Perspectives of granular computing

Granular computing emerges as a new multi-disciplinary study and has received much attention in recent years. A conceptual framework is presented by extracting shared commonalities from many fields. The framework stresses multiple views and multiple levels of understanding in each view. It is argued that granular computing is more about a philosophical way of thinking and a practical methodology of problem solving. By effectively using levels of granularity, granular computing provides a systematic, natural way to analyze, understand, represent, and solve real world problems. With granular computing, one aims at structured thinking at the philosophical level, and structured problem solving at the practical level.