Answer Support System and Method

摘要

An answer support system generates a target cause to aid in solving a current problem. Upon receiving known problem symptoms of the current problem from the customer, a search of problem causes is conducted in a knowledge database to find potential causes corresponding to the known problem symptoms. If conventional techniques cannot determine the target cause of the current problem, an attribute is selected which is not among the attributes associated with the known problem symptoms in the database. The attribute selection is based on the attribute deemed most likely to identify the target cause of the current problem from among the potential causes found in the knowledge database.