Conceptual equivalence at knowledge level for diagnosis applications

This paper describes a methodology for recognizing equivalent knowledge-based diagnosis applications at knowledge level. This methodology is based on the notion of Conceptual Equivalence, that is formally developed. This notion of Conceptual Equivalence induces the definition of a generic inference structure for knowledge-based diagnosis applications named COPE, acronym for Compare, Observe, Predict and Evaluate, that is a canonical representation of this kind of applications at knowledge level.