This is part of work on an automated design assistant for model-based user interface design.
Relationship: Before: After: Result:
The result is the variable binding set obtained by applying the relation to the data. Without abduction, this is analogous to a relational database join operation. With abduction, implicit data is inferred when it is implied by the existing of both explicit data and the relationship. Compare before and after to see the effects.
Abduction using relationships can be applied to synchronizing different levels of abstraction for model based user interface design. Each relationship is associated with a precondition that determines when the relationship holds true according to the context. Relationships hold across different levels of abstraction, e.g. relating terms denoting abstract user interface models to terms denoting concrete user interface models.
In the CAMELEON Reference Framework you have one abstract user interface model related to several concrete user interface models that correspond to different target platforms, e.g. desktop, smart phone, tablet and connected TV. Abduction over relationships allows changes made to a given abstract or concrete user interface model to be propagated to other related models. Note that relationships are combined with additional rules that express design preferences.
Illustration of the CAMELEON Reference Framework
Further information can be found in the W3C Model-Based UI Incubator Group Report.