Scale-guided object matching for case-based reasoning

Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) can be seen as a problem-solving paradigm that advocates the use of previous experiences to limit search spaces and to reduce opportunities for error repetition. In this paradigm, the case at hand is compared against former experiences to select from a set of possible courses of action the best one. A comparison method is required to ensure that the most resembling experience is, in fact, chosen to drive the problem-solving process. This paper discusses an object-oriented framework that provides a scale-guided measure of similarity between objects, and shows how this framework can be applied for case-based reasoning, drawing examples from device diagnosis.