Bi-Directional Flow of Information in the Softboard Architecture

This paper addresses the issue of integrating top-down and bottom-up processing of information in modular hybrid systems. Backed by computational and neurological evidence, we show that there are important advantages to be gained from supporting bi-directional flow of information, especially in the context of intelligent information processing in real-world applications. We consider modular hybrid systems from a granular computing perspective and propose an approach based on evidential reasoning to integrate both top-down and bottom-up processes. The implementation of the model in the Softboard framework, an experimental distributed hybrid architecture, is presented and its application to intelligent filtering and retrieval of multimedia is illustrated.