An application of case based reasoning to object oriented database retrieval

Abstract

In the near future, a potentially huge number of telecommunication services will be available to the public. Information about these services will be stored by suppliers in large object oriented databases. Users will be able to locate services that suit their requirements by retrieving objects from these databases. However the user's decision concerning the most appropriate service will not necessarily be simple: It will involve value judgements that seek to balance the desired service characteristics with other factors, such as availability, preferred supplier, and cost. One approach to this problem is to treat potential services as cases. This permits the application of CBR techniques, where the user's service requirement acts as the match target.

The ASCOT project followed this approach. CBR has the key advantage that the user is given a choice of matched services to select among. He may then refine his requirements appropriately. The implementation highlighted the need for “explanation” capabilities that allow the user to understand why one match is preferred over others.