Variable elimination for influence diagrams with super value nodes

In the original formulation of influence diagrams, each model contained exacly one utility node. Tatman and Shachter (1990) introduced the possibility of having super-value nodes that represent the sum or the product of their parents’ utility functions. However the algorithm they proposed for dealing with super-value nodes has two shortcomings: it requires dividing potentials when reversing arcs, and it tends to introduce unnecessary variables in the resulting policies. In this paper we propose a new algorithm for influence diagrams with super-value nodes that avoids these shortcomings and will be in general much more efficient than their arc-reversal algorithm.