Abstract: In a recognition system using a knowledge base in which there is required tolerance for ambiguity and noises in a knowledge expressing system not having the cause-and-effect relation existing, for example, in a knowledge base system employed for pattern recognition. The knowledge base supported recognition system includes as an inference engine an apparatus in which a hypergraph is added to the data structure of the knowledge base to obtain a minimum cost tree or the like by use of costs assigned to hyperedges of the hypergraph. With this provision, there can be attained tolerance for ambiguity of the knowledge base and noises superimposed on input data.

Abstract: In an atomic switch, opposite ends of an atom wire are connected to an input and output, and a switching gate is connected to a switching power supply. An input signal is outputted when a switching atom is connected to the atom wire, whereas an input signal is not outputted when the switching atom is moved to disconnect from the atom wire. There are provided an atom wire having a plurality of atoms arranged in a line or in a plurality of lines, in a ring shape, or in a curved line, and a switching gate made of an atom wire. The atom wire is switched by the field effect of the switching gate.

Abstract: A fuzzy inference-based digital control method and apparatus wherein state variables of the controlled object are adopted as inputs thereof, and fuzzy inference computations are executed for the input variables taken as fuzzy variables to derive the control output value to be supplied to the controlled object by referring to predetermined implication rules and membership functions corresponding thereto. The inference rule is divided into an inference rule group for deriving a value representing the state of the controlled object from the measured value obtained from the controlled object and another succeeding inference rule group for deriving the control output value from the derived state value. These inference rule groups are successively used to execute the inference computation in a multistep manner. An optimum control value for the controlled object is obtained with easy tuning.