John K. Myers
The ATMS Manual Version 1.1
Abstract:This manual presents user documentation for the ATR Interpreting Telephony
Research Laboratories LISP ATMS. The ATMS, or "Assumption-based Truth
Maintenance System", is a data-base that is able to represent and store concepts (atms-nodes) and constraints between these concepts (implications). Some
concepts are assumed by the user. Depending upon whether these assumptions
are BELIEVED or NOT BELIEVED, different multiple possible worlds known as
environments are set up. In addition to storing data and implications, the ATMS
performs "truth maintenance"--if any concept or set of concepts becomes
inconsistent, the effects of this change are propagated through implications to
other concepts that might become inconsistent, thus "maintaining the truth" of
the system as a whole. Also, the ATMS offers explanations as to why concepts are
believed in a particular possible world.
The ATMS was developed to enable ATR to have modifiable LISP source code to
an assumption-based TMS. This was required for performing plan recognition
using an ATMS.
The ATMS is a general-purpose system that can work with any application that
requires an assumption-based truth maintenance system; it is not limited to plan-recognition applications. The current version of the ATMS supports various
assertion, query, explanation, and output functions for the user.