Digitized Expert PICTures (DEPICT): An Intelligent Information Repository

Implementing and maintaining complicated manufacturing processes in an error-free mode is essential to the survival of any manufacturing business. One essential element to realizing error-free manufacturing is saving learning and making it readily available to those who need it, on a system that is easy to develop and use. A knowledge based tool, DEPICT (Digitized Expert PICTures), has been developed to meet these needs. DEPICT is a menu-driven, Knowledge Based System designed such that a nonprogrammer may develop and maintain an application with very little training. DEPICT is best suited to applications where the user needs to identify an object, such as a processing defect, and can identify the object by some attributes, such as appearance and behavior under electrical test conditions. Attributes are weighted according to how strongly each one indicates the presence of a given object. DEPICT’s output consists of a ranked list of objects which are best indicated by the user-selected attributes. The user may then select objects from the list for viewing. A built-in image/text navigation utility allows the user to browse the information in the order of his or her choosing.