Patent ID: 6529888
Filing Date: 2003-03-04
Classification: G06N

Abstract:
A computer-readable medium whose contents cause a computer system to generate an improved belief network, the computer system having a belief network generator and a belief network containing nodes and arcs indicating a relationship between the nodes, the nodes containing expert data obtained from an expert in a field of expertise, by:providing the belief network containing the expert data; providing empirical data containing a plurality of observations for nodes in the provided belief network; calculating a score for each node in the provided belief network utilizing the empirical data, each score indicating goodness of the node at rendering inferences; and using the calculated node scores and the belief network generator to generate an improved belief network from the provided belief network, the generation accomplished through modifying the arcs of the provided belief network by removing an arc between a first node and a second node and by adding an arc between the first node and a third node, wherein a calculated score for the first node in the improved belief network indicates a higher goodness of the first node than the calculated score for the first node in the provided belief network.