Efficient detection of vacuity in temporal model checking

Abstract

The ability to generate a counter-example is an important feature of model checking tools, because a counter-example provides information to the user in the case that the formula being checked is found to be non-valid. In this paper, we turn our attention to providing similar feedback to the user in the case that the formula is found to be valid, because valid formulas can hide real problems in the model. For instance, propositional logic formulas containing implications can suffer from antecedent failure, in which the formula is trivially valid because the pre-condition of the implication is not satisfiable. We call this vacuity, and extend the definition to cover other kinds of trivial validity. For non-vacuously valid formulas, we define an interesting witness as a non-trivial example of the validity of the formula. We formalize the notions of vacuity and interesting witness, and show how to detect vacuity and generate interesting witnesses in temporal model checking. Finally, we provide a practical solution for a useful subset of ACTL formulas.