Planning for the Control of an Interpretation System

INTERPRETATION IS A COMPLEX AND UNCERTAIN PROCESS WHICH REQUIRED SOPHIS- TICATED EVIDENTIAL REASONING AND CONTROL SCHEMES. WE HAVE DEVELOPED A FRAMEWORK WHICH MODELS INTERPRETATION AS A PROCESS OF GATHERING EVIDENCE TO MANAGE UNCERTAINTY. THE KEY COMPONENTS OF THE APPROACH ARE A SPECIAL- IZED EVIDENTIAL REPRESENTATION SYSTEM AND A CONTROL PLANNER WITH HEURISTIC FOCUSING. THE EVIDENTIAL REPRESENTATION SCHEME INCLUDES EXPLICIT, SYMBOLIC ENCODINGS OF THE SOURCES OF UNCERTAINTY IN THE EVIDENCE FOR THE HYPOTHESES. THE KNOWLEDGE IS USED BY THE CONTROL PLANNER TO IDENTIFY AND DEVELOP STRAT- EGIES FOR RESOLVING THE UNCERTAINTY IN THE INTERPRETATIONS. SINCE MULTIPLE, ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES MAY BE ABLE TO SATISFY GOALS, THE CONTROL PROCESS CAN BE SEEN TO INVOLVE A SEARCH. HEURISTIC FOCUSING IS APPLIED IN PARALLEL WITH THE PLANNING PROCESS IN ORDER TO SELECT THE STRATEGIES TO PURSUE AND CONTROL THE SEARCH. THE CONTROL PLAN FRAMEWORK ALLOWS THE USE OF A FLEX- IBLE FOCUSING SCHEME WHICH CAN SWITCH BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN STRATEGIES DEPENDING ON THE NATURE OF THE DEVELOPING PLANS AND CHANGES IN THE DOMAIN.