Abstract: A mechanism for determining analogy and symmetric comparison among objects based on characteristics and weighting values provided by an operator or calling program. The characteristics of each object are defined in a reference table. A similarity table is constructed in which comparisons and differences between objects are detailed based on whether they possess similar characteristics. The weights are used to provide a quantitative measure of similarity and difference.

Abstract: A system for performing iterative specialization and iterative generalization among objects in a set. Initially, an analogy or symmetric comparison operation is performed between a predetermined pair of objects to determine the similarities (and differences if symmetric comparison is performed) between the objects, and to generate respective similarity and difference reference structures. The system then iteratively performs analog or symmetric comparison operations using the previously generated reference structures and the reference structure of the object being processed during the iteration to determine the similarity of difference between the object and the previously determined reference structure.