Knowledge acquisition system

Claim 2

A knowledge acquisition apparatus for use in a diagnostic expert system using, as part of a knowledge base, an associative network consisting of nodes representing events and links each showing the relation between two nodes, said knowledge acquisition apparatus comprising: means for analyzing the associative network from a node presenting a desired solution in a fist direction opposite to a second direction in which the network is analyzed in said diagnostic expert system, when a diagnosis obtained from the knowledge base in said diagnostic expert system is not desirable; means for retrieving the diverging points of the associative network at which a first-direction analyzing route meets a second-direction analyzing route along which a diagnostic result has been obtained in said diagnostic expert system; means for showing a decision justification applied at one of the diverging points in said diagnostic expert system, and for presenting a knowledge modification plan to correct the diagnostic trace as the direction toward the desired solution; means for confirming the correctness of the decision justification, and for selecting the knowledge modification plan if it is necessary to modify a knowledge applied at the diverging point; and means for displaying the associative network.

Claim 3

A knowledge acquisition apparatus for use in a diagnostic expert system using an associative network consisting of nodes representing events and links each showing the relation between two nodes, said knowledge acquisition apparatus comprising: a display unit for displaying the associative network; an interview manager unit for interfacing between said knowledge acquisition apparatus and a human expert, and for generating on the display unit questions to the human expert; a backward analysis unit for analyzing the associative network backwards, and for detecting a diverging point at which a first analysis route resulting in an erroneous diagnosis joins a second analysis route resulting in a correct diagnosis supplied from said interview manager unit; a modification plan generation unit for generating a modification plan for modifying knowledge applied to detect the diverging point and for supplying the modification plan to the interview manager unit; a diagnostic knowledge base having the associative network and a multitude of decision knowledge pieces applicable to determine which direction to be traced in the course of diagnosis; a knowledge modification unit for analyzing modification instructions made by the human expert, and for modifying the diagnostic knowledge base; a diagnosis trace containing data representing a diagnostic trace; and a knowledge modification plan storage storing various modification plans for modifying the diagnostic knowledge base.

Claim 4

A knowledge acquisition apparatus for use in a diagnostic expert system using an associative network consisting of nodes representing events and links each showing the relation between two nodes, said knowledge acquisition apparatus comprising: a display unit for displaying the associative network; an interview manager unit for interfacing between said knowledge acquisition apparatus and a human expert, and for generating on the display unit questions to the human expert; a backward analysis unit for analyzing the associative network backwards, and for detecting a diverging point at which a first analysis route resulting in an erroneous diagnosis joins a second analysis route resulting in a correct diagnosis supplied from said interview manager unit; a modification plan generation unit for generating a modification plan for modifying knowledge applied to detect the diverging point and for supplying the modification plan to the interview manager unit; a diagnostic knowledge base having the associative network and a multitude of decision knowledge pieces applicable to determine which direction to be traced in the course of diagnosis; a knowledge modification unit for analyzing modification instructions made by the human expert, and for modifying the diagnostic knowledge base; a diagnosis trace containing data representing a diagnostic trace; and a knowledge modification plan storage storing various modification plans for modifying the diagnostic knowledge base.

Claim 7

The method according to claim 3, wherein said step of modifying one of the associative links includes the substep of replacing an associative link with a new one in accordance with the selected modification plan.