METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SIMPLIFIED KNOWLEDGE ENGINEERING

• US 20140081892A1
• Filed: 08/29/2013
• Published: 03/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IfWizard Corporation
• Original Assignee: IfWizard Corporation
• Inventors: Sellers-Blais, Dominic
• Granted Patent: US 10,068,172 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 706/11
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/02 Knowledge representation; Symbolic representation
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/025 Extracting rules from data
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/04 Inference or reasoning models
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 7/00 Computing arrangements based on specific mathematical models

Abstract

A system and method is disclosed for knowledge engineering using a computerized graphical editor to manage and create knowledge-based systems containing a navigable graph of modal pages with conditional content and user interface knowledge. The invention enables the entire knowledge engineering workflow to be performed within a non-technical graphical environment and without requiring a computer programming or mathematical background. Further, the presentation of knowledge as modal pages allows for simple ontological discovery and end-user player operation. Once editing is complete, the method allows for the set of pages, variables, and settings of which the knowledge-based system is composed to be exported into an independently executable knowledge-based system player containing an embedded inference engine.

Claims

1. A non-transitory, machine readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program for knowledge engineering, the computer program comprising:

an editor component that enables the creation and configuration of a set of modal pages that reflect domain knowledge; and

a player component arranged for interacting with a user and conditionally displaying exactly one of the set of modal pages at a time, based on the interactions with the user.

2. The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium according to claim 1 wherein the player component includes an inference engine and the player component uses the inference engine to execute logic contained in the modal pages.

3. The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium according to claim 1 wherein the editor component enables arranging the modal pages into a navigable graph, and the inference engine navigates the graph responsive to the interactions with the user as defined by the modal pages.

4. The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium according to claim 1 wherein at least one of the modal pages includes conditional content.

5. The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium according to claim 1 wherein the editor component further enables the definition, initialization, and assignment of variables associated with the set of modal pages.

6. The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium according to claim 5 wherein the editor component further enables exporting the set of pages and associated variables in a portable format.

7. The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium according to claim 6 wherein the exported set of pages and associated variables is self-contained.

8. The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium according to claim 7 wherein the modal pages comprise content and user interface elements.

9. The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium of claim 8 wherein the content and user interface elements of a modal page are conditionally processed by the player component based on a truth value of conditions associated with said elements.

10. The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium of claim 8 wherein said user interface elements contain user interaction controls and specified inference engine actions.

11. A non-transitory, machine readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program for knowledge engineering, the computer program comprising a graphical editor for building a knowledge-based application program, the graphical editor comprising:

an expert system manager element 102 arranged to enable an authorized user to select a knowledge-based system (“

Wizard”

) 200;

a variable listing corresponding to the selected Wizard;

a page listing corresponding to the selected Wizard;

a page editor component;

a test subsystem; and

an export subsystem arranged to export the selected Wizard in a portable format.

12. The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium according to claim 11 wherein the page editor component implements a user interface arranged to enable the creation, deletion, and editing of a page of the selected Wizard in the content region.

13. The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium according to claim 11 wherein the editor implements an editor interface that displays a sidebar region and a content region for editing the selected Wizard.

14. The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium according to claim 13 wherein the content region of the display includes a content element and a user interface element of a page of the selected Wizard.

15. The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium according to claim 14 wherein the page editor component enables a user to add, edit or delete a widget component in the user interface element of the page, wherein the widget component implements at least one selected user interaction control.

16. The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium according to claim 15 wherein user interaction controls include at least one of a button, a checkbox and a text field.

17. The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium according to claim 14 wherein content region is editable to include selected text, and may include a selected variable value in the selected text;

wherein the variable is among those included in the variable listing corresponding to the selected Wizard.

18. The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium according to claim 14 wherein the user interface comprising at least one widget component, wherein the widget component implements at least one selected user interaction control.

19. The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium according to claim 14 wherein the editor module is entirely operated through a direct manipulation graphical user interface and does not require any computer terminal operation or program source code input.

20. The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium according to claim 14 wherein the editor module operates independently of other programs.

21. A non-transitory, machine readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program for knowledge engineering, the computer program comprising series of instructions for causing the machine to perform operations comprising:

loading knowledge-based system data including a set of pages and associated variables;

checking whether a current page of the set has any content elements;

if the current page has at least one content element, determining whether a first content element of the page has any associated content conditions;

displaying the first content element if and only if all of the associated content conditions are met;

checking whether the current page has any user interface elements;

if the current page has at least one user interface element, determining whether a first user interface element has any associated user interface conditions; and

displaying the first user interface element 416 of the current page if and only if all of the associated user interface conditions 414 are met.

22. The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium of claim 21 wherein execution of the instructions cause the machine to perform operations further comprising:

if the current page has at least one user interface element, determining whether the first user interface element includes a widget; and

in the case that the first user interface element includes a widget, displaying the widget for interaction with a user; and

recording a result of the user interaction with the widget.

23. The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium of claim 21 wherein execution of the instructions cause the machine to perform operations further comprising:

if the current page content element includes an action associated with the widget, performing the action based on the user interaction.

24. The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium of claim 22 wherein execution of the instructions cause the machine to perform operations further comprising:

conducting a result test based on the user interaction with the widget; and

advancing navigation responsive to the result test result.

25. The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium of claim 24 wherein execution of the instructions cause the machine to perform operations further comprising advancing to a destination page associated with the result test result.

26. The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium of claim 25 wherein execution of the instructions cause the machine to perform operations further comprising, in the case that the content element has at least one content condition/test, performing all of the tests in the order in which they are listed, at least until one of the tests is failed.

27. The The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium of claim 21 wherein execution of the instructions cause the machine to perform operations further comprising:

in the case that the user interface element has at least one associated test, performing all of the associated tests in the order in which they are listed, at least until one of the tests is failed.

28. The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium of claim 21 wherein contents are displayed only if an associated content test 206 is passed.

29. The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium of claim 28 wherein the associated content test comprises:

a true/false pass condition;

a selected type of a first value;

a relational operator; and

a second variable; and

wherein

a pass/fail result of the condition test is determined based on applying the pass condition and the relational operator to a value of the second variable.