EXPERT SYSTEM SHELL FOR BUILDING PHOTOFINISHING DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEMS

The present invention involves a computer-based expert system tool for making decisions regarding photofinishing processes. An expert mentor in the photofinishing area provides specific information both factual knowledge and judgmental knowledge including any judgmental rules he uses to make judgments and solve problems in the photofinishing area for a number of different processes. The expert then makes representative decisions using the computer which characterizes situations in terms of their data values based on information derived from a control strip used in the given photofinishing process. From this interaction the expert system tool of this invention is able to generate an internal representation of the logical processes of the expert and to characterize each situation in terms of a series of intermediate judgments. The expert system tool of this invention can determine the relative logical importance of each of the data points and to classify each as being of either major or minor significance.