CSES: an approach to integrating graphic, music and voice information into a user-friendly interface

CSES/V1 (Customer Service Expert System Version 1) is an easy-to-use consultation system with an integrated multimedia user interface. CSES/V1 advises naive users which electric appliances are suitable for their daily life. To develop CSES/V1, the authors adopt frame-based knowledge representations, rule-based inference mechanisms, and the analytic hierarchy process, a non-Bayesian decision method. These mechanisms are implemented in OPS83 and the C language. The system combines (1) graphic information in NAPLPS codes to illustrate the pictures of electric appliances, (2) music in MIDI codes to attract users, and (3) voice explanation to advise users. These techniques make CSES/V1 a user-friendly and flexible system run on an MS/DOS-based microcomputer. The authors describe the design principles and the architecture of CSES/V1, focusing on the user interface