Integrated systems II: Multi-tier interfaces for integrating families of systems

Abstract

Abstract. Of critical importance is the design of the man-machine interfaces for general rule based systems. They must serve (i) as user-friendly interfaces for different classes of users for different applications and (ii) to invoke service components in integrated packages without interrogating users. These objectives are achieved with a multitier interface design whose two parts, the Interactive User-Friendly Interface (IUFI) and the System Interface (SI), communicate with each other via commonly used notational systems and can be invoked independently of each other. The user-friendly interface, which is uniquely designed for each user discipline, passes information to the SI. The SI does not change for new IUFI designs and it can be invoked by other rule based systems without interrogating users.Here the requirements for the IUFI and SI parts are identified, four different designs of multi-tier interfaces are given and two applications are described. Also included are guidelines for designing user friendly interfaces,

Integrated systems I: Design principles

“…The SI does not change for new applications and can be invoked by other rule based systems without interrogating users. Some details of the four different designs that have been implemented in our laboratory are given in PART II of this series [6]. The IUFI should be designed so that it: (1) is interactive, (2) supports a language understood by the user, and (3) is adaptable for new applications.…”

“…They must have an interrogation capability to serve (i) different classes of users from different disciplines and (ii) as service components in integrated packages. These objectives are achieved with a multi-tier interface design whose two parts, the Interactive User-Friendly Interface (IUFI) and the System Interface (SI), can be invoked independently of each other [5], [6] (See Figure 2). The user-friendly interface, which can be altered for different user-groups, passes information to the SI.…”

“…All thirteen systems have both interactive user-friendly interfaces and system interfaces. System Interfaces can be invoked by other rule based systems without interrogating users [5], [6]. At present we have prototypes for ten systems and six of those are in production use.…”