An Abductive Framework to Handle Consistency-preserving Updates in Deductive Databases

In this paper we present an abductive framework for handling requests for updating a deductive database. Updates are tackled in a consistency-preserving manner so that it is guaranteed that the database state resulting of applying the update is consistent; that is, it satisfies the set of its integrity constraints. Moreover, if view updates are requested, they are appropriately translated into updates of the underlying base facts. We also show how the Events Method [TO95] can be formulated in terms of this abductive framework. 1 Introduction Among other components, deductive database management systems include an update processing system that provides the users with a uniform interface in which they can pose different kinds of update requests like updates of base facts or updates of derived facts (view updates). In general, the application of an update to a deductive database must satisfy a set of integrity constraints. Several integrity constraints enforcement policies have been prop..