Yusuke Koji

An Ontology-Based Annotation Framework for Representing the Functionality of Engineering Devices

This paper proposes a metadata schema relating to functionality based on Semantic Web technology for the management of the information content of engineering design documents. The schema enables us to annotate web-documents with RDF metadata, which represents devices as having specific functions. The metadata provide a clear and operational semantics for the functional terms in documents. The metadata schema is based on our own functional ontologies, which we believe to provide effective guidelines for consistent functional annotation. These ontologies have been developed over many years and deployed successfully in industry. We then demonstrate a document search system using the metadata, which enables us to retrieve web-documents using the types of function and relationships defined in the schema rather than more superficial terms. Such function-oriented management of information is especially useful in the conceptual design phase. It allows one to find previous cases of the same function in earlier designs and to find related patents. We go on to discuss the following two issues on the interoperability of the functional knowledge. The first is automatic transformation of the functional model in our modeling framework into a chart-style form commonly used for the FMEA (Failure Modes and Effects Analysis) activity using a mapping between our ontology and an FMEA ontology. The second is translation of the functional model between our functional vocabulary and other taxonomy of function, that is, Functional Basis proposed by Stone et al. Another mapping between our functional vocabulary and Functional Basis can be done via a richer, generic reference ontology of functions. This mapping would aim at clarifying ontological differences between functional taxonomies and enabling translation between them.

Towards ontologies of functionality and semantic annotation for technical knowledge management

This research aims at promoting sharing of knowledge about functionality of artifacts among engineers, which tends to be implicit in practice. In order to provide a conceptual viewpoint for modeling and a controlled vocabulary, we have developed an ontological framework of functional knowledge. This framework has been successfully deployed in a manufacturing company. This paper firstly discusses an ontological definition of the concept of function from a device-centered viewpoint. Then, other types of function are discussed in order to place our definition in the related concepts in the literature. Next, as an application of the ontologies, we propose a metadata schema based on the functional ontologies for functional annotation in the Semantic Web. The functional metadata annotated to technical documents show designers intentions behind the documents and contribute to efficient retrieval of the documents. Moreover, task-oriented transformation and interoperability with other schemata can be realized based on the ontologies.

COPING WITH UNINTENDED BEHAVIOR OF USERS AND PRODUCTS: ONTOLOGICAL MODELLING OF PRODUCT FUNCTIONALITY AND USE

The function-behavior representation language FBRL was originally devised for modeling and knowledge management of intended product behavior. This paper explores its potential for application to other-than-intended behavior in a product-use context by introducing consideration of the user and the environment. We found that slightly adapted building blocks from as-is FBRL can be applied to behavior that is unintended and/or not performed by the product. To support anticipation of unintended behavior in design, special attention has to be paid to the knowledge that connects product functions, user actions and environment behavior. We distinguish typical and atypical forms of unintended use. Some forms of typical unintended use can be directly derived from the intended use. Yet, most forms of unintended use require additional knowledge, e.g., from user observations. To include such knowledge, subsequent effort has to be put into its systematization. In this paper, an ontological scheme is presented for models of the product, the user and the environment and related use processes. We present an example and discuss how supporting tools can help designers to deal with unintended use. In the example case, a modeling schema for unintended behaviors of products is extended towards unintended behaviors of users.Copyright