Description and treatment of deadlocks in the Hecodes distributed expert system

The causes of deadlocks in distributed expert systems are examined and classified, and two methods of processing them are proposed. In particular, this problem is discussed within the framework of a working prototype distributed expert system, Hecodes (heterogeneous cooperative distributed expert system) which consists of a control system, a blackboard system, and a group of expert systems whose structures and functions can be different. The two approaches for processing any deadlock are termed deadlock avoidance, and deadlock detection and destruction. Only one of the two can be chosen for a particular run of the system. The detailed working and effects of using each of the proposed deadlock resolution methods are discussed