案例式推理 (Case-Based Reasoning, CBR) 是知识表达的一种新方法， 最主要就是利用先前的经验来解决问题。 在 CBR 中， 知识是以过去的案例来表示。 而需要解决类似问题时， 便使用这些经验来引导推理。
简单地说, Case-Based Reasoning 就是：
人类推理的过程
推理过程的表达
在应用程序发展上，解决问题的一种方法论
如果您总是搞不清楚前向推理(forward chaining)，后向推理(backward chaining)， goal-directed reasoning， certainty factors 这些名词。而您的领域知识又很难用 if-then 的规则方式表达， 但却有大量的案例足以取样，则用 CBR的方式来解决问题，应是不错的选择。
CBR-Works
"Just think of everything you'd want a CBR
tool to do and CBR-Works does it!"
Dr. Ian Watson, Director AI-CBR
Most companies collect and file their data in databases or in huge filing cabinets.
Yet they do not use this valuable source of information to its full potential and improve
their services. CBR-Works opens this source of knowledge about your products and
projects and makes it available to your employees, customers, and suppliers - online,
on CD-ROM, or on the Intranet.
A person, who knows what to search for will find it.
A person, who does not know will become lost!
CBR-Works stands for a whole product line of development tools for the acquisition, processing, and distribution of information. CBR-Works lets your customers get help from Virtual Assistants.
CBR-Works actively supporting users as they search databases, letting your existing databases become intelligent support systems and knowledge bases. Information garnered through the search process is modeled and maintained in a knowledge model.
With easily formulated queries, CBR-Works delivers precise and meaningful answers. As an experienced expert, your system knows background information and relationships. Even when these relationships are not expressed during a query, they are used during searches and are reflected in the quality of the answers.
You can observe the intelligent behavior of such systems by looking at the alternatives suggested from searches. With conventional database systems, how good the search results are greatly depends on the user's knowledge of the system. CBR-Works quickly and reliably finds the best solution for a problem, even for the nonexpert.
Application Areas
The CBR-Works product family is outstanding in the following application areas:
New Media / Internet
Used cars or last-minute travel
Brokerage of real estate
Product Catalogs
Search for optional or additional parts
Electronic Sales Assistants
Mixtures and recipes
Industry / Intranet
Known problems from the past.
Knowledge bases
Spare-parts catalogs
Drivers and Patches
Development Tools
CBR-Works offers a set of software development tools for the implementation
and maintenance of such applications. The basic components are:
CBR-Works for Professionals
Development environment for the implementation and maintenance of applications.
CBR-Works for You
Run-time version for consulting local networks.
CBR-Works Online
WWW-server for Internet and Intranet access.
CBR-Sells
"Lean" version to embed CBR technology as middleware, for example, product catalogs on a CD-ROM.
CBR-Answers
Intelligent document retrieval.
CBR-Works offers quick and easy access to the technology of Case-Based Reasoning (CBR). The domain-specific knowledge model describes concepts, similarities among them, and further relations of the application domain to allow use of a corporation's information assets.
CBR-Works is based on an object-oriented Client-Server architecture and is applicable to CD-ROM, and to the Intra-, Extra-, and Internet. The Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs), developed in Java, help your browser achieve comfortable user interfaces. CBR-Works is compatible with all common operating systems and databases, and is easy to integrate into existing applications.