METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING ELECTRONIC DATA

• US 20130290338A1
• Filed: 12/23/2011
• Published: 10/31/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: British Telecommunications PLC (BT Group PLC)
• Original Assignee: British Telecommunications PLC (BT Group PLC)
• Inventors: Lee, Beum Seuk, Cui, Zhan
• Granted Patent: US 9,773,053 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/739
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/212 with details for data modelling support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/256 in federated or virtual databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/258 Data format conversion from or to a database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/36 Creation of semantic tools, e.g. ontology or thesauri
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/84 Mapping; Conversion

Abstract

A system (100) for generating a computer readable data file representative of a mapping between a first representation of a set of concepts or of a data structure (e.g. a database schema) and a second representation of a set of concepts or of a data structure (e.g. an ontology), each representation comprising a plurality of complex representational elements (e.g. tables in a database schema and concepts in an ontology) each of which may itself include a number of associated subordinate representational elements (e.g. columns/fields of a table in a database schema and attributes of a concept in an ontology). The system (100) includes a semantic similarity calculation module (134) for calculating a semantic similarity measure between a subordinate element of the first representation and each of the subordinate elements in the second representation and a mapping generation module (137) for generating a mapping between the subordinate element of the first representation and one of the subordinate elements of the second representation selected in dependence upon the calculated semantic similarity measures between the subordinate elements.

Claims

1. A method of generating a computer readable data file representative of a mapping between a first representation of a set of concepts or of a data structure and a second representation of a set of concepts or of a data structure, each representation comprising a plurality of complex representational elements each of which may itself include a number of associated subordinate representational elements, the method comprising:

calculating a semantic similarity measure between a subordinate element of the first representation and each of the subordinate elements in the second representation; and

generating a mapping between the subordinate element of the first representation and one of the subordinate elements of the second representation selected in dependence upon the calculated semantic similarity measures between the subordinate elements;

wherein

calculation of a semantic similarity measure includes;

using a linked top ontology data structure comprising a plurality of concept nodes arranged to form a top ontology, the top ontology being a partial subset of a full ontology having at least twice as many nodes as the top ontology, the nodes in the top ontology being selected from the full ontology based on their ancestral closeness to a root node and/or their ancestral remoteness from a leaf node of the full ontology, the linked top ontology further comprising a plurality of pre-processed vocabulary terms each of which is linked to one or more of the nodes in the top ontology, the linked top ontology data structure being used as follows;

the names of the subordinate elements between whom a semantic similarity is to be calculated being compared with the vocabulary terms and for any vocabulary terms which match the names of the subordinate elements, identifying the top ontology nodes associated with the matched vocabulary terms and comparing the identified top ontology nodes associated with each name of the subordinate elements, and determining a semantic similarity based on the degree of commonality between the top ontology nodes associated with each of the subordinate elements.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the calculation of a semantic similarity further includes comparing the names of the complex representational elements with vocabulary terms and identifying the top ontology nodes associated with any matched names and determining the degree of commonality between on the one hand the identified top ontology nodes associated with either one of the subordinate elements and its associated complex representational element and, on the other hand, the other subordinate element and its associated complex representational element.

3. A method according to claim 1 further comprising performing similar steps of matching names to vocabulary terms, identifying the top ontology nodes associated with any matched vocabulary terms and determining a degree of commonality between the so identified top ontology nodes in respect of the names of the complex representational elements associated with or which include the respective subordinate elements between which the semantic similarity is to be calculated and the converse subordinate elements, and using the degree of commonality determined between these complex elements and their converse subordinate elements as a factor in the determination of overall semantic distance.

4. A data integration method of integrating data from a first and a second heterogeneous data source, the method comprising implementing a first wrapper around the first heterogeneous data source to convert requests and responses between a common format and one specific to the first data source and implementing a second wrapper around the second heterogeneous data source to convert requests and responses between the common format and one specific to the second data source;

wherein each wrapper includes a mapping in the form of a computer readable data file generated according to the method of any one of claims 1-3.

7. Processor implementable instructions for causing a computer to carry out the method of any one of claims 1-4 during execution of the instructions.

8. Computer readable media carrying the processor implementable instructions of claim 7.

9. Non-transitory computer readable storage medium carrying the processor instructions of claim 7.

5. A system for generating a computer readable data file representative of a mapping between a first representation of a set of concepts or of a data structure and a second representation of a set of concepts or of a data structure, each representation comprising a plurality of complex representational elements each of which may itself include a number of associated subordinate representational elements, the system including:

a semantic similarity calculation module for calculating a semantic similarity measure between a subordinate element of the first representation and each of the subordinate elements in the second representation; and

mapping generation module for generating a mapping between the subordinate element of the first representation and one of the subordinate elements of the second representation selected in dependence upon the calculated semantic similarity measures between the subordinate elements;

wherein

the system further includes a linked top ontology module storing a linked top ontology data structure which comprises a plurality of concept nodes arranged into a top ontology, the top ontology being a partial subset of a full ontology having at least twice as many nodes as the top ontology, the nodes in the top ontology being selected from the full ontology based on their ancestral closeness to a root node and/or their ancestral remoteness from a leaf node of the full ontology, the linked top ontology data structure further comprising a plurality of pre-processed vocabulary terms each of which is linked to one or more of the nodes in the top ontology; and

wherein

the semantic similarity calculation module is operable to compare the names of the subordinate elements between whom a semantic similarity is to be calculated with the vocabulary terms and, for any vocabulary terms which match the names of the subordinate elements, to identify the top ontology nodes associated with the matched vocabulary terms and to compare the identified top ontology nodes associated with each name of the subordinate elements, and to determine a semantic similarity based on the degree of commonality between the top ontology nodes associated with each of the subordinate elements.

6. A data integration system including the mapping generating system of claim 5 and further including a first data source and a second heterogeneous data source and a first wrapper for wrapping around the first data source and a second wrapper for wrapping around the second data source, wherein the first wrapper is operable to convert requests and responses between a common format and one specific to the first data source and the second wrapper is operable to convert requests and responses between the common format and one specific to the second data source;

and wherein each wrapper includes a mapping in the form of a computer readable data file generated by the mapping generating system of claim 5.