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$${\varvec{teaspoon}}$$ teaspoon : solving the curriculum-based course timetabling problems with answer set programming

Author

Listed:
  • Mutsunori Banbara

    (Kobe University)

  • Katsumi Inoue

    (National Institute of Informatics
    Tokyo Institute of Technology)

  • Benjamin Kaufmann

    (Universität Potsdam)

  • Tenda Okimoto

    (Kobe University)

  • Torsten Schaub

    (Universität Potsdam
    Inria – Centre de Rennes Bretagne Atlantique)

  • Takehide Soh

    (Kobe University)

  • Naoyuki Tamura

    (Kobe University)

  • Philipp Wanko

    (Universität Potsdam)

Abstract

Answer Set Programming (ASP) is an approach to declarative problem solving, combining a rich yet simple modeling language with high performance solving capacities. We here develop an ASP-based approach to curriculum-based course timetabling (CB-CTT), one of the most widely studied course timetabling problems. The resulting teaspoon system reads a CB-CTT instance of a standard input format and converts it into a set of ASP facts. In turn, these facts are combined with a first-order encoding for CB-CTT solving, which can subsequently be solved by any off-the-shelf ASP systems. We establish the competitiveness of our approach by empirically contrasting it to the best known bounds obtained so far via dedicated implementations. Furthermore, we extend the teaspoon system to multi-objective course timetabling and consider minimal perturbation problems.

Suggested Citation

  • Mutsunori Banbara & Katsumi Inoue & Benjamin Kaufmann & Tenda Okimoto & Torsten Schaub & Takehide Soh & Naoyuki Tamura & Philipp Wanko, 2019. "$${\varvec{teaspoon}}$$ teaspoon : solving the curriculum-based course timetabling problems with answer set programming," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 275(1), pages 3-37, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:annopr:v:275:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s10479-018-2757-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s10479-018-2757-7
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Burke, Edmund Kieran & Petrovic, Sanja, 2002. "Recent research directions in automated timetabling," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(2), pages 266-280, July.
    2. Barry McCollum & Andrea Schaerf & Ben Paechter & Paul McMullan & Rhyd Lewis & Andrew J. Parkes & Luca Di Gaspero & Rong Qu & Edmund K. Burke, 2010. "Setting the Research Agenda in Automated Timetabling: The Second International Timetabling Competition," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 22(1), pages 120-130, February.
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    5. Edmund Burke & Jakub Mareček & Andrew Parkes & Hana Rudová, 2010. "A supernodal formulation of vertex colouring with applications in course timetabling," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 179(1), pages 105-130, September.
    6. Alex Bonutti & Fabio Cesco & Luca Gaspero & Andrea Schaerf, 2012. "Benchmarking curriculum-based course timetabling: formulations, data formats, instances, validation, visualization, and results," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 194(1), pages 59-70, April.
    7. Edmund Burke & Jakub Mareček & Andrew Parkes & Hana Rudová, 2012. "A branch-and-cut procedure for the Udine Course Timetabling problem," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 194(1), pages 71-87, April.
    8. Lü, Zhipeng & Hao, Jin-Kao, 2010. "Adaptive Tabu Search for course timetabling," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 200(1), pages 235-244, January.
    9. Martin Geiger, 2012. "Applying the threshold accepting metaheuristic to curriculum based course timetabling," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 194(1), pages 189-202, April.
    10. Andrea Bettinelli & Valentina Cacchiani & Roberto Roberti & Paolo Toth, 2015. "An overview of curriculum-based course timetabling," TOP: An Official Journal of the Spanish Society of Statistics and Operations Research, Springer;Sociedad de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, vol. 23(2), pages 313-349, July.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Alexandre Lemos & Pedro T. Monteiro & Inês Lynce, 2021. "Disruptions in timetables: a case study at Universidade de Lisboa," Journal of Scheduling, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 35-48, February.
    3. Alexandre Lemos & Pedro T. Monteiro & Inês Lynce, 2022. "Introducing UniCorT: an iterative university course timetabling tool with MaxSAT," Journal of Scheduling, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 371-390, August.

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