tim@linc.cis.upenn.edu (Tim Finin) (01/12/89)
University of Pennsylvania
Department of Computer and Information Science
Colloquium
The UNISYS BEACON System:
An Expert System Configurator Using a KL-ONE Network
with a Distributed User Interface
Dr. K. W.(Bill) Scholz
Unisys Paoli Research Center
(scholz@prc.unisys.com)
The Unisys Paoli Research Center has developed a large expert system
as a solution to a major bottleneck in the attempt to configure
mainframe computers throughout the Unisys sales organization. The
BEACON expert system depends on a carefully constructed model in which
the target computer is represented as a semantic network. Runtime
traversal of the network directs a dialog with the user from which an
instance network is formed which represents the specific configuration
desired by the user. The representation and traversal of the semantic
network is implemented in PROLOG for execution on a single large Unix
system, while the window-based user interface executes on multiple
WAN-connected PCs. This talk will focus on the utilization of the
semantic network and its distributed user interface as the key
architectural components of a commercially viable expert system.
Thursday, January 19, 1989
Refreshments 2:30 - 3:00
129 Pender Lab
Colloquium 3:00 - 4:30
216 Moore