Improving Knowledge-Based System Performance by Reordering Rule Sequences

In this paper, we argue that KBS validation should not be limited to testing functional properties of the system, such as its input - output behavior, but must also address its dynamic properties, such as its run-time performance. We describe an automated procedure, which under certain limitations can recognize relations between rules, typically expressed as “meta-rules” or “control heuristics” and hardwired in the KBS’s control strategy. The presented procedure takes as an input the operational version of the knowledge base theory generated by a CTMS-based verification tool, and returns a reordered set of rules which when applied to a specific problem generates possible solutions of that problem in order according to a specified criterion, for example the length of the path leading to the solution. We show an example to illustrate the proposed procedure.