Publication
Title
A reasoning framework for solving nonograms
Author
Abstract
Nonograms, also known as Japanese puzzles, are logic puzzles that are sold by many news paper vendors. The challenge is to fill a grid with black and white pixels in such a way that a given description for each row and column, indicating the lengths of consecutive segments of black pixels, is adhered to. Although the Nonograms in puzzle books can usually be solved by hand, the general problem of solving Nonograms is NP-hard. In this paper, we propose a local reasoning framework that can be used to deduce the value of certain pixels in the puzzle, given a partial filling. By iterating this procedure, starting from an empty grid, it is often possible to solve the puzzle completely. Our approach is based on ideas from dynamic programming, 2-satisfiability problems, and network flows. Our experimental results demonstrate that the approach is capable of solving a variety of Nonograms that cannot be solved by simple logic reasoning within individual rows and columns, without resorting to branching operations. Moreover, all the computations involved in the solution process can be performed in polynomial time.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Lecture notes in computer science. - Berlin, 1973, currens
Source (book)
12th International Workshop on Combinatorial Image Analysis, Apr 07-09, 2008, Buffalo, NY
Publication
Berlin : Springer , 2008
ISBN
978-3-540-78274-2
DOI
10.1007/978-3-540-78275-9_33
Volume/pages
4958 (2008) , p. 372-383
ISI
000254600100033
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 03.01.2013
Last edited 29.12.2021
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