A framework for object-oriented fuzzy expert systems

In recent years, the fuzzy logic has been widely used in the field of AI. Many successful fuzzy expert systems and fuzzy control systems have been developed. In general, these systems adopt the rule-based knowledge representation. On the other hand, it is also suitable to adopt the object-oriented paradigm for representing knowledge. This paper proposes a framework that integrates the fuzzy inference model and the object-oriented paradigm for building expert systems. This framework embeds the properties of object-oriented paradigm, e.g., encapsulation, inheritance, message passing and polymorphism, into the model of fuzzy expert systems. It also includes a partial inheritance model, so that the child object may inherits the property of parent object partially. The inheritance process is viewed as a process of evolution, and the partial inheritance is treated as a special kind of fuzzy implication.<<ETX>>