from collections import OrderedDict import numpy as np class SystemSolver(object): """ This abstract class is used to formalize and manage user interaction with a complex system of equations (related to "constraint satisfaction problems"). It is often the case that devices must be controlled through a large number of free variables, and interactions between these variables make the system difficult to manage and conceptualize as a user interface. This class does _not_ attempt to numerically solve the system of equations. Rather, it provides a framework for subdividing the system into manageable pieces and specifying closed-form solutions to these small pieces. For an example, see the simple Camera class below. Theory of operation: Conceptualize the system as 1) a set of variables whose values may be either user-specified or automatically generated, and 2) a set of functions that define *how* each variable should be generated. When a variable is accessed (as an instance attribute), the solver first checks to see if it already has a value (either user-supplied, or cached from a previous calculation). If it does not, then the solver calls a method on itself (the method must be named `_variableName`) that will either return the calculated value (which usually involves acccessing other variables in the system), or raise RuntimeError if it is unable to calculate the value (usually because the user has not provided sufficient input to fully constrain the system). Each method that calculates a variable value may include multiple try/except blocks, so that if one method generates a RuntimeError, it may fall back on others. In this way, the system may be solved by recursively searching the tree of possible relationships between variables. This allows the user flexibility in deciding which variables are the most important to specify, while avoiding the apparent combinatorial explosion of calculation pathways that must be considered by the developer. Solved values are cached for efficiency, and automatically cleared when a state change invalidates the cache. The rules for this are simple: any time a value is set, it invalidates the cache *unless* the previous value was None (which indicates that no other variable has yet requested that value). More complex cache management may be defined in subclasses. Subclasses must define: 1) The *defaultState* class attribute: This is a dict containing a description of the variables in the system--their default values, data types, and the ways they can be constrained. The format is:: { name: [value, type, constraint, allowed_constraints], ...} * *value* is the default value. May be None if it has not been specified yet. * *type* may be float, int, bool, np.ndarray, ... * *constraint* may be None, single value, or (min, max) * None indicates that the value is not constrained--it may be automatically generated if the value is requested. * *allowed_constraints* is a string composed of (n)one, (f)ixed, and (r)ange. Note: do not put mutable objects inside defaultState! 2) For each variable that may be automatically determined, a method must be defined with the name `_variableName`. This method may either return the """ defaultState = OrderedDict() def __init__(self): self.__dict__['_vars'] = OrderedDict() self.__dict__['_currentGets'] = set() self.reset() def reset(self): """ Reset all variables in the solver to their default state. """ self._currentGets.clear() for k in self.defaultState: self._vars[k] = self.defaultState[k][:] def __getattr__(self, name): if name in self._vars: return self.get(name) raise AttributeError(name) def __setattr__(self, name, value): """ Set the value of a state variable. If None is given for the value, then the constraint will also be set to None. If a tuple is given for a scalar variable, then the tuple is used as a range constraint instead of a value. Otherwise, the constraint is set to 'fixed'. """ # First check this is a valid attribute if name in self._vars: if value is None: self.set(name, value, None) elif isinstance(value, tuple) and self._vars[name][1] is not np.ndarray: self.set(name, None, value) else: self.set(name, value, 'fixed') else: # also allow setting any other pre-existing attribute if hasattr(self, name): object.__setattr__(self, name, value) else: raise AttributeError(name) def get(self, name): """ Return the value for parameter *name*. If the value has not been specified, then attempt to compute it from other interacting parameters. If no value can be determined, then raise RuntimeError. """ if name in self._currentGets: raise RuntimeError("Cyclic dependency while calculating '%s'." % name) self._currentGets.add(name) try: v = self._vars[name][0] if v is None: cfunc = getattr(self, '_' + name, None) if cfunc is None: v = None else: v = cfunc() if v is None: raise RuntimeError("Parameter '%s' is not specified." % name) v = self.set(name, v) finally: self._currentGets.remove(name) return v def set(self, name, value=None, constraint=True): """ Set a variable *name* to *value*. The actual set value is returned (in some cases, the value may be cast into another type). If *value* is None, then the value is left to be determined in the future. At any time, the value may be re-assigned arbitrarily unless a constraint is given. If *constraint* is True (the default), then supplying a value that violates a previously specified constraint will raise an exception. If *constraint* is 'fixed', then the value is set (if provided) and the variable will not be updated automatically in the future. If *constraint* is a tuple, then the value is constrained to be within the given (min, max). Either constraint may be None to disable it. In some cases, a constraint cannot be satisfied automatically, and the user will be forced to resolve the constraint manually. If *constraint* is None, then any constraints are removed for the variable. """ var = self._vars[name] if constraint is None: if 'n' not in var[3]: raise TypeError("Empty constraints not allowed for '%s'" % name) var[2] = constraint elif constraint == 'fixed': if 'f' not in var[3]: raise TypeError("Fixed constraints not allowed for '%s'" % name) var[2] = constraint elif isinstance(constraint, tuple): if 'r' not in var[3]: raise TypeError("Range constraints not allowed for '%s'" % name) assert len(constraint) == 2 var[2] = constraint elif constraint is not True: raise TypeError("constraint must be None, True, 'fixed', or tuple. (got %s)" % constraint) # type checking / massaging if var[1] is np.ndarray: value = np.array(value, dtype=float) elif var[1] in (int, float, tuple) and value is not None: value = var[1](value) # constraint checks if constraint is True and not self.check_constraint(name, value): raise ValueError("Setting %s = %s violates constraint %s" % (name, value, var[2])) # invalidate other dependent values if var[0] is not None: # todo: we can make this more clever..(and might need to) # we just know that a value of None cannot have dependencies # (because if anyone else had asked for this value, it wouldn't be # None anymore) self.resetUnfixed() var[0] = value return value def check_constraint(self, name, value): c = self._vars[name][2] if c is None or value is None: return True if isinstance(c, tuple): return ((c[0] is None or c[0] <= value) and (c[1] is None or c[1] >= value)) else: return value == c def saveState(self): """ Return a serializable description of the solver's current state. """ state = OrderedDict() for name, var in self._vars.items(): state[name] = (var[0], var[2]) return state def restoreState(self, state): """ Restore the state of all values and constraints in the solver. """ self.reset() for name, var in state.items(): self.set(name, var[0], var[1]) def resetUnfixed(self): """ For any variable that does not have a fixed value, reset its value to None. """ for var in self._vars.values(): if var[2] != 'fixed': var[0] = None def solve(self): for k in self._vars: getattr(self, k) def __repr__(self): state = OrderedDict() for name, var in self._vars.items(): if var[2] == 'fixed': state[name] = var[0] state = ', '.join(["%s=%s" % (n, v) for n,v in state.items()]) return "<%s %s>" % (self.__class__.__name__, state) if __name__ == '__main__': class Camera(SystemSolver): """ Consider a simple SLR camera. The variables we will consider that affect the camera's behavior while acquiring a photo are aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and flash (of course there are many more, but let's keep the example simple). In rare cases, the user wants to manually specify each of these variables and no more work needs to be done to take the photo. More often, the user wants to specify more interesting constraints like depth of field, overall exposure, or maximum allowed ISO value. If we add a simple light meter measurement into this system and an 'exposure' variable that indicates the desired exposure (0 is "perfect", -1 is one stop darker, etc), then the system of equations governing the camera behavior would have the following variables: aperture, shutter, iso, flash, exposure, light meter The first four variables are the "outputs" of the system (they directly drive the camera), the last is a constant (the camera itself cannot affect the reading on the light meter), and 'exposure' specifies a desired relationship between other variables in the system. So the question is: how can I formalize a system like this as a user interface? Typical cameras have a fairly limited approach: provide the user with a list of modes, each of which defines a particular set of constraints. For example: manual: user provides aperture, shutter, iso, and flash aperture priority: user provides aperture and exposure, camera selects iso, shutter, and flash automatically shutter priority: user provides shutter and exposure, camera selects iso, aperture, and flash program: user specifies exposure, camera selects all other variables automatically action: camera selects all variables while attempting to maximize shutter speed portrait: camera selects all variables while attempting to minimize aperture A more general approach might allow the user to provide more explicit constraints on each variable (for example: I want a shutter speed of 1/30 or slower, an ISO no greater than 400, an exposure between -1 and 1, and the smallest aperture possible given all other constraints) and have the camera solve the system of equations, with a warning if no solution is found. This is exactly what we will implement in this example class. """ defaultState = OrderedDict([ # Field stop aperture ('aperture', [None, float, None, 'nf']), # Duration that shutter is held open. ('shutter', [None, float, None, 'nf']), # ISO (sensitivity) value. 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600.. ('iso', [None, int, None, 'nf']), # Flash is a value indicating the brightness of the flash. A table # is used to decide on "balanced" settings for each flash level: # 0: no flash # 1: s=1/60, a=2.0, iso=100 # 2: s=1/60, a=4.0, iso=100 ..and so on.. ('flash', [None, float, None, 'nf']), # exposure is a value indicating how many stops brighter (+1) or # darker (-1) the photographer would like the photo to appear from # the 'balanced' settings indicated by the light meter (see below). ('exposure', [None, float, None, 'f']), # Let's define this as an external light meter (not affected by # aperture) with logarithmic output. We arbitrarily choose the # following settings as "well balanced" for each light meter value: # -1: s=1/60, a=2.0, iso=100 # 0: s=1/60, a=4.0, iso=100 # 1: s=1/120, a=4.0, iso=100 ..and so on.. # Note that the only allowed constraint mode is (f)ixed, since the # camera never _computes_ the light meter value, it only reads it. ('lightMeter', [None, float, None, 'f']), # Indicates the camera's final decision on how it thinks the photo will # look, given the chosen settings. This value is _only_ determined # automatically. ('balance', [None, float, None, 'n']), ]) def _aperture(self): """ Determine aperture automatically under a variety of conditions. """ iso = self.iso exp = self.exposure light = self.lightMeter try: # shutter-priority mode sh = self.shutter # this raises RuntimeError if shutter has not # been specified ap = 4.0 * (sh / (1./60.)) * (iso / 100.) * (2 ** exp) * (2 ** light) ap = np.clip(ap, 2.0, 16.0) except RuntimeError: # program mode; we can select a suitable shutter # value at the same time. sh = (1./60.) raise return ap def _balance(self): iso = self.iso light = self.lightMeter sh = self.shutter ap = self.aperture fl = self.flash bal = (4.0 / ap) * (sh / (1./60.)) * (iso / 100.) * (2 ** light) return np.log2(bal) camera = Camera() camera.iso = 100 camera.exposure = 0 camera.lightMeter = 2 camera.shutter = 1./60. camera.flash = 0 camera.solve() print camera.saveState()