Expert system shell for building photofinishing diagnostic systems
First Claim
1. A knowledge engineering tool for use by an expert system user in conjunction with a photofinishing process incorporating a control strip for providing diagnostic information concerning said process, said tool comprising:
- (a) a target expert system;
(b) means for inputting into said target expert system target data obtained from analysis of said control strip used in said photofinishing process for allowing said target expert system to look for any deviations from the norm in said target data;
(c) a target knowledge base module;
(d) means for inputting into said target knowledge base module additional data relating to said photofinishing process;
(e) a data definition module;
(f) means for inputting into said data definition module structural knowledge relating to a photofinishing process;
(g) an expert system skeleton module that contains structural knowledge along with requested data from said target knowledge base module and structural knowledge existing within said data definition module to provide a list of symptoms characterizing said process to the expert system user;
(h) means for generating a first list of possible causes of any deviation from normal and an indication of the occurrance of said causes based upon the system characterization of this particular process; and
(i) means for generating a second list of prescriptions for alleviating each of the possible causes in said first list.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention involves a computer-based expert system tool for making decisions regarding photofinishing processes. An expert mentor in the photofinishing area provides specific information both factual knowledge and judgmental knowledge including any judgmental rules he uses to make judgments and solve problems in the photofinishing area for a number of different processes. The expert then makes representative decisions using the computer which characterizes situations in terms of their data values based on information derived from a control strip used in the given photofinishing process. From this interaction the expert system tool of this invention is able to generate an internal representation of the logical processes of the expert and to characterize each situation in terms of a series of intermediate judgments. The expert system tool of this invention can determine the relative logical importance of each of the data points and to classify each as being of either major or minor significance.
33 Citations
4 Claims
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1. A knowledge engineering tool for use by an expert system user in conjunction with a photofinishing process incorporating a control strip for providing diagnostic information concerning said process, said tool comprising:
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(a) a target expert system; (b) means for inputting into said target expert system target data obtained from analysis of said control strip used in said photofinishing process for allowing said target expert system to look for any deviations from the norm in said target data; (c) a target knowledge base module; (d) means for inputting into said target knowledge base module additional data relating to said photofinishing process; (e) a data definition module; (f) means for inputting into said data definition module structural knowledge relating to a photofinishing process; (g) an expert system skeleton module that contains structural knowledge along with requested data from said target knowledge base module and structural knowledge existing within said data definition module to provide a list of symptoms characterizing said process to the expert system user; (h) means for generating a first list of possible causes of any deviation from normal and an indication of the occurrance of said causes based upon the system characterization of this particular process; and (i) means for generating a second list of prescriptions for alleviating each of the possible causes in said first list.
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2. A knowledge engineering tool including a computer to be used diagnostically to monitor and control a photofinishing process incorporating a control strip for providing diagnostic information concerning said process, said tool comprising:
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(a) means for analyzing said control strip used in said photofinishing process to obtain densitometric information concerning said process and for automatically transferring said information obtained from said control strip into said knowledge engineering tool; (b) means for comparing said densitometric information with reference readings previously stored in said computer to generate a list of symptoms from deviations between said densitometric information and said reference readings; (c) means for assigning to each symptom a certainty factor proportional to the deviation of the symptom from a norm established by the average value expected to occur in said process; (d) means for forward chaining to generate a list of possible causes of the symptoms identified by said certainty factor means; (e) means for assigning attenuation factors associated with respective possible causes; (f) means for combining a certainty factor of a derived symptom with an attenuation factor of a possible cause associated with that derived symptom; (g) means for merging possible causes where said certainty factor means concludes that the same cause description may be generated from two or more different symptoms; (h) means for prompting the gathering of additional data that may confirm or disconfirm the association between a symptom and its possible causes identified by said certainty factor means; (i) means for generating a modification factor based on the possible cause and tolerance range of any additional data received; and (j) means for generating a list of possible causes along with certainty factors associated with each of said causes.
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3. A knowledge engineering tool for use by an expert system user comprising a computer having memory for storing information relating to a photofinishing process and a knowledge base memory for storing predetermined instructions relating to the determination of possible causes of symptoms present in said photofinishing process, said tool comprising:
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(a) means for modifying and editing the information relating to said photofinishing process; (b) means for analyzing a control strip used in said photofinishing process to obtain densitometric information; (c) means for interpreting said knowledge base to run an interactive consultation with the user; (d) means for establishing out of tolerance parameters; (e) means for including in said knowledge base, facts relating to densitometric tolerances for a given photofinishing process for generating a list of symptoms based on said out of tolerance parameters and for assigning certainty factors based on the deviation of each symptom from the norm in said target data; (f) means for including in said knowledge base rules including premises having logical operations to generate possible causes for each symptom; (g) means for including in said knowledge base information obtained from troubleshooting experts for deriving an attenuation factor for each of the possible causes; (h) means for combining the certainty factor of said symptom with the derived attenuation factor for said possible causes; (i) means for merging possible causes where said cause description may be generated from two or more different symptoms; (j) means for prompting additional data as deemed relevant by the knowledge base rules; (k) means for generating a modification factor based on the possible cause and tolerance level of any additional data received; (l) means for generating a first list of possible causes along with certainty factors of said causes; and (m) means for generating a second list of prescriptions for alleviating each of the possible causes first listed.
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4. An expert system tool for use by an expert system user in conjunction with the control of a given photofinishing process comprising:
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a computer having a stored program and memory for storing a knowledge base related to one or more photofinishing processes; a control strip used in said photofinishing process to supply densitometric information; means for including in said knowledge base factual knowledge and judgmental knowledge concerning the photofinishing process, said judgmental knowledge including judgmental rules; means for using said factual knowledge including definitions of densitometric parameters associated with a given photofinishing process; means for using said judgmental rules including rules having premises referring to causes for out of tolerance densitometric parameters and rules for concluding which parameters were out of tolerance; means for executing a built-in control procedure including; means for determining possible causes for said out of tolerance parameters based on the knowledge base for a specific photofinishing process; means for invoking and chaining said rules associated with a specific photofinishing process; means for using judgmental knowledge derived from experts to generate an attenuation factor associated with all possible causes for said out of tolerance parameter; means for merging possible causes where said cause description may be generated from more than one cause for a given out of tolerance parameter; means for generating a modification factor based on possible cause and deviation from the normal range of additional data received from a request for more data; and means for generating a list of possible causes along with certainty factors associated with each of said causes.
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Specification