely low. The range of operation of up to 75 m is higher than current Bluetooth applications, but the data transfer rate of 250 Kbit/s is lower. Wireless body area networks (BANs) interlink various wearable devices, such as wireless data glasses, earpieces, microphones, and sensors, and can connect them to outside networks. BANs are often used for medical applications but also in work-related fields, for example, to provide production operators with instructions that are adapted to the respective work situation. BANs usually consist of a central network unit, which connects the devices and which can provide an interface to further networks outside the BAN, for example, via Bluetooth. Advantages of BANs versus W-PANs are the short range and the resulting lower risk of tapping and interference, as well as low frequency operation, which leads to lower system complexity. Technologies used for wireless BANs include magnetic, capacitive, lowpower far-field and infrared connections, while non-wireless BANs use wires or conductive fabrics. Radio frequency identification (RFID) encompasses wireless identification through radio transmission. RFID systems comprise a read/write station and active (with own power source) or passive (power supplied by the read/write station) transponders (transmitter / responder), and can be used in a variety of applications. Traditional examples include protection against theft, access control, and billing. The range of possible applications is much greater: RFID systems can be used for material tracking in manufacturing and logistics, for cash register applications in stores as an alternative to barcode scanning, or for localizing items or persons. Network administration is facilitated by minimizing the effort required for setting up networks. The introduction of mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) is an important step in this direction. A MANET uses the wireless technologies described in the list above but is more flexible than conventional networks, since the routers are included in the mobile nodes instead of being fixed and have the ability to configure themselves. This provides the network with great flexibility due to its ability to adapt automatically to a changing network environment.

Dept. of Computer Science, Cochin University of Science & Technology

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User adaptive interfaces User adaptive interfaces, the third integral part of AmI, are also referred to as "Intelligent social user interfaces" (ISUIs). These interfaces go beyond the traditional keyboard and mouse to improve human interaction with technology by making it more intuitive, efficient, and secure. They allow the computer to know and sense far more about a person, the situation the person is in, the environment, and related objects than traditional interfaces can. ISUIs encompass interfaces that create a perceptive computer environment rather than one that relies solely on active and comprehensive user input. ISUIs can be grouped into five categories:  Visual recognition (e.g. face, 3D gesture, and location) and output  Sound recognition (e.g. speech, melody) and output  Scent recognition and output  Tactile recognition and output  Other sensor technologies The key to an ISUI is the ease of use, in this case the ability to personalize and adapt automatically to particular user behavior patterns (profiling) and different situations (context awareness) by means of intelligent algorithms. In many cases, different ISUIs, such as voice recognition and touch screen, are combined to form multi-modal interfaces. ISUIs make network usage more secure as the interfaces can identify users automatically by, for example, face or voice recognition instead of requesting a password.

Dept. of Computer Science, Cochin University of Science & Technology

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9. AmI system - Planning 9.1 Features of AmI Systems AmI system is composed of numerous agents. Agents are smart devices, which are fixed or mobile devices. Agents form part of AmI system either permanently or temporarily. For example a person comes with a mobile phone into a room equipped with AmI system. The cell phone, when properly connected to the network of other devices, is temporarily part of the system. After the person leaves the room is disconnected.

Features of AmI system are:•

Feature 1: Some agents could take no responsibility in building the plan because of their limitations in processing and communication. This pushes toward the centralized planning process.



Feature 2: The skills to perceive the environment and to perform the actions are distributed over the agents. This pulls toward the distributed planning process.

9.2 Why Planning needed for AmI applications? The development of ambient intelligence (AmI) applications that effectively adapt to the needs of the users and environments requires the presence of planning mechanisms for goal-oriented behavior. An AmI system that plans is able to find a course of action that, when executed, achieves a desired effect. The planning system builds plans according to the capabilities of available devices that perform actions to satisfy the user’s need. A planning system for AmI applications proposed by Francesco Amigoni, Associate Member, IEEE and Nicola Gatti, Member, IEEE, is based on the hierarchical task network (HTN) approach and it is called distributed hierarchical task network (D-HTN). D-HTN planner can support both the features of AmI systems; i.e centralized as well as distributed features.

Dept. of Computer Science, Cochin University of Science & Technology

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9.3 Planning and D-HTN planner A planning algorithm has three inputs: –

a description of the world,



a description of the goal, and



a description of the capabilities in form of possible actions that can be performed.

The planning algorithm’s output is a sequence of actions such that, when they are executed in a domain satisfying the initial state description, the goal will be achieved. AmI system need a centralized planner that manages distributed capabilities.A distributed HTN approach appears appropriate for AmI applications because it naturally supports heterogeneous agents and knowledge exchange among them.

D-HTN planners are based on the concept of task network that is represented as [(n1:1 ),(n2:2 ),……(nm: m),

]

where 

i are tasks, either primitive (that can be directly executed by an agent) or nonprimitive (that must be further decomposed);

 

ni are labels to distinguish different occurrences of the same task; is a Boolean formula representing the constraints on the tasks, such as variable bindings constraints [e.g.,v=v’], ordering constraints [e.g., (n