Hierarchical Case-Based Reasoning: Integrating Case-Based and Decompositional Problem-Solving Techniques for Plant-Control Software Design

Abstract

Case-based reasoning (CBR) is an AI technique that emphasises the role of past experience during future problem solving. New problems are solved by retrieving and adapting the solutions to similar problems, solutions that have been stored and indexed for future reuse as cases in a case-base. The power of CBR is severely curtailed if problem solving is limited to the retrieval and adaptation of a single case, and for this reason the strategy of reusing multiple cases is immediately appealing. This paper describes the technique of hierarchical case-based reasoning, which allows complex problems to be solved by reusing multiple cases at various levels of abstraction. The technique is described in the context of Déjà Vu, a CBR system aimed at automating plant-control software design.