Abstract: The architecture of a communication network comprising a plurality of nodes interconnected by a transmission facility having a bandwidth divisible into channels of respective bandwidths, e.g., optical fiber, is enhanced by fully sharing the network bandwidth among the network nodes, such that each pair of nodes, on periodic basis, dynamically establishes respective direct links to each of the other network nodes, in which a direct link is formed from a group of channels obtained from the network bandwidth. The remaining bandwidth is then used to form a pool of bandwidth which is shared among the network nodes on a dynamic basis, such as, for example, establishing a communication path between a pair of nodes to route a call from one node to the other node of the pair of nodes.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a technique for operation on a computer for developing the knowledge base for ultimately providing very fast and cost-efficient fault diagnosis systems. The present technique uses an effective hierarchy of rules where at a first level are rules which allow the arrangement of the system under test to be decomposed into a hierachy of sequential and parallel subsystems. At the second level are rules that generate the efficient testing rules for each pure subsystem. The second level rules can be compared to a node evaluation function in a typical problem of searching a graph to select the best node for expansion from a current list of candidate nodes, so that the best path to the correct system diagnosis is found in the shortest amount of time using a minimum of user input. Two heuristic rules are applied to speed-up the process of selecting the node as the best candidate for expansion.

Abstract: Troubleshooting expert systems are generally embodied in software for the purpose of solving difficult problems in some narrow domain of expertise. The prior art describes certain mechanics for developing or generating rules. That process is commonly known as the knowledge acquisition process. Having acquired the knowledge, our new troubleshooting arrangement eliminates the prior art separation between the expert system knowledge acquisition process and the expert system utilization process. Our new arrangement also detects and classifies invalid actions or other errors of the user in a manner that allows for the non-human expert system to advise the human user. Our arrangement interactively communicates between a user and a troubleshooting system, generates a learning knowledge base, identifies an object being tested by the user, utilizes the learning knowledge base for troubleshooting the test object, and classifies the test object as faulty or not faulty.