The requirement model in a knowledge-based rapid prototyping system

A requirement model supporting the specification of data-intensive application systems and the fast construction of their prototypes is presented. This model is based on five modeling concepts: object categories, frame-based semantic nets, abstraction mechanisms, a property inheritance rule, and predefined object types. In order to achieve the goal of rapid prototyping, the top-down stepwise refinement process is applied in this model, such that each nonpredefined object type can be refined to predefined object types that are the basic modeling elements. A hierarchy-based structure is derived to describe the user´s requirements. With the aid of a knowledge-based system, the requirement modeling, the consistency and completeness checking, and the generation of the requirements specification and the prototype are integrated to make the whole approach more practical and useful.<>