Method and system for mapping enterprise data assets to a semantic information model

• US 20040093344A1
• Filed: 08/08/2003
• Published: 05/13/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Meir, Rannen, Schreiber, Zvi, Marchant, Hayden, Melamed, Boris, Hellman, Ziv, Berger, Ben
• Granted Patent: US 7,877,421 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/25 Integrating or interfacing systems involving database management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/288 Entity relationship models
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/975 Portable database architecture

Abstract

A method for mapping data schemas into an ontology model, including providing an ontology model including classes and properties of classes, providing a data schema, identifying a primary data construct within the data schema, identifying a secondary data construct within the primary data construct, mapping the primary data construct to a corresponding class of the ontology model, and mapping the secondary data construct to a property of the corresponding class of the ontology model. A system and a computer readable storage medium are also described and claimed.

Claims

1. A method for mapping data schemas into an ontology model, comprising:

providing an ontology model including classes and properties of classes;

providing a data schema;

identifying a primary data construct within the data schema;

identifying a secondary data construct within the primary data construct;

mapping the primary data construct to a corresponding class of the ontology model; and

mapping the secondary data construct to a property of the corresponding class of the ontology model.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the ontology model includes a generic industry model.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the ontology model includes an enterprise specific model.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the ontology model includes business rules that relate properties of a class.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the business rules include conversion rules, for converting among properties of a class.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the ontology model is a distributed model.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the data schema is specified by a meta-model that describes primary and secondary data constructs.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising marking primary and secondary data constructs described within the meta-model that are to be mapped to corresponding classes and properties.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein said mapping the primary data construct and said mapping the secondary data construct are performed manually by a user.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein said mapping the primary data construct and said mapping the secondary data construct are performed automatically, based on matching at least partial names between the primary data construct and a class of the ontology model, and between the secondary data construct and a property of the class, respectively.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein said mapping the primary data construct and said mapping the secondary data construct are performed automatically, based on matching at least partial names between the primary data construct and another primary data construct for which said mapping the primary data construct has already been performed, and between the secondary data construct and another secondary data construct for which said mapping the secondary data construct has already been performed, respectively.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein said mapping the secondary data construct is performed automatically based on matching data types between the secondary data construct and a property of the corresponding class.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein said mapping the primary data construct and said mapping the secondary data construct use a Resource Description Framework (RDF) expression.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein said mapping the secondary data construct comprises mapping a function of the secondary data construct to the property of the corresponding class of the ontology model.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein said providing, identifying a primary data construct and identifying a secondary data construct are enabled through an application programming interface (API).

16. The method of claim 1 wherein said providing, identifying a primary data construct and identifying a secondary data construct are enabled through a graphical user interface (GUI).

17. The method of claim 1 further comprising calculating statistics for the ontology model.

18. The method of claim 1 further comprising calculating statistics for the data schema.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the statistics for the data schema include the number of primary data constructs within the data schema that have been mapped to corresponding classes of the ontology model.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein the statistics for the data schema include the number of secondary data constructs within the data schema that have been mapped to corresponding properties of the ontology model.

21. The method of claim 18 wherein the statistics for the data schema include the percentage of primary data constructs within the data schema that have been mapped to corresponding classes of the ontology model.

22. The method of claim 18 wherein the statistics for the data schema include the percentage of secondary data constructs within the data schema that have been mapped to corresponding properties of the ontology model.

23. A method for mapping data schemas into an ontology model, comprising:

providing an ontology model including classes and properties of classes, each property having associated therewith a target class;

providing a data schema;

identifying a primary data construct within the data schema;

identifying a secondary data construct within the primary data construct;

mapping the primary data construct to a corresponding class of the ontology model; and

mapping the secondary data construct to an inverse of a property whose target class is the corresponding class of the ontology model.

24. A method for mapping data schemas into an ontology model, comprising:

providing an ontology model including classes and properties of classes, and including inheritance relationships for superclasses;

providing a data schema;

identifying a primary data construct within the data schema;

identifying a secondary data construct within the primary data construct;

mapping the primary data construct to a corresponding class of the ontology model; and

mapping the secondary data construct to a property of a superclass of the corresponding class of the ontology model.

25. A method for mapping data schemas into an ontology model, comprising:

providing an ontology model including classes and properties of classes, and including inheritance relationships for superclasses;

providing a data schema;

identifying a primary data construct within the data schema;

identifying a secondary data construct within the primary data construct;

mapping the primary data construct to a corresponding class of the ontology model; and

mapping the secondary data construct to an inverse of a property whose target class is a superclass of the corresponding class of the ontology model.

26. A method for mapping data schemas into an ontology model, comprising:

providing an ontology model including classes and properties of classes;

providing a data schema;

identifying a primary data construct within the data schema;

identifying a secondary data construct within the primary data construct;

mapping the primary data construct to a corresponding class of the ontology model; and

mapping the secondary data construct to a composition of properties, one of which is a property of the corresponding class of the ontology model.

27. A method for mapping data schemas into an ontology model, comprising:

providing an ontology model including classes and properties of classes;

providing a data schema;

identifying a primary data construct within the data schema;

identifying a secondary data construct within the primary data construct;

mapping the primary data construct to a corresponding class of the ontology model; and

mapping the secondary data construct to a composition of properties, one of which is a property of the corresponding class of the ontology model.

28. A system for mapping data schemas into an ontology model, comprising:

a memory for storing an ontology model including classes and properties of classes, and a data schema;

a schema parser for identifying a primary data construct within the data schema, and identifying a secondary data construct within the primary data construct; and

a schema mapper for mapping the primary data construct to a corresponding class of the ontology model, and for mapping the secondary data construct to a property of the corresponding class of the ontology model.

29. The system of claim 28 wherein the ontology model includes a generic industry model.

30. The system of claim 28 wherein the ontology model includes an enterprise specific model.

31. The system of claim 28 wherein the ontology model includes business rules that relate properties of a class.

32. The system of claim 31 wherein the business rules include conversion rules, for converting among properties of a class.

33. The system of claim 28 wherein the ontology model is a distributed model.

34. The system of claim 28 wherein the data schema is specified by a meta-model that describes primary and secondary data constructs.

35. The system of claim 34 further comprising a meta-model user interface for marking primary and secondary data constructs described within the meta-model that are to be mapped to corresponding classes and properties.

36. The system of claim 28 wherein said schema mapper manually maps the primary data construct and the secondary data construct.

37. The system of claim 28 wherein said schema mapper automatically maps the primary data construct and the secondary data construct, based on matching at least partial names between the primary data construct and a class of the ontology model, and between the secondary data construct and a property of the class, respectively.

38. The system of claim 28 wherein said schema mapper automatically maps the primary data construct and the secondary data construct, based on matching at least partial names between the primary data construct and another primary data construct already mapped by said schema mapper to a class of the ontology, and between the secondary data construct and another secondary data construct already mapped by said schema mapper to a property of the class, respectively.

39. The system of claim 28 wherein said schema mapper automatically maps the secondary data construct, based on matching data types between the secondary data construct and a property of the corresponding class.

40. The system of claim 28 wherein said schema mapper generates a Resource Description Framework (RDF) expression.

41. The system of claim 28 wherein said schema mapper maps a function of the secondary data construct to the property of the corresponding class of the ontology model.

42. The system of claim 28 wherein said schema parser is accessed through an application programming interface (API).

43. The system of claim 28 wherein said schema parser is accessed through a graphical user interface (GUI).

44. The system of claim 28 further comprising a statistical processor calculating statistics for the ontology model.

45. The system of claim 28 further comprising a statistical processor calculating statistics for the data schema.

46. The system of claim 45 wherein the statistics for the data schema include the number of primary data constructs within the data schema that have been mapped to corresponding classes of the ontology model.

47. The system of claim 45 wherein the statistics for the data schema include the number of secondary data constructs within the data schema that have been mapped to corresponding properties of the ontology model.

48. The system of claim 45 wherein the statistics for the data schema include the percentage of primary data constructs within the data schema that have been mapped to corresponding classes of the ontology model.

49. The system of claim 45 wherein the statistics for the data schema include the percentage of secondary data constructs within the data schema that have been mapped to corresponding properties of the ontology model.

50. A system for mapping data schemas into an ontology model, comprising:

a memory for storing an ontology model including classes and properties of classes, each property having associated therewith a target class, and a data schema;

a schema parser for identifying a primary data construct within the data schema, and identifying a secondary data construct within the primary data construct; and

a schema mapper for mapping the primary data construct to a corresponding class of the ontology model, and mapping the secondary data construct to an inverse of a property whose target class is the corresponding class of the ontology model.

51. A system for mapping data schemas into an ontology model, comprising:

a memory for storing an ontology model including classes and properties of classes, and including inheritance relationships for superclasses, and a data schema;

a schema parser for identifying a primary data construct within the data schema, and identifying a secondary data construct within the primary data construct; and

a schema mapper for mapping the primary data construct to a corresponding class of the ontology model, and mapping the secondary data construct to a property of a superclass of the corresponding class of the ontology model.

52. A system for mapping data schemas into an ontology model, comprising:

a memory for storing an ontology model including classes and properties of classes, and including inheritance relationships for superclasses, and a data schema;

a schema parser for identifying a primary data construct within the data schema, and identifying a secondary data construct within the primary data construct; and

a schema mapper for mapping the primary data construct to a corresponding class of the ontology model, and mapping the secondary data construct to an inverse of a property whose target class is a superclass of the corresponding class of the ontology model.

53. A system for mapping data schemas into an ontology model, comprising:

a memory for storing an ontology model including classes and properties of classes, and a data schema;

a schema parser for identifying a primary data construct within the data schema, and identifying a secondary data construct within the primary data construct; and

a schema mapper for mapping the primary data construct to a corresponding class of the ontology model, and mapping the secondary data construct to a composition of properties, one of which is a property of the corresponding class of the ontology model.

54. A system for mapping data schemas into an ontology model, comprising:

a memory for storing an ontology model including classes and properties of classes, and a data schema;

a schema parser for identifying a primary data construct within the data schema, and identifying a secondary data construct within the primary data construct; and

a schema mapper for mapping the primary data construct to a corresponding class of the ontology model, and mapping the secondary data construct to a composition of properties, one of which is a property of the corresponding class of the ontology model.

55. A method for mapping schemas for metadata into a metamodel for metadata, comprising:

providing a metamodel for metadata including atomic constructs and composite constructs;

providing a schema for metadata;

identifying a primary and a secondary metadata construct within the schema for metadata; and

mapping the primary and the secondary metadata constructs to corresponding composite and atomic constructs of the metamodel, respectively.

56. The method of claim 55 wherein the data schema is an XML Metadata Interchange (XMI) schema.

57. The method of claim 55 wherein the metamodel is a Meta-Object Facility (MOF) model.

58. The method of claim 55 further comprising:

applying said providing a schema for metadata, identifying and mapping, to each of a first and second schema for metadata; and

deriving a transformation from the first schema for metadata to the second schema for metadata, based on the results of said applying.

59. The method of claim 55 further comprising:

providing an ontology model including classes and properties of classes;

providing a data schema conforming to the schema for metadata;

identifying a primary data construct within the data schema;

identifying a secondary data construct within the primary data construct;

mapping the primary data construct to a corresponding class of the ontology model; and

mapping the secondary data construct to a property of the corresponding class of the ontology model.

60. A system for mapping schemas for metadata into a metamodel for metadata, comprising:

a memory for storing a metamodel for metadata including atomic constructs and composite constructs, and a schema for metadata;

a metaschema parser for identifying a primary metadata construct and a secondary metadata construct within the schema for metadata; and

a metaschema mapper for mapping the primary metadata construct and the secondary data construct to a composite construct and an atomic construct of the metamodel, respectively.

61. The system of claim 60 wherein the data schema is an XML Metadata Interchange (XMI) schema.

62. The system of claim 60 wherein the metamodel is a Meta-Object Facility (MOF) model.

63. The system of claim 60, wherein said metaschema parser and said metaschema mapper operate on each of a first schema for metadata and a second schema for metadata, and further comprising a metaschema transformation generator for deriving a transformation from the first schema for metadata to the second schema for metadata, based on results produced by said metaschema parser and said metaschema mapper.

64. The system of claim 60 wherein said memory also stores an ontology model including classes and properties of classes, and a data schema conforming to the schema for metadata, and further comprising:

a schema parser for identifying a primary data construct within the data schema, and identifying a secondary data construct within the primary data construct; and

a schema mapper for mapping the primary data construct to a corresponding class of the ontology model, and for mapping the secondary data construct to a property of the corresponding class of the ontology model.

65. A method for mapping a given business data schema into a generic data schema, comprising:

providing a business data schema that represents at least one type of business data instance in terms of alphanumeric values and links to business data instances;

providing a plurality of generic instance mappings;

defining a mapping from the business data schema into a generic data schema; and

representing the mapping from the business data schema into the generic data schema in terms of the generic instance mappings.

66. The method of claim 65 wherein the generic data schema is an ontology model.

67. The method of claim 65 wherein the generic data schema is an entity-relationship diagram.

68. The method of claim 65 wherein the generic data schema is a Unified Modeling Language (UML) model.

69. The method of claim 65 wherein the generic data schema is a Web Ontology Language (OWL) model.

70. The method of claim 65 wherein the business data schema is a relational database schema, wherein the at least one type of business data instance corresponds to at least one relational database table, and wherein the links to business data instances correspond to foreign keys.

71. The method of claim 65 wherein the business data schema is an XML schema, wherein the at least one type of business data instance corresponds to at least one complex type, and wherein the links to business data instances correspond to ID references.

72. The method of claim 65 wherein the business data schema is a Cobol copy book, wherein the at least one type of business data instance corresponds to at least one variable, and wherein the links to business data instances correspond to group items.

73. The method of claim 65 wherein the business data schema is an entity-relationship data model, wherein the at least one type of business data instance corresponds to at least one entity set, and wherein the links to business data instances correspond to relationships.

74. The method of claim 65 wherein the business data schema is an ontology model, wherein the at least one type of business data instance corresponds to at least one class, and wherein the links to business data instances correspond to properties.

75. The method of claim 65 wherein the plurality of generic instance mappings include a mapping for combining two linked data instances into a single data instance.

76. The method of claim 65 wherein the plurality of generic instance mappings include a mapping for combining two unlinked data instances into a single data instance.

77. The method of claim 65 wherein the plurality of generic instance mappings include a mapping for separating a single data instance into two linked data instances.

78. The method of claim 65 wherein the plurality of generic instance mappings include a mapping for separating a single data instance into two unlinked data instances.

79. The method of claim 65 wherein the plurality of generic instance mappings include a mapping for linking two unlinked data instances.

80. The method of claim 65 wherein the plurality of generic instance mappings include a mapping for unlinking two linked data instances.

81. The method of claim 65 further comprising deriving a transformation from the business data schema into a second business data schema, using results of said representing.

82. The method of claim 65 further comprising transforming instances of the business data schema into corresponding instances of a second business data schema, using results of said representing.

83. The method of claim 65 further comprising deriving a query on the business data schema corresponding to a query on the generic data schema, using results of said representing.

84. A system for mapping a given business data schema into a generic data schema, comprising:

a memory for storing a business data schema that represents at least one type of business data instance in terms of alphanumeric values and links to business data instances, and including a plurality of generic instance mappings;

a mapping generator for defining a mapping from the business data schema into a generic data schema; and

a mapping analyzer for representing the mapping from the business data schema into the generic data schema in terms of the generic instance mappings.

85. The system of claim 84 wherein the generic data schema is an ontology model.

86. The system of claim 84 wherein the generic data schema is an entity-relationship diagram.

87. The system of claim 84 wherein the generic data schema is a Unified Modeling Language (UML) model.

88. The system of claim 84 wherein the generic data schema is a Web Ontology Language (OWL) model.

89. The system of claim 84 wherein the business data schema is a relational database schema, wherein the at least one type of business data instance corresponds to at least one relational database table, and wherein the links to business data instances correspond to foreign keys.

90. The system of claim 84 wherein the business data schema is an XML schema, wherein the at least one type of business data instance corresponds to at least one complex type, and wherein the links to business data instances correspond to ID references.

91. The system of claim 84 wherein the business data schema is a Cobol copy book, wherein the at least one type of business data instance corresponds to at least one variable, and wherein the links to business data instances correspond to group items.

92. The system of claim 84 wherein the business data schema is an entity-relationship data model, wherein the at least one type of business data instance corresponds to at least one entity set, and wherein the links to business data instances correspond to relationships.

93. The system of claim 84 wherein the business data schema is an ontology model, wherein the at least one type of business data instance corresponds to at least one class, and wherein the links to business data instances correspond to properties.

94. The system of claim 84 wherein the plurality of generic instance mappings include a mapping for combining two linked data instances into a single data instance.

95. The system of claim 84 wherein the plurality of generic instance mappings include a mapping for combining two unlinked data instances into a single data instance.

96. The system of claim 84 wherein the plurality of generic instance mappings include a mapping for separating a single data instance into two linked data instances.

97. The system of claim 84 wherein the plurality of generic instance mappings include a mapping for separating a single data instance into two unlinked data instances.

98. The system of claim 84 wherein the plurality of generic instance mappings include a mapping for linking two unlinked data instances.

99. The system of claim 84 wherein the plurality of generic instance mappings include a mapping for unlinking two linked data instances.

100. The system of claim 84 further comprising a transformation generator for deriving a transformation from the business data schema into a second business data schema, using results of said mapping analyzer.

101. The system of claim 84 further comprising a transformation processor for transforming instances of the business data schema into corresponding instances of a second business data schema, using results of said mapping analyzer.

102. The system of claim 84 further comprising a query generator for deriving a query on the business data schema corresponding to a query on the generic data schema, using results of said representing.

103. A computer-readable storage medium storing program code for causing a computer to perform the steps of:

providing an ontology model including classes and properties of classes;

providing a data schema;

identifying a primary data construct within the data schema;

identifying a secondary data construct within the primary data construct;

mapping the primary data construct to a corresponding class of the ontology model; and

mapping the secondary data construct to a property of the corresponding class of the ontology model.

104. A computer-readable storage medium storing program code for causing a computer to perform the steps of:

providing an ontology model including classes and properties of classes, each property having associated therewith a target class;

providing a data schema;

identifying a primary data construct within the data schema;

identifying a secondary data construct within the primary data construct;

mapping the primary data construct to a corresponding class of the ontology model; and

mapping the secondary data construct to an inverse of a property whose target class is the corresponding class of the ontology model.

105. A computer-readable storage medium storing program code for causing a computer to perform the steps of:

providing an ontology model including classes and properties of classes, and including inheritance relationships for superclasses;

providing a data schema;

identifying a primary data construct within the data schema;

identifying a secondary data construct within the primary data construct;

mapping the primary data construct to a corresponding class of the ontology model; and

mapping the secondary data construct to a property of a superclass of the corresponding class of the ontology model.

106. A computer-readable storage medium storing program code for causing a computer to perform the steps of:

providing an ontology model including classes and properties of classes, and including inheritance relationships for superclasses;

providing a data schema;

identifying a primary data construct within the data schema;

identifying a secondary data construct within the primary data construct;

mapping the primary data construct to a corresponding class of the ontology model; and

mapping the secondary data construct to an inverse of a property whose target class is a superclass of the corresponding class of the ontology model.

107. A computer-readable storage medium storing program code for causing a computer to perform the steps of:

providing an ontology model including classes and properties of classes;

providing a data schema;

identifying a primary data construct within the data schema;

identifying a secondary data construct within the primary data construct;

mapping the primary data construct to a corresponding class of the ontology model; and

mapping the secondary data construct to a composition of properties, one of which is a property of the corresponding class of the ontology model.

108. A computer-readable storage medium storing program code for causing a computer to perform the steps of:

providing an ontology model including classes and properties of classes;

providing a data schema;

identifying a primary data construct within the data schema;

identifying a secondary data construct within the primary data construct;

mapping the primary data construct to a corresponding class of the ontology model; and

mapping the secondary data construct to a composition of properties, one of which is a property of the corresponding class of the ontology model.

109. A computer-readable storage medium storing program code for causing a computer to perform the steps of:

providing a business data schema for representing at least one type of business data instance in terms of alphanumeric values and links to business data instances;

providing a plurality of generic instance mappings;

defining a mapping from the business data schema into a generic data schema; and

representing the mapping from the business data schema into the generic data schema in terms of the generic instance mappings.

110. A computer-readable storage medium storing program code for causing a computer to perform the steps of:

providing a metamodel for metadata including atomic constructs and composite constructs;

providing a schema for metadata;

identifying a primary and a secondary metadata construct within the schema for metadata; and

mapping the primary and the secondary metadata constructs to corresponding composite and atomic constructs of the metamodel, respectively.