Monotone response-time derivation for distributed execution of rule-based programs

A key index of the performance of a rule-based program used in real-time monitoring and control is its response time. We first extend the definition of response time of an EQL rule-based program for distributed computation. To reduce the response time through distributed computation, we decompose an EQL program into disjoint modules. We then describe a tool which computes the response-times of finite-state EQL rule-based programs according to the imprecise computation paradigm, i.e., this tool always yields a range which is monotonically tightened as more time is spent in the computation. During the computation, a user can interrupt the analyzer and get both an intermediate result which is a guaranteed bound and a bound-quality factor which quantifies the tightness of this result. Our approach uses fast textual analysis to get initial bounds. It then performs a heuristic search by pruning the state-transition graph to improve the bound quality. A program-decomposition technique for reducing the search effort is also discussed. An analysis example on an EQL program involving 2/sup 59/ states is presented.