Expert system with knowledge base having term definition hierarchy
First Claim
1. A digital computer system operable as an expert system, said computer system comprising:
- storage means to store a knowledge base including hierarchically-defined terms and their definitions, the corresponding definition of each term defining its respective term using the value of one or more terms, each of whose definitions is at a lower level of the hierarchy, and/or using one or more term-independent values which do not depend on the value of a term; and
processing means for receiving commands from a user of the system, for producing inference commands in response to said user commands, for interrogating said storage means in response to said commands to obtain the definition of a given term, and for computing the value of said given term from its corresponding definition by obtaining the value of any term and any term-independent value in the corresponding definition,said system employing said computed value to produce an expert response to said user.
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Abstract
A definition-based expert system and expert system shell. The expert system shell creates a knowledge base consisting of terms and their definitions, the definitions making up a hierarchy of definitions in which each definition depends only on terms defined at lower levels in the hierarchy or on term-independent values. Expert responses are obtained from the system by evaluating the terms. When a term is evaluated, all of the term-independent values and the values of all of the terms in its definition are obtained. The definitions include operators specifying operations which are to be performed when the defined term is evaluated. The operators include causing other systems operable in the digital computer system in which the expert system is operating to operate. The definitions further include table operators. Base table operators define terms representing tables and columns in the tables and permit loading of the tables. Query table operators define terms representing tables defined from base tables or other query tables. Column operators permit operations involving all of the fields of a column. The expert system is further able to respond to "don'"'"'t know" values in a fashion which depends on the significance of the "don'"'"' t know" value for the definition of the term.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A digital computer system operable as an expert system, said computer system comprising:
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storage means to store a knowledge base including hierarchically-defined terms and their definitions, the corresponding definition of each term defining its respective term using the value of one or more terms, each of whose definitions is at a lower level of the hierarchy, and/or using one or more term-independent values which do not depend on the value of a term; and processing means for receiving commands from a user of the system, for producing inference commands in response to said user commands, for interrogating said storage means in response to said commands to obtain the definition of a given term, and for computing the value of said given term from its corresponding definition by obtaining the value of any term and any term-independent value in the corresponding definition, said system employing said computed value to produce an expert response to said user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification