An iterative algorithm for the binate covering problem

Many problems of interest in the field of electronic design automation can be formulated as binate covering problems. This occurs whenever the solution sought for is the minimum cost assignment satisfying a Boolean formula in conjunctive form. Practical problems may have hundreds of variables and thousands of clauses; hence efficient techniques are important. The paper proposes a new iterative scheme that is based on solving a sequence of sub-problems that normally lead to the solution of the original problem in a fraction of the time