The runtime of XML Miner, together with the metarule language make an ideal inference engine for Business Rules type applications. Since the inference engine runs under .Net, it should be relatively easy to port it to the .Net Compact Framework, and so we've gone and done it. There are a large number of business opportunities for such a tool in mobile applications wherever a business or profession relies on some codified "best practice" - like prescribing drugs, compliance checks, and so on. Because XML Miner uses Fuzzy logic it also offers the opportunity for more sophisticated inferences and applications.

This image shows the Fuzzy inference engine running in a simple Pocket PC 2002 application using the .Net Compact Library. Metarule files are placed in the same directory as the application and can be selected by name. As soon as the rule set is loaded the XRule.inputMap can be interrogated for the names and types of the inputs. Numeric inputs get editBoxes, Categoricals get ListBoxes preloaded with the categories defined, and textual inputs get multi line text boxes.

To use the application, which we've called mobile inference, you just type in numeric or textual values or select categorical ones from drop down lists. Hitting the process button runs the XRule runtime on the data you've given with the rule file you've selected, and presents the results in a pop up window. No customization for different applications is generally needed, it's all in the metarule file.

Porting to the .Net Compact Framework was pretty easy. We found only four problems with the  XRule code due to differences in the classes in the two libraries. Some were strange, like the Stack class not having a Clear() method in the mobile implementation, and others were clearly because Microsoft needed to cut down on the size of the library.  

The resulting application is only 112K, so fits well onto a mobile device.

If you've got a mobile application where you need to offer advice, work out what best practice is, or make a prediction/classification, we've got the solution. MobileInference is compatible with all our other products, so you can generate rule sets with our editor or via data mining with XML Miner.

The mobile code will be in our next release. If you need it sooner, please contact me at andy@scientio.com