Method for problem formulation and for obtaining solutions from a database

1. A system for obtaining solution suggestions for problems, the system comprising:

at least one processor and at least one storage medium including an electronic model of a system or process, wherein the electronic model includes components of the system or process and relationships between the components;

a problem analysis tool that analyzes the components and the relationships between the components of the electronic model to identify a problem to be solved, generates a problem statement representing the problem, and generates a machine representation of a problem statement;

a query formatter that reformulates the machine representation into a natural language query or Boolean query and automatically submits the query to at least one knowledge base; and

the at least one knowledge base comprising at least one database comprising problem solutions and returning a set of solution suggestions responsive to the query.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the query formatter translates functional relationships in the machine representation of the problem statement into semantic relationships.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the query formatter reformulates the problem statement into a natural language query.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one knowledge base includes a semantic analysis knowledge base.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one knowledge base is resident on a storage medium co-located with the computer.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one knowledge base is resident on a corporate server.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one knowledge base is remotely accessed.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one knowledge base is a patent collection that is remotely accessed.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least one knowledge base includes a knowledge search tool that accesses a plurality of databases selected from a group including:

at least one database resident on a storage medium co-located with the computer;

at least one database on a corporate server; and

at least one database accessible via an internet link.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the at least one knowledge base includes a semantic analysis knowledge base.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one knowledge base includes a knowledge search tool that uses the query to automatically search the at least one database.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein:

the problem analysis tool determines functional relationships between key components of the electronic model; and

the query formatter translates the functional relationships into the natural language query.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein:

the problem analysis tool performs a root cause analysis of the electronic model to generate a directed graph having one or more nodes, wherein each node represents a problem statement and has a node edge that represents a cause-effect relationship; and

the query formatter translates the one or more nodes into the natural language query.

14. A computer program product stored on at least one storage medium for execution by one or more processors to perform a method of obtaining solution suggestions for problems, using a database including an electronic model of a system or process, wherein the electronic model includes components of the system or process and relationships between the components, said method comprising:

analyzing the components and the relationships between the components of the electronic model to identify a problem to be solved;

automatically generating a machine representation of the problem;

reformulating the machine representation into a natural language or Boolean query;

submitting the query to at least one knowledge base having problem solutions stored therein, and

returning a set of solution suggestions responsive to the query from the at least one knowledge base.

15. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein reformulating the machine representation into a natural language or Boolean query includes translating functional relationships in the machine representation into semantic relationships.

16. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein one or more of the at least one knowledge base is a semantic analysis knowledge base.

17. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the at least one knowledge base is resident on a storage medium co-located with at least one of the one or more processors.

18. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the at least one knowledge base is resident on a corporate server.

19. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the at least one knowledge base is remotely accessible.

20. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the at least one knowledge base is a patent collection that is remotely accessible.

21. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein accessing at least one knowledge base includes using a knowledge search tool to access a plurality of databases comprising two or more of:

at least one database resident on a storage medium co-located with at least one of the one or more processors;

at least one database on a corporate server; and

at least one database accessible by an internet link.

22. The computer program product of claim 21 wherein at least one of said knowledge bases is a semantic analysis knowledge base.

23. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the method includes submitting the query to the at least one knowledge base without intervention by a user.

24. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein:

identifying the problem to be solved includes determining functional relationships between key components of the electronic model; and

reformulating the machine representation into the natural language query includes translating the functional relationships into the natural language query.

25. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein:

identifying the problem to be solved includes performing a root cause analysis of the electronic model to generate a directed graph having one or more nodes, wherein each node represents a problem statement and has a node edge that represents a cause-effect relationship; and

reformulating the machine representation into the natural language query includes translating the nodes into the natural language query.

26. A computer-based method of obtaining solution suggestions for problems, using an electronic model of a system or process, wherein the electronic model includes components of the system or process and relationships between the components, said method comprising the following computer executed steps:

analyzing the components and the relationships between the components of the electronic model, including identifying a problem to be solved;

generating a machine representation of the problem;

reformulating the machine representation into a natural language or Boolean query;

automatically submitting the query to at least one knowledge base having solutions stored therein; and

returning a set of solution suggestions responsive to the query from the at least one knowledge base.

27. The method of claim 26 , further comprising presenting the set of solution suggestions via an output device.

28. A system for obtaining solution suggestions for problems, said system comprising:

at least one processor and at least one storage medium including an electronic model of a system or process, wherein the electronic model includes components of the system or process and relationships between the components;

a problem analysis tool that analyzes the components and the relationships between the components of the electronic model to identify a problem to be solved and generates a machine representation of the problem;

a query formatter that reformulates the machine representation into a natural language or Boolean query and automatically submits the query to at least one knowledge base; and the at least one knowledge base comprising:

at least one database comprising problem solutions; and

a knowledge search tool that automatically returns a set of solution suggestions responsive to the query from the at least one database.