System that accesses a knowledge base by markup language tags

• US 5,737,739 A
• Filed: 12/19/1995
• Issued: 04/07/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Bell, David G., Armour, Lawrence, Vorndran, Charles, Harmison, Mark, Shirley, Mark H., Raiman, Olivier, Marder, Daniel S., Verdouw, Estella M., Schwind, Kim H., Bobrow, Daniel G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Burwell, Joseph R.
• Application Number:
  US08/574,482
• Time in Patent Office: 840 Days
• Field of Search: 395/774, 395/776-778, 395/762, 395/50, 395/51, 395/54, 395/614, 395/615, 399/8-12, 399/81
• US Class Current: 715/207
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2257 using expert systems

Abstract

An expert system, such as could be used for service of a complicated physical device such as a printer or copier, exploits a knowledge base which is written in a markup language format such as SGML. The knowledge base comprises text which, if desired, can be printed out on paper to yield a traditional service manual. In addition to the typical formatting markup language tags surrounding the text of the knowledge base, hierarchical tags are provided in the electronic version of the knowledge base, to define a set of decision trees which can be accessed and navigated by an expert system. A diagnostic advisor can access specific elements of the knowledge base as needed to synthesize optimized diagnosis and repair procedures depending on an entry given by a tech rep servicing a machine. This arrangement thus supports both a printed service manual and a viewer that provides expert diagnostic advice.

Claims

1. A viewer for viewing a knowledge base, the knowledge base including a plurality of markup language elements, each of a subset of markup language elements in the knowledge base having a markup language tag which identifies the element in the subset as query element, each query element including a query about an observable condition of a physical system, each of a subset of markup language elements in the knowledge base having a markup language tag which identifies the element in the subset as a corrective action element, each corrective action element being related to a possible way of addressing the condition of a physical system, the markup language elements in the knowledge base being arranged hierarchically in a plurality of decision trees with each query element functioning as a node in a decision tree, each query element and each corrective action element including an identifying code in the tag thereof, comprising:

a list of suspects, each suspect being a name relating to a condition of a physical system;

means for cross-referencing each suspect to at least one query element or corrective action element in the knowledge base, said cross-referencing means identifying elements by the identifying code in the tag thereof; and

means for retrieving from the knowledge base and displaying, in response to a user entering a suspect to the viewer, a cross-referenced markup language element.

2. The viewer of claim 1, the retrieving means further including means for retrieving from the knowledge base and displaying, for a cross-referenced markup language element, a higher markup language element relating to a node in the decision tree higher than the markup language element relating to the cross-referenced element.

3. The viewer of claim 2, the higher markup language element being a query element, with the cross-referenced element being related to one possible response to the query element.

4. The viewer of claim 1, the retrieving means further including means for retrieving, with each retrieved query element, a test markup language element giving an instruction to perform a test on the physical system.

5. The viewer of claim 1, the retrieving means further including means for retrieving from the knowledge base and displaying, in response to a user entering one suspect to the viewer, a plurality of corrective action elements.

6. The viewer of claim 1, wherein a corrective action element includes information about a cost associated with the corrective action, and further comprising

costing means for accessing information about a cost related to each corrective action element retrieved from the knowledge base, and determining a cost of the corrective action.

7. The viewer of claim 6, the costing means further comprising means for retaining the information about a cost related to each corrective action retrieved from the knowledge base.

8. The viewer of claim 6, the costing means further comprising means for determining, for each corrective action element retrieved from the knowledge base, a priority of the corrective action, based on a cost related to the corrective action and a probability of success related to the corrective action.

9. The viewer of claim 6, the costing means further comprising means for determining a cost associated with a corrective action retrieved from the knowledge base, based on a customer profile of a particular physical system being serviced.

10. The viewer of claim 6, the costing means further comprising means for determining a cost associated with a corrective action retrieved from the knowledge base, based on an operating environment of a particular physical system being serviced.

11. The viewer of claim 6, the costing means further comprising means for determining a cost associated with a corrective action retrieved from the knowledge base, based on a repair history of a particular physical system being serviced.

12. The viewer of claim 1, the knowledge base comprising a plurality of decision trees, at least two decision trees including a functionally identical corrective action element, and wherein

the cross-referencing means is configured so that at least one suspect, when entered into the viewer, cross-references the corrective action element in both decision trees and causes retrieval of a query element in each decision tree higher than the markup language element relating to the cross-referenced corrective action.

13. The viewer of claim 1, the knowledge base comprising a plurality of decision trees, at least a first decision tree and a second decision tree including a functionally identical query element, and further comprising

means for recording an answer supplied by the user in response to displaying a query from a first decision tree, and applying said answer to the identical query element in a second decision tree.

14. A method of authoring a knowledge base in a markup language, the knowledge base comprising a plurality of markup language elements, each element being identifiable by at least one markup language tag, comprising the steps of:

associating a query tag with each of a plurality of elements in the knowledge base to define query elements, each query element comprising a quantity of prose which instructs a user to make an observation about a physical system;

associating a corrective action tag with each of a plurality of elements in the knowledge base to define corrective action elements, each corrective action element comprising a quantity of prose which instructs a user to perform an action on a physical system;

providing cross-reference tags to query elements and corrective action elements, to establish relationships among preselected query elements and corrective action elements, whereby each of the plurality of query elements is associated with at least two elements including either a corrective action element or another query element.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of

associating markup language formatting tags to elements in the knowledge base.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of

associating a test tag with each of a plurality of elements in the knowledge base to define test elements, each test element comprising a quantity of prose which instructs a user to perform a test on a physical system;

providing cross-reference tags to establish relationships among preselected test elements and query elements, whereby each of the plurality of test elements is associated with a query element which instructs the user to make an observation about a physical system following the test performed according to the test element.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of providing, for a relationship between a first query element and a second query element, a cross-reference tag referencing a test element comprising a quantity of prose which instructs a user to perform a test on a physical system in response to a possible response to the first query element, and wherein the second query element instructs the user to make an observation about the physical system following the test performed according to the test element.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of providing, with a corrective-action tag associated with a corrective action element, cost information relating to a cost of performing the corrective action described in the corrective action element.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the cost information relates to an estimated time of performing the corrective action described in the corrective action element.