Apparatus, computer system, and data processing method for using ontology

• US 20050289134A1
• Filed: 06/15/2005
• Published: 12/29/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Noguchi, Atsushi
• Application Number:
  US11/153,085
• Publication Number:
  US 20050289134A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/367 Ontology
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

Selecting and downloading a necessary part of an ontology from an ontology server in a semantic web technology. An ontology server according to the invention comprises an ontology storing section for storing a file of an ontology described in an ontology description language, and an ontology editing section for reading the ontology from the ontology storing section, extracting a given part from the read ontology, and transmitting it to an ontology client. The ontology server transmits a subset extracted from the ontology to the ontology client in response to a request from the ontology client.

Claims

1. An apparatus for processing a request from a client referencing an ontology, comprising:

an ontology storing section for storing data of an ontology described in an ontology description language; and

an ontology editing section for reading the ontology from the ontology storing section, extracting a part required for reference by a client from the read ontology, and transmitting the part of the ontology to the client.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ontology editing section extracts at least one target word included in a request from the client and at least one word satisfying a given condition relative to the target word in the ontology.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein words included in the ontology are represented by nodes, and wherein the given condition is specified by a node corresponding to the target word and by the number of layers from the target node.

4. An apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the given condition is specified by the number of layers from nodes on a shortest path between a plurality of nodes if a plurality of target words are specified.

5. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein words included in the ontology are represented by nodes, and wherein the given condition is specified by a node corresponding to the target word and the number of extracted nodes.

6. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ontology editing section converts the ontology described in the ontology description language into an N-triples notation and identifies a part to be extracted from the ontology by tracing relations between the words.

7. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ontology editing section converts the ontology described in the ontology description language to an RDF model having nodes corresponding to words included in the ontology and arcs indicating relations between the plurality of nodes, and identifies the part to be extracted from the ontology by tracing the arcs between the nodes.

8. An apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the ontology editing section manages, for each of the nodes, internode distance information indicating the number of arcs between the nodes, and identifies the part to be extracted from the ontology by referencing the internode distance information.

9. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ontology editing section identifies the part to be extracted from the ontology without dividing a set of words to be treated as a single group on the basis of a grammar of the ontology description language.

10. A computer system comprising a server storing an ontology and a client referencing the ontology by accessing the server,

wherein the client has an agent for transmitting a request specifying an inquiry word and an ontology extraction condition to the server;

and

wherein the server includes;

an ontology storing section for storing data of the ontology described in an ontology description language; and

an ontology editing section for reading the ontology from the ontology storing section, extracting a part satisfying the word and the extraction condition specified in the request from the ontology, and transmitting it to the client.

11. A computer system according to claim 10, wherein the ontology editing section of the server converts the ontology described in the ontology description language into an N-triples notation, and identifies the part of the ontology satisfying the extraction condition by tracing relations of other words included in the ontology from the word specified in the request.

12. A computer system according to claim 10, wherein the ontology editing section of the server converts the ontology described in the ontology description language to an RDF model composed of nodes corresponding to the words and arcs indicating relations between the words, and identifies the part of the ontology satisfying the extraction condition by tracing the arcs between the nodes from a node corresponding to the word specified in the request.

13. A computer system according to claim 10, wherein the agent of the client adds a parameter for specifying a given word and the ontology extraction condition to a URL of a file of the ontology, and transmits an HTTP request including the URL with the parameter being described therein to the server.

14. A data processing method of a server transmitting an ontology to a client in response to a request from the client, comprising:

reading data of the ontology described in an ontology description language from a storage device and exploring relations between a plurality of words defined in the ontology;

acquiring a target word and an ontology extraction condition from the request from the client, and extracting a part satisfying the target word and the extraction condition from the ontology on the basis of relations between the plurality of words defined in the ontology; and

transmitting the extracted part of the ontology to the client.

15. A method according to claim 14, wherein words defined in the ontology are represented by nodes, and the extraction condition is specified by a node corresponding to the target word and the number of layers from the node.

16. A method according to claim 15, wherein if a plurality of target words are specified, the extraction condition is specified by the number of layers from nodes on a shortest path between the plurality of nodes.

17. A method according to claim 14, wherein words defined in the ontology are represented by nodes, and the extraction condition is specified by a node corresponding to the target word and the number of extracted nodes.

18. A method according to claim 14, wherein the server explores relations between a plurality of words by converting the ontology into an N-triples notation or to an RDF model having a plurality of nodes corresponding to the plurality of words defined in the ontology and arcs indicating relations between the words;

the server extracts a part satisfying the target word and the extraction condition from the ontology in the N-triples notation or from the RDF model; and

the server converts the extracted part of the ontology in the N-triples notation or of the RDF model to an ontology described in the ontology description language and transmits it to the client.

19. A method according to claim 14, wherein the part extracted from the ontology is identified without dividing a set of words to be treated as a single group, on the basis of a grammar of the ontology description language.