A Portable Natural Language Interface.
Abstract
Project 5470, A Portable Natural Language Interface, was an outgrowth of the experience gained with the linguistic interface to the Knowledge-Based System (KNOBS) and the KNOBS Replanning System (KRS). The KNOBS/KRS interface provided multiple media including English and graphics, enabling users to easily communicate with the underlying mission planning system. Notable and very limiting deficiencies were however present in the interface. The most significant of these deficiencies were the lack of extensibility and portability. Application of KNOBS/KRS system to new domains and even simple enhancements to the vocabulary were inhibited by the complexity of the task. Integration of the interface to any other system was out of the question. The purpose of project 5470 was to create a natural language interface for expert systems that would be portable across different applications and would be capable of reasoning about user goals. This interface would integrate the use of graphics, menus and natural language within a new model and architecture that combined syntactic, semantic and discourse analysis in such a way as to promote generality and application independence. This report discusses the design and implementation of this portable interface and the degree of success attained in accomplishing the original goals.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1987
- Accession Number
- ADA191695
Entities
People
- Candace E. Kalish
Organizations
- MITRE Corporation