The Object-Inferencing Framework: a Prolog-based approach for extracting structure from computer graphics

Advances in computer graphics, database, and knowledge-based systems have created opportunities for the sophisticated management of engineering information. Many industries have incorporated information about critical systems into a computer-graphic environment. However, most of the data captured by these systems contains implicit information in that semantic relationships and structure conveyed by the data must be inferred by the user. The Object-Inferencing Framework (OIF) is a knowledge-based system developed for intelligent-data migration. The OIF provides tools for inferring structure, based on a project-specific rulebase, from primitive-graphic design files. Although this work presents a specific solution for the migration of data representing an electrical-distribution system to an automated mapping/facilities management (AM/FM) platform, this framework provides a substrate for migration from any unstructured or semi-structured format to a structured graphic and database environment. Applications built upon OIF have been successfully deployed in industry, and the framework serves as the basis for ongoing research and development in intelligent-data migration