Abstract: The present mechanism relates to a system and method for maintaining a knowledge base and an evidence set derived from the knowledge base. The knowledge base has a relationship, which exists between a a first object and a second object. A request is specified, the knowledge base is modified in accordance with the request and the relationship, and an evidence set is derived from the knowledge base.

Abstract: A system and method for searching on a computer. The method involves generating a knowledge base. The knowledge base includes information. The method further involves specifying an evidence set to include a proper subset of the information. The method also entails deriving the evidence set from the knowledge base.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a system and method for maintaining a knowledge base and an evidence set derived from the knowledge base. The knowledge base has a relationship, which exists between a first object and a second object. A request is specified, the knowledge base is modified in accordance with the request and the relationship, and an evidence set is derived from the knowledge base.

Abstract: A knowledge representation system which allows a user to utilize a description language to generate, maintain and access information in a knowledge base is disclosed. The knowledge representation system includes an explanation subsystem which explains where the derived information that is stored for a particular object was obtained from. A first level explanation function will provide a user with an explanation of the immediate source of the pieces of derived information that are stored for an object in the knowledge base. A complete explanation function provides a complete explanation by continuing to explain how the immediate source for each piece of the information itself received the information, until the source of the information is told information or the result of a rule firing. The explanation subsystem also explains subsumption inferences, which explain why a particular concept or rule antecedent is satisfied by a particular object.

Abstract: A knowledge representation system which allows a user to generate, maintain and access information in a knowledge base using a description language is disclosed. The knowledge representation system maintains the dependency relationships between the different objects that are stored in the knowledge base so that pieces of information that are related to or dependent upon added or updated information may be properly classified at all times. The knowledge representation system includes a mechanism for processing dependency information that is returned from user-defined test functions in order to accurately maintain the dependency information implicated upon execution of the user-defined procedural test functions. A subsumption function determines if a particular individual in the knowledge base satisfies a concept. The subsumption function evaluates each component of a concept description and maintains the dependency information implicated by the concept component.