System and method for problem analysis

• US 7,805,455 B2
• Filed: 11/14/2005
• Issued: 09/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Allium US Holding LLC
• Original Assignee: Invention Machine Corporation (S&P Global Inc.)
• Inventors: Todhunter, James
• Primary Examiner(s): Breene; John E
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kerzhner; Aleksandr
• Application Number:
  US11/273,137
• Publication Number:
  US 20070112746A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,779 Days
• Field of Search: 707/759, 707/999.003
• US Class Current: 707/759
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9032 Query formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/30 Semantic analysis

Abstract

Problem analysis system, given either half of a cause-effect relationship, automatically formulates a natural language or Boolean query that is automatically submitted via a knowledge search tool to a database of cause-effect relationships, and responses to this query from the database are automatically provided.

Claims

1. A method for problem analysis, the method performed in a computer having one or more processors accessing one or more knowledge bases having a cause/effect database stored in at least one storage device with cause and effect elements stored in the cause/effect database, the method comprising:

obtaining a representation of a problem and determining an event statement from models in an event store based on the representation, and automatically determining which half of a cause-effect relationship is represented by the event statement and extracting elements from the event statement to determine a cause element or an effect element as half of the cause-effect relationship;

using the determined cause element or effect element, automatically formulating a query to include the determined cause element or the determined effect element;

submitting the formulated query to the one or more knowledge bases to determine one or more complete cause-effect relationships, including;

if the query includes the determined cause element, locating one or more effect elements that form one or more complete cause-effect relationships with the determined cause element of the query, or

if the query includes the determined effect element, locating one or more cause elements that form one or more complete cause-effect relationships with the determined effect element of the query; and

outputting the one or more cause-effect relationships by presenting the determined cause element or effect element of the query with the located one or more effect elements or cause elements from the one or more knowledge bases.

2. The method according to claim 1, including determining whether the event representation provides the cause element of the cause-effect relationship or the effect element of the cause-effect relationship prior to formulating the query.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein submitting the query to the one or more knowledge bases comprises formulating the query to be compatible with a knowledge search engine prior to submitting the query.

4. The method according to claim 3, including formatting the query as either a natural language query or a key word query.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein knowledge search engine comprises a semantic indexing and search tool and the one or more knowledge bases comprise a semantic analysis knowledge base.

6. The method according to claim 2, wherein the problem analysis comprises a root cause analysis and the event representation provides an effect element and the one or more knowledge bases locates one or more cause elements.

7. The method according to claim 2, wherein the problem analysis comprises a failure mode effects analysis and the event representation provides a cause element and the one or more knowledge bases locates one or more effect elements.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the one or more knowledge bases comprise one or more knowledge bases selected from a group consisting of:

one or more locally accessible knowledge bases;

one or more knowledge bases containing corporate knowledge; and

one or more publicly accessible knowledge bases.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising graphically linking the event representation to the one or more cause elements or to the one or more effect elements.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the one or more knowledge bases comprises a plurality of cause-effect databases.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more knowledge bases includes a first knowledge base and a second knowledge base, and the method includes:

graphically presenting the determined cause element or effect element from the query in one portion of a computer screen; and

on the computer screen, graphically distinguishing the located one or more effect elements or cause elements that complete the cause-effect relationships from the first knowledge base from the located one or more effect elements or cause elements that complete the cause-effect relationships from the second knowledge base.

12. A computer program product comprising at least one computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that are accessible by at least one processor for performing a problem analysis method comprising:

providing one or more knowledge bases that include a cause/effect database having cause and effect elements stored in the cause/effect database;

obtaining a representation of a problem and determining an event statement from models in an event store based on the representation, determining which half of a cause-effect relationship is represented by the event statement and extracting elements from the event statement to determine a cause element or an effect element as half of the cause-effect relationship;

using the determined cause element or effect element, formulating a query to include the determined cause element or the determined effect element;

submitting the formulated query to the one or more knowledge bases to determine one or more complete cause-effect relationships, including;

if the query includes the determined cause element, locating one or more effect elements that form one or more complete cause-effect relationships with the cause element of the query, or

if the query includes the determined effect element, locating cause elements that form one or more complete cause-effect relationships with the effect element of the query; and

outputting the one or more causes-effect relationships by presenting the determined cause element or effect element of the query with the located one or more effect elements or cause elements from the one or more knowledge bases.

13. A system for problem analysis comprising:

a computer program stored within a computer-readable storage medium for execution on a computer system, the computer system comprising;

one or more computer processing elements;

one or more display devices;

one or more user input devices; and

communication elements for communicating with the one or more databases;

one or more cause/effect databases having cause and effect elements stored in the cause/effect database;

an event store comprising an element extractor and models having one or more event statements, wherein, based on a machine representation of a problem, the element extractor identifies an event statement from the models and determines which half of a cause-effect relationship is represented by the event statement and extracts elements from the event statement to determine a cause element or an effect element as half of the cause-effect relationship;

a query formulator configured to generate a query based on the determined cause element or the determined effect element; and

a knowledge search engine configured to determine one or more complete cause-effect relationships, wherein the knowledge search engine is adapted to;

receive the query;

search the one or more cause/effect databases to;

locate one or more effect elements that form complete cause-effect relationships with the determined cause element of the query, or

locate one or more cause elements that form complete cause-effect relationships with the determined effect element of the query; and

output the one or more causes-effect relationships by presenting the determined cause element or effect element of the query with the located one or more effect elements or cause elements from the one or more knowledge bases.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the element extractor is configured to extract either the cause element or the effect element from the at least one event statement.

15. The system according to claim 13, wherein the query formulator is configured to format the query to be compatible with the knowledge search engine.

16. The system according to claim 15, wherein the query is formatted as either a natural language query or a key word query.

17. The system according to claim 13, wherein the knowledge search engine comprises a semantic indexing and search tool and the one or more databases comprise one or more semantic analysis knowledge base.

18. The system according to claim 14, further comprising one or more problem analysis tools.

19. The system according to claim 18, wherein the problem analysis tools are configured to perform root cause analysis and the element extractor is configured to identify an effect element in the at least one event statement.

20. The system according to claim 18, wherein the problem analysis tools are configured to perform failure mode effects analysis and the element extractor is configured to identify a cause element in the at least one event statement.

21. The system according to claim 18, further comprising a graphical user interface configured to enable a user to interact with the system.

22. The system according to claim 13, wherein the one or more databases comprise one or more databases selected from a group consisting of:

one or more locally accessible databases;

one or more databases containing corporate knowledge; and

one or more publicly accessible databases.

23. The system according to claim 13, wherein the one or more databases comprises a plurality of cause-effect databases.