International Business Machines Corporation

Roberta P Starbird

Christine T Iwaskiw

Nancy A Burns

Thomas J Ashford

Richard L Flagg

James Padden

Michael Eudell McBride

A method for running an expert system on a data processing system in which the Rulebase is segmented into contextual units so that the system memory can accommodate each unit. Portions of the Rulebase containing data or knowledge that is not needed in a particular application may then be eliminated. The segmenting of the Rulebase also allows the contextual units of the application to be paged into and out of the system as needed. The various intersegment relationships are managed by the system as units are paged into and out of memory. A second Rulebase unit may be called by the first unit and executed at any time during the processing of the first Rulebase. Provision is made in the form of a Global attribute to selectively identify and store the data that is relevant to the application and that has been accumulated up to the point where another unit is called so that at some time later in the process, when the system returns to the first unit, it can proceed from the last RULE node that was processed. Selected data that has been identified as global during processing of the first unit is used to update selected nodes in the second unit of the Rulebase after it has been paged into the system. Selected data collected during the processing of the second unit is passed to the first unit when the system returns to complete processing that unit.

Method for processing an expert system rulebase on a system having

A method for use in an expert system which selectively allows the system to avoid asking the user a question by providing the answer to that question based on related information that may have been previously attained in the system. The method involves providing an action attribute that can be attached to any node in the rule tree. The attribute is assigned to a node in the tree which provides an answer to a class question based on processing various other dependent nodes. When the answer is obtained, the action attribute then causes all other nodes in the rule base referencing the same class question to be set to the same answer. The user is therefore only requested to supply information as a last resort.

Method for obtaining information in an expert system

A method for solving problems using an expert system in which the Rulebase includes a section having specific definitions of processes or procedures which are available to the expert system as a data source. The method allows data to be collected dynamically in response to and in accordance with parameters supplied by the expert system and at a time determined by the expert system. The ability of the expert system to provide meaningful conclusions is considerably enhanced when such type of data is made available since any process or procedure that can be executed on the host for the expert system can become a source of current data for analysis by the expert system. Computer hardware diagnostic applications can include running self-diagnostic procedures even on the host system.

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Roberta P Starbird