Tien H Le

US Patent:

55617409, Oct 1, 1996

Filed:

Dec 13, 1994

Appl. No.:

8/354698

Inventors:

Kevin L. Barrett - Austin TX
Ajit T. Dingankar - Austin TX
Tien N. Le - Austin TX

Assignee:

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

International Classification:

G06F 1700

US Classification:

395 62

Abstract:

A method and system for providing representation of multiple entities in a single multiple-instance object is disclosed and provides a powerful and economical way of representing objects in an object oriented knowledge based data processing system. A multiple-instance object contains slots and slot values which enable the access and modification of all entities represented by the multiple-instance object. The instance unique data, the context which defines an instance state, and the procedure to instantiate the multiple-instance object are all stored in the multiple-instance object. The processing or reasoning of the knowledge based system occurs as though objects exist for entities represented.