Patent ID: 6223170
Filing Date: 2001-04-24
Classification: G06N

Abstract:
A computer-aided method of configuring a set of objects in a computer by enabling a user to assign determined object values to the objects having undetermined object values;assignment of object values to the objects being constrained by a rule base defining which complete assignments of object values to the set of objects are valid and which are not;the validity of the object values assigned to the set of objects being verified against the rule base by means of a configuration engine also being capable of inferring knowledge about the object values according to the rule base and the assignments made by the user,wherein, the computer-aided configuration method is organised as a cascade of interruptible algorithms which are ordered in an order of temporal complexity and degree of accuracy with which the mentioned algorithms approximate the set of valid object values, and which are run automatically one after another and which provide more knowledge about the undetermined object values the longer the cascade of interruptible algorithms are allowed to run.