On Model Finding with Constraint Patterns.

Class models are often employed to represent domains. In order for class models to conform to their intended domain semantics, we need to ensure their precision and consistency. Precision can be achieved by augmenting the models with constraints, and consistency can be achieved by avoiding contradictory constraints. Model finding is a technique to maintain this kind of consistency. It automatically checks the satisfiability of models by using example instances. However, this technique is often inefficient when applied to large models due to the huge search space. In this paper, we propose a technique to narrow the search space by using patterns to represent constraints. Constraint patterns allow us to put further restrictions on the search space. Our case study illustrates that using constraint patterns in this way can improve the verification process.