Semantic system for integrating software components

• US 20060206883A1
• Filed: 03/17/2006
• Published: 09/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitre Corporation
• Original Assignee: Mitre Corporation
• Inventors: Sabbouh, Marwan
• Granted Patent: US 7,823,123 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/146
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/972 Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation

Abstract

A system and method for integrating databases and/or web services into a searchable ontological structure. The structure allows free-form searching of the combined system, discovering an execution path through the ontology to provide answers to queries that may require accessing multiple systems to resolve, without a need for knowledge of the available databases and services or of query syntax by the user. The same technologies that integrate databases and web services into a single ontological structure may also provide interoperability between the numerous information systems within modem enterprises. Context ontologies are constructed to capture ubiquitous enterprise concepts and their representations across the enterprise. By mapping information system data models to these context ontologies, information that originates in one part of the enterprise may be used across the enterprise in a highly automated fashion.

Claims

1. A method of generating executable code for linking data instances on a source information system to corresponding data instances on one or more distinct target information systems throughout an enterprise, comprising:

(a) providing two or more distinct information systems, each information system containing an information system ontology and corresponding information system data model;

(b) providing a context ontology, the context ontology capturing common concepts and the various representations of these concepts in the distinct information system ontologies;

(c) providing a domain ontology describing the concepts and relationships in the one or more structured inputs and outputs on a translator web service;

(d) mapping the concepts of each of the two or more information system ontologies to the concepts within the context ontology;

(e) mapping the concepts within each respective information system ontology to the concepts within each of the other information system ontologies;

(f) mapping a translator web service having one or more structured inputs and outputs to the context ontology;

(g) providing a service agent to interpret mappings and to reason with mapped ontologies;

(h) specifying one or more data instances from a source information system as inputs to the translator web service;

(i) specifying one or more concepts on the one or more target information systems as outputs to the translator web service;

(j) searching the mapped ontologies for execution paths between the one or more desired input data instances on the source information system and the corresponding output concepts on the target information systems; and

(k) generating executable code that accepts one or more desired input data instances from a source information system and invokes the steps of the execution path to create the corresponding output data instance in the specified target information system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said context ontologies capture at least one of the commonly held Position, Time, Types of Things, Geometric Shapes, Roles, Status, or Units of Measure concepts.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said provided information systems also consist of an associated information system web service.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said service agent is an Ontology Mapper, an Onto-Mapper, or a Mapping Interpreter.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said service agent is automatically invoked by the translator web service.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein step (j) further comprises:

(i) mapping the source information system data model onto the source information system ontology;

(ii) invoking the translator web service to return execution paths between the input data instances on the source information system and the corresponding output concepts on the target information systems.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein invoking the translator web service to return execution paths between the input data instances on a source information system and the corresponding output representations on a target information system comprises:

(i) determining initial execution paths between data instances on the source information system and the corresponding concepts on the target information system;

(ii) invoking a service agent, wherein the service agent discovers and resolves mismatches between the source and target information systems and returns execution paths between the source data instance and the target concept.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said initial execution paths are determined using graph traversal algorithms such as Direct Path Query (DPQ) and Incoming Intersection Query (IIQ).

9. The method of claim 7, wherein said service agent resolves any combination of contextual or semantic mismatches between source and target information systems.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein step (k) further comprises;

(i) invoking the execution paths returned by service agent to obtain a target concept that contextually matches a source data instance;

(ii) reasoning with the concept representations on the target information system ontology to create a target data instance that contextually matches the source data instance.