Hypermedia structured knowledge base system

摘要

A computer-aided expert system comprising a hypermedia structured expert system and a hypermedia-structured multi-level electronic document archive linked thereto. The expert system includes a knowledge base, an inference engine that interacts with the knowledge base to generate advice. A hypermedia interface having knowledge base transfer means is provided on a display that includes selectable areas that provide access to active and passive documents in the document archive. The document archive includes active and passive electronic documents interlinked by means of the hypermedia interface and linked to the expert system by means of the hypermedia interface. Each active and passive electronic document includes active document transfer means that provide for transfer from the active document to another active document, a passive document, or a knowledge base linked thereto. The expert system, and the active and passive documents may also include knowledge base transfer means provided on the display that include selectable areas that provide access to additional linked expert systems. The present invention provides an expert system that incorporates the ability to have both electronic-based documents and an expert system coexist within a single computer program. This enables a developer to interlink both the expert system and the electronic documents as desired to permit smooth uninterrupted movement between them.