Method and apparatus for diagnosing faults
First Claim
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1. An expert system for diagnosing faults in equipment, said system including a computer having a memory for storing diagnostic routines and a user interface that permits communication between the expert system and an operator, said system comprising:
- a knowledge base coupled to the computer for storing data that is defined by a plurality of files that characterize the physical, functional and operational relationships of the components and between components of the equipment and information concerning selected operating conditions of the equipment, said files containing data indicative of the following attributes of the equipment;
(1) the function of each component, (2) a wire list indicating outputs and interconnection of a component to other components of the equipment, (3) a level jump condition indicator which indicates whether a component may be decomposed into a plurality of other components, (4) a test message representing a stimulus applied to generate outputs that indicates whether a component is faulty, and (5) a listing of normal operating state values for a component indicating when that component is not faulty when the stimulus is applied thereto; and
an inference engine that is storable in said memory that interfaces with the knowledge base and the operator by way of the user interface and which comprises recursive diagnostic routines that operate on the data contained in the knowledge base to generate symptom diagnostic rules in response to operator entered symptoms which are indicative of the faults present in the equipment.
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Abstract
The present invention is directed to an expert system for diagnosing faults. The system comprises a knowledge base containing information regarding a conceptual model of the equipment under diagnosis. The system also comprises an inference engine for generating a set of symptom diagnostic rules from the information contained within the knowledge base in conjunction with user-generated inputs.
222 Citations
35 Claims
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1. An expert system for diagnosing faults in equipment, said system including a computer having a memory for storing diagnostic routines and a user interface that permits communication between the expert system and an operator, said system comprising:
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a knowledge base coupled to the computer for storing data that is defined by a plurality of files that characterize the physical, functional and operational relationships of the components and between components of the equipment and information concerning selected operating conditions of the equipment, said files containing data indicative of the following attributes of the equipment;
(1) the function of each component, (2) a wire list indicating outputs and interconnection of a component to other components of the equipment, (3) a level jump condition indicator which indicates whether a component may be decomposed into a plurality of other components, (4) a test message representing a stimulus applied to generate outputs that indicates whether a component is faulty, and (5) a listing of normal operating state values for a component indicating when that component is not faulty when the stimulus is applied thereto; andan inference engine that is storable in said memory that interfaces with the knowledge base and the operator by way of the user interface and which comprises recursive diagnostic routines that operate on the data contained in the knowledge base to generate symptom diagnostic rules in response to operator entered symptoms which are indicative of the faults present in the equipment. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A process for operating a digital computer to enable a user to correct a fault in electronic equipment having a plurality of components, said computer having a memory for storing a knowledge base having a plurality of knowledge cells representing a functional portion of said electronic equipment and comprising a set of normal operating state values associated with said knowledge cells, and means for indicating whether said knowledge cells are decomposable into other knowledge cells, said knowledge cells being grouped into a plurality of taxonomical pieces that form a determinant of said electronic equipment, said process comprising the steps of:
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(a) locating a fault in said knowledge cells in said determinant by comparing said normal operating state values of said knowledge cells with test data derived from applying selected inputs to said electronic equipment to generate outputs therefrom; (b) indicating an ignorance condition and terminating said process if said knowledge cell determined to be faulty has been previously located; (c) attempting to isolate said fault in said knowledge cell which has been determined to be faulty; (d) indicating an ignorance condition and terminating said process if said fault is not isolated after repeatedly attempting to isolate said fault a predetermined number of times; (e) indicating the existence of a fault isolation condition and terminating said process if said fault is isolated; and (f) repeating steps (a) through (e); whereby the fault in said electronic equipment is isolated by said digital computer to thereby permit the user to correct the fault in said electronic equipment. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28)
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- 29. The process of step 28, wherein said step of accessing said knowledge in said knowledge base and constructing a taxonomical piece on said blackboard comprises the step of executing a blackboarder-taxonomy routine.
Specification