Information processing systems, reasoning modules, and reasoning system design methods

• US 8,666,922 B2
• Filed: 03/18/2011
• Issued: 03/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Battelle Memorial Institute
• Original Assignee: Battelle Memorial Institute
• Inventors: Hohimer, Ryan E., Greitzer, Frank L., Hampton, Shawn D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Holmes, Michael B
• Application Number:
  US13/051,979
• Publication Number:
  US 20120239605A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,082 Days
• Field of Search: 706/47
• US Class Current: 706/47
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/02 Knowledge representation; Symbolic representation
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/022 Knowledge engineering; Knowledge acquisition
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/04 Inference or reasoning models
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/046 Forward inferencing; Production systems

Abstract

Information processing systems, reasoning modules, and reasoning system design methods are described. According to one aspect, an information processing system includes working memory comprising a semantic graph which comprises a plurality of abstractions, wherein the abstractions individually include an individual which is defined according to an ontology and a reasoning system comprising a plurality of reasoning modules which are configured to process different abstractions of the semantic graph, wherein a first of the reasoning modules is configured to process a plurality of abstractions which include individuals of a first classification type of the ontology and a second of the reasoning modules is configured to process a plurality of abstractions which include individuals of a second classification type of the ontology, wherein the first and second classification types are different.

Claims

1. An information processing system comprising:

a working memory comprising a semantic graph which comprises a plurality of abstractions, wherein the abstractions individually include an individual which is defined according to an ontology; and

a reasoning system comprising a plurality of reasoning modules which are configured to process different ones of the abstractions of the semantic graph, wherein a first of the reasoning modules is configured to process a plurality of abstractions which include individuals of a first classification type of the ontology and a second of the reasoning modules is configured to process a plurality of abstractions which include individuals of a second classification type of the ontology, wherein the first and second classification types are different; and

wherein one of the reasoning modules is configured to publish an abstraction including an individual of a third classification type into the semantic graph, wherein the third classification type is different than the first and second classification types.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of reifiers configured to assert the plurality of abstractions including the individuals of the first and second classification types into the semantic graph.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the one of the reasoning modules is configured to publish the abstraction including the individual of the third classification type as a result of processing a plurality of the individuals of the first classification type.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the reasoning system comprises a plurality of different regions which individually include a plurality of the reasoning modules, wherein the reasoning modules of the different regions are configured to process a plurality of the abstractions according to different rules defined by a plurality of different domain ontologies which correspond to respective ones of the regions.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the reasoning modules of one of the regions are configured to process a plurality of the abstractions which were previously processed by the reasoning modules of another of the regions.

4. An information processing system comprising:

a working memory comprising a semantic graph which comprises a plurality of abstractions, wherein the abstractions individually include an individual which is defined according to an ontology; and

a reasoning system comprising a plurality of reasoning modules which are configured to process different ones of the abstractions of the semantic graph, wherein a first of the reasoning modules is configured to process a plurality of abstractions which include individuals of a first classification type of the ontology and a second of the reasoning modules is configured to process a plurality of abstractions which include individuals of a second classification type of the ontology, wherein the first and second classification types are different; and

wherein one of the reasoning modules is configured to process one of the abstractions as a result of processing of the one abstraction by another of the reasoning modules.

7. An information processing system comprising:

a working memory comprising a semantic graph which comprises a plurality of abstractions, wherein the abstractions individually include an individual which is defined according to an ontology; and

a reasoning system comprising a plurality of reasoning modules which are configured to process different ones of the abstractions of the semantic graph, wherein a first of the reasoning modules is configured to process a plurality of abstractions which include individuals of a first classification type of the ontology and a second of the reasoning modules is configured to process a plurality of abstractions which include individuals of a second classification type of the ontology, wherein the first and second classification types are different; and

wherein the first and second reasoning modules utilize a plurality of respective rules to process respective ones of the abstractions.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the first and second reasoning modules are configured to add new properties to at least some of the abstractions as a result of the respective rules being satisfied with respect to the at least some of the abstractions.

9. A reasoning module comprising:

an interface coupled with a working memory and configured to receive a plurality of abstractions from the working memory, wherein the abstractions include a plurality of individuals;

a reasoning component configured to access the abstractions which are received by the interface, to access a plurality of rules for the reasoning module, to process the abstractions according to the rules, and to further classify the individual of one of the abstractions as a result of the processing of the one of the abstractions satisfying the rules of the reasoning module; and

wherein the reasoning component is configured to further classify the individual of the one of the abstractions which has a first classification type including creating a new individual of a second classification type and associating the individual of the first classification type with the new individual of the second classification type.

10. The module of claim 9 wherein the reasoning component comprises a reasoner which is configured to access the rules and to process the abstractions in accordance with the rules.

11. The module of claim 9 wherein the reasoning component is configured to implement subsumption processing of the abstractions.

13. The module of claim 9 wherein the reasoning component is configured to publish an abstraction including the new individual into the working memory.

14. The module of claim 9 wherein the reasoning component is configured to further classify the individual of the one of the abstractions by adding a new data type property to the one of the abstractions.

12. A reasoning module comprising:

an interface coupled with a working memory and configured to receive a plurality of abstractions from the working memory, wherein the abstractions include a plurality of individuals;

a reasoning component configured to access the abstractions which are received by the interface, to access a plurality of rules for the reasoning module, to process the abstractions according to the rules, and to further classify the individual of one of the abstractions as a result of the processing of the one of the abstractions satisfying the rules of the reasoning module; and

wherein the reasoning component is configured to implement composite processing of the abstractions.

15. A reasoning system design method comprising:

providing a domain ontology of a given subject matter domain to be processed;

using the domain ontology, designing a reasoning system which is configured to process information of the given subject matter domain including defining, for a plurality of reasoning modules of the reasoning system, which abstractions of a semantic graph are to be subscribed to by respective ones of the reasoning modules and a plurality of rules which the reasoning modules are to utilize to process respective ones of the abstractions which are subscribed to by respective ones of the reasoning modules; and

wherein the defining the rules comprises defining different ones of the rules for different ones of the reasoning modules.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the defining the rules comprises defining the rules which the reasoning modules utilize to process the respective abstractions including adding new properties to the respective abstractions.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the defining the rules comprises defining the rules which the reasoning modules utilize to process the respective abstractions which include individuals of a first classification type including creating new individuals of a second classification type.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the defining, for one of the reasoning modules, comprises defining that the one of the reasoning modules only processes the abstractions which have been previously processed by another of the reasoning modules.

19. The method of claim 15 wherein the defining comprises defining that different ones of the reasoning modules subscribe to different ones of the abstractions according to classifications of individuals of the abstractions.

20. The method of claim 15 wherein the ontology is encoded in a formalized knowledge representation programming language and the reasoning modules are specified in an object oriented programming language.

21. The method of claim 15 further comprising providing another domain ontology of another subject matter domain to be processed, and wherein the designing comprises using the another domain ontology to define, for a plurality of additional reasoning modules of the reasoning system, which abstractions of the semantic graph are to be subscribed to by respective ones of the additional reasoning modules and a plurality of rules which the additional reasoning modules are to utilize to process the respective abstractions which are subscribed to by respective ones of the additional reasoning modules.