The Characteristic Error Approach to Conflict Resolution

Conflict resolution is the process of reaching a decision using the opinions of multiple knowledge sources as input. It integrates two closely related concepts: reasoning about uncertainty and constraint propagation as applied to problems involving knowledge integration. This paper introduces the concept of characteristic error conflict resolution which is unique in treating each knowledge source as a separate entity whose validity b determined only from the information the knowledge source itself provides. The advantages of characteristic error conflict resolution are that the knowledge sources themselves provide the information necessary to determine the current context of the conflict and that the outcome of the resolution process is dependent only upon this locally determined context. This leads to an easily extensible generic approach to conflict resolution.