RIPL: an environment for rapid prototyping with intelligent support

ABSTRACT

Rapid prototyping of the User-System Interface (USI) has proven to be an effective design, validation, and optimization technique. This paper describes the conceptual design of the Rapid Intelligent Prototyping Language (RIPL) environment. RIPL provides an automated environment that supports the USI designer with an Artificial Intelligence (AI) System, Display and Dialogue Definition Systems, and a User-System Simulator. With RIPL, dialogues are specified and edited interactively using state transition model graphics. Also, prototypes can be automatically instrumented to measure human performance.The AI components of RIPL are its most significant and unique elements. The RIPL AI System includes an expert system for USI design as well as other designer aids. These tools not only result in faster generation of prototypes, but increase USI quality from the human factors perspective. The expert system uses a knowledge base codified from USI design guidelines to answer designer queries and perform USI evaluation.

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