Patent
1995-01-09
1997-09-23
Moore, David K.
395701, 395702, 395 51, 395 76, G06F 1700
Patent
active
056713266
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for facilitating the user-generation of a set of machine control statements used for controlling the operation of a machine such as a computer.
BACKGROUND ART
Many machines, particularly computers, execute decision processes during their operation. Such decision processes generally involve ascertaining the values of a number of condition factors and then determining the desired outcome in accordance with a predetermined decision function. This decision function may take the form of a number of individual statements relating condition-factor value combinations to particular outcomes. Generally, such statements are either embedded in program code or set out in a knowledge base. In either case, the statements are contained in an environment which is forbidding to all except computer experts. Furthermore, even when a so-called "user-friendly" interface is provided to a knowledge base, anyone wishing to add or modify statements must comply with rigorous rules of syntax and logic in order to produce a consistent set of statements. As this will be well beyond the capabilities of untrained staff, the task of creating and maintaining decision functions based on a set of machine control statements has remained the responsibility of computer staff.
It is an object of the present invention to facilitate the generation and modification of a set of machine control statements that together constitute a decision function.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
In general terms, the present invention facilitates end-user generation and modification of a set of machine control statements by presenting these statements in a structured representation and by allowing the user to specify apparently contradictory statements provided that it is clear which statement is to have precedence according to the intuitive principle that a more specific statement has precedence over a more general one.
More formally stated, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of facilitating user generation of a set of machine control statements that taken together constitute a decision function relating particular value combinations of a predetermined set of condition factors to corresponding particular outcomes of a set of such outcomes, each individual machine control statement associating a set of one or more condition-factor value combinations, herein CFVCs, with an outcome; the method comprising the steps of: statements in which a statement is represented in terms of a visual association between its CFVC set and corresponding outcome; statement and/or modifying at least one existing machine control statement thereby to generate a new set of machine control statements, the new and/or modified statements being represented in the structured representation; and statements by: of at least one CFVC which is common to a plurality of statements that do not all specify the same outcome, more specific statement having precedence over a more general one, by determining whether the corresponding group is equal to the set of all the CFVCs encompassed by a statement of the aforesaid plurality, the presence of any such latter statement, herein an exception statement, determining the said conflict to be resolvable with the exception statement being associated with any other statement of the aforesaid plurality such that the exception statement has precedence over said any other statement, and unresolvable conflict is present.
In one embodiment of the invention, the structured representation is a table arranged in rows and columns with the intersection of each row and column defining a cell, each machine control statement being represented in the table by a row/column and each condition factor being associated with a respective column/row and said outcome with at least one column/row whereby the condition factor and outcome values associated with any particular statement are specified in the corresponding cells of the row/column representing that statement.
I
REFERENCES:
patent: 5243689 (1993-09-01), Yoshiura
"Weighted Decision Tables--An Alternative Solution for Ambiguity", M.L. Schneider, Computer Journal, vol. 28, No. 4, 1985, pp. 366-371.
"A Specification Compiler For Business Application: Space", Proceedings Compsac 87, the 11th Annual International Computer Software & Applications Conference, Oct. 7, 1987, pp. 171-180.
"The Construction of Decision Tables in Prolog", Angewandte Informatik. Applied Informatics, No. 7, 1988, pp. 294-301.
Krutz, "Microprocessors and Logic Design," Wiley & Sons, New York Dec. 30, 1980.
Buriks Adrian Arnold
Geisow Adrian Derek
Marriott Roy Stephen
Wells Andrew David
Chung Ji-Yong D.
Hewlett--Packard Company
Moore David K.
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