Incremental Iterative Retrieval and Browsing for Efficient Conversational CBR Systems

A case base is a repository of past experiences that can be used for problem solving. Given a new problem, expressed in the form of a query, the case base is browsed in search of “similar” or “relevant” cases. Conversational case-based reasoning (CBR) systems generally support user interaction during case retrieval and adaptation. Here we focus on case retrieval where users initiate problem solving by entering a partial problem description. During an interactive CBR session, a user may submit additional queries to provide a “focus of attention”. These queries may be obtained by relaxing or restricting the constraints specified for a prior query. Thus, case retrieval involves the iterative evaluation of a series of queries against the case base, where each query in the series is obtained by restricting or relaxing the preceding query.