Contextual decision logic elicitation

• US 9,135,574 B2
• Filed: 12/09/2014
• Issued: 09/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sparkling Logic, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sparkling Logic, Inc.
• Inventors: Matignon, Carole-Ann, Serrano-Morales, Carlos
• Primary Examiner(s): CHEN, ALAN S
• Application Number:
  US14/564,952
• Publication Number:
  US 20150095269A1
• Time in Patent Office: 280 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 20/00 Machine learning
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/02 Knowledge representation; Symbolic representation
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/025 Extracting rules from data
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/027 Frames

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a method of managing decision logic. The method includes receiving data, storing the data, and receiving a set of rules. A decision is generated based at least in part on the data and on the set of rules, and is a part of the decision logic. The decision logic is managed in a first mode or a second mode. When in the first mode or the second mode, the set of rules is managed in the context of the data by a first user. The managing includes reviewing and editing the set of rules for the decision logic in the context of the data. The editing is done by at least one of (i) modifying a rule in the set of rules, (ii) creating another rule and adding it to the set of rules and (iii) making an exception to a rule in the set of rules.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program that when executed by a processor performs a method of managing decision logic, the method comprising:

receiving data;

storing the data in a computer memory;

receiving a set of rules for the decision logic;

generating a decision based at least in part on the data and on the set of rules, the decision being a part of the decision logic;

providing an interface to a first user, the interface enabling editing of the set of rules in context of the data;

managing the decision logic in a first mode or a second mode; and

when in the first mode or the second mode, managing the set of rules for the decision logic in the context of the data by the first user;

wherein the managing the set of rules includes reviewing the set of rules for the decision logic in the context of the data; and

wherein the managing the set of rules includes the editing the set of rules for the decision logic in the context of the data, the editing done by at least one of (i) modifying a rule in the set of rules and (ii) creating another rule and adding it to the set of rules.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first mode is a text based representation including a form or report.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the second mode is a graphical representation including a table, tree or graph.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the managing is performed in the first mode or the second mode based on a preference of the first user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user switches between the first mode and the second mode for managing the decision logic.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the managing is performed by the first user and a second user at the same time when the first user and the second user are in the same mode.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the managing is performed by the first user and a second user at the same time when the first user and the second user are in different modes.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the managing and execution by the first user occurs simultaneously during the method of managing decision logic.

9. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

when in the first mode, displaying a graphical indicator to the first user, the graphical indicator being associated with the data, the graphical indicator representing information associated with the set of rules of the decision logic.

10. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

when in the second mode, displaying a graphical indicator to the first user, the graphical indicator being associated with the data, the graphical indicator representing information associated with the set of rules of the decision logic.

11. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

when in the first mode, receiving a selection of selected contextual data from the user;

calculating an impact of the selected contextual data on the decision logic; and

displaying a graphical indicator, the graphical indicator showing the impact of the selected contextual data on the decision logic;

wherein the impact includes at least one of (i) whether the selected contextual data is used in a rule, the rule being included in the set of rules, (ii) a frequency of usage of the selected contextual data in the decision logic, (iii) a role of the selected contextual data in determining the decision, and (iv) usage information indicating an importance and correlation of the selected contextual data with respect to the decision.

12. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

when in the second mode, receiving a selection of selected contextual data from the user;

calculating an impact of the selected contextual data on the decision logic; and

displaying a graphical indicator, the graphical indicator showing the impact of the selected contextual data on the decision logic;

wherein the impact includes at least one of (i) whether the selected contextual data is used in a rule, the rule being included in the set of rules, (ii) a frequency of usage of the selected contextual data in the decision logic, (iii) a role of the selected contextual data in determining the decision, and (iv) usage information indicating an importance and correlation of the selected contextual data with respect to the decision.

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program that when executed by a processor performs a method of investigating decision logic, the method comprising:

receiving data;

storing the data in a computer memory;

receiving a set of rules for the decision logic;

generating a decision based at least in part on the data and on the set of rules, the decision being a part of the decision logic;

when in a first investigative mode, displaying a first graphical indicator to a user, the first graphical indicator being associated with the data, the first graphical indicator representing information associated with the set of rules of the decision logic; and

when in a second investigative mode, displaying a second graphical indicator to the user, the second graphical indicator being associated with the set of rules of the decision logic, the second graphical indicator representing information associated with the data;

wherein the user switches between the first investigative mode and the second investigative mode based on a preference of the user; and

wherein the second graphical indicator is a graphical rules editor, the second graphical rules editor including at least one of (i) a first option to create a new rule based on the selected contextual data and (ii) a second option to modify the existing rule in the set of rules based on the selected contextual data.

14. The method of claim 13, the method further comprising:

receiving a selection of selected contextual data from the user; and

calculating an impact of the selected contextual data on the decision logic;

wherein the first graphical indicator shows the impact of the selected contextual data on the decision logic.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the impact includes at least one of (i) whether the selected contextual data is used in a rule, the rule being included in the set of rules, (ii) a frequency of usage of the selected contextual data in the decision logic, (iii) a role of the selected contextual data in determining the decision, and (iv) usage information indicating an importance and correlation of the selected contextual data with respect to the decision.

16. The method of claim 13, the method further comprising:

receiving a selection of a selected rule from the set of rules from the user; and

calculating an impact of the selected rule from the set of rules on the decision logic;

wherein the second graphical indicator shows the impact of the selected rule from the set of rules on the decision logic.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the impact includes at least one of (i) whether the selected rule, the rule being included in the set of rules, is used in the decision logic, (ii) a frequency of usage of the selected rule, the rule being included in the set of rules, in the decision logic, (iii) a role of the selected rule, the rule being included in the set of rules, in determining the decision, and (iv) usage information indicating an importance and correlation of the selected rule, the rule being included in the set of rules, with respect to the decision.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein:

the selection includes two rules from the set of rules; and

the second graphical indicator is color-coded to show the impact of the rule from the set of rules on the decision logic.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein when in the first investigative mode, the first graphical indicator is a graphical rules editor, the graphical rules editor including at least one of (i) a first option to create a new rule based on the selected contextual data, (ii) a second option to create a new exception rule to an existing rule in the set of rules based on the selected contextual data, and (iii) a third option to modify the existing rule in the set of rules based on the selected contextual data.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the investigation and execution occurs simultaneously during the method of investigating decision logic.