A methodological approach for object knowledge bases

International audienceWe are interested in the architecture of object knowledge bases for solving complex problems - requiring a wide range of knowledge. This paper focuses on the relations between the representation of multiple domain knowledge sources and multiple inheritance allowing conflicts. A methodology is proposed which consists of partitioning a knowledge base into several almost independent perspectives or domains, one per source. A domain is a kind of "terminology"; every word and corresponding concept has a single meaning. Some concepts, appearing in different domains, may be represented by distinct intensions and a same extension in each one. The corresponding objects are related by means of an extensional equality relation that explicitly links the different views of the same concept; this is what we call an intensional system. There are two kinds of conflict: semantic and value conflicts. The two types of conflicts are clearly separated into inter-domain conflicts (i.e. semantic conflict) and intra-domain conflicts (i.e. value conflict). They are solved by the same strategy, called explicit designation strategy which naturally offers a great lexibility