Method and system for collaborative ontology modeling
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A distributed ontology system for responding to queries comprising:
- a central computer within the distributed ontology system comprising a global ontology directory, the global ontology directory indexing class and relation definitions, wherein class definitions define ontological classes, the ontological classes being sets of instances having a common characterization, and relation definitions define ontological relations, the ontological relations being inter-relationships between classes that are used to relate instances of one or more classes;
a plurality of ontology server computers, comprising;
a corresponding plurality of repositories, each repository of the plurality of repositories containing different portions of the class and relation definitions and different portions of superclass-subclass definitions, and wherein at least one superclass-subclass definition is contained in a repository of the plurality of repositories that resides on a different ontology server computer than the ontology server computer housing the repository containing the definition of the subclass or the ontology server computer housing the repository containing the definition of the superclass; and
a corresponding plurality of query processors for responding to queries relating to the class and the relation definitions in said plurality of repositories;
an authoring tool communicating with said repositories for updating said repositories, comprising;
a validator for ensuring that updates made to said repositories maintain backward compatibility, so that expressions that were valid before being updated remain valid after said updating is performed; and
a relation editor for editing relation definitions in said repositories, by expanding domains of relations;
an Extensible Markup Language (XML) embedder communicating with said repositories for embedding an XML Schema within a designated repository by identifying class and relation definitions implicit in the XML Schema, wherein said identifying comprises user-aided choosing of class and relation definitions implicit in the XML Schema that are embedded within the designated repository; and
a computer network connecting said central computer with said plurality of ontology server computers.
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Abstract
A distributed ontology system including a central computer comprising a global ontology directory, a plurality of ontology server computers, each including a repository of class and relation definitions, and a server for responding to queries relating to class and relation definitions in the repository, and a computer network connecting the central computer with the plurality of ontology server computers. A method is also described and claimed.
109 Citations
69 Claims
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1. A distributed ontology system for responding to queries comprising:
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a central computer within the distributed ontology system comprising a global ontology directory, the global ontology directory indexing class and relation definitions, wherein class definitions define ontological classes, the ontological classes being sets of instances having a common characterization, and relation definitions define ontological relations, the ontological relations being inter-relationships between classes that are used to relate instances of one or more classes; a plurality of ontology server computers, comprising; a corresponding plurality of repositories, each repository of the plurality of repositories containing different portions of the class and relation definitions and different portions of superclass-subclass definitions, and wherein at least one superclass-subclass definition is contained in a repository of the plurality of repositories that resides on a different ontology server computer than the ontology server computer housing the repository containing the definition of the subclass or the ontology server computer housing the repository containing the definition of the superclass; and a corresponding plurality of query processors for responding to queries relating to the class and the relation definitions in said plurality of repositories; an authoring tool communicating with said repositories for updating said repositories, comprising; a validator for ensuring that updates made to said repositories maintain backward compatibility, so that expressions that were valid before being updated remain valid after said updating is performed; and a relation editor for editing relation definitions in said repositories, by expanding domains of relations; an Extensible Markup Language (XML) embedder communicating with said repositories for embedding an XML Schema within a designated repository by identifying class and relation definitions implicit in the XML Schema, wherein said identifying comprises user-aided choosing of class and relation definitions implicit in the XML Schema that are embedded within the designated repository; and a computer network connecting said central computer with said plurality of ontology server computers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A distributed ontology method for responding to queries comprising:
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providing a central computer within a distributed ontology system comprising a global ontology directory; connecting said central computer with a plurality of ontology server computers via a computer network; managing said global ontology directory for a distributed ontology, the global ontology directory indexing class and relation definitions, wherein class definitions define ontological classes, the ontological classes being sets of instances having a common characterization, and relation definitions define ontological relations, the ontological relations being inter-relationships between classes that are used to relate instances of one or more classes; managing a plurality of repositories, each repository of the plurality of repositories residing on an ontology server computer of the plurality of ontology server computers, and each repository of the plurality of repositories including a different portion of the class and relation definitions and a different portion of superclass-subclass definitions, wherein at least one superclass-subclass definition resides in a different repository of the plurality of repositories than the repository containing the definition of the subclass or the repository containing the definition of the superclass; updating the repositories comprising; validating that updates made to the repositories maintain backward compatibility, so that expressions that were valid before being updated remain valid after said updating is performed; and editing relation definitions in the repositories, by expanding domains of relations; communicating with the repositories for embedding an Extensible Markup Language (XML) Schema within a designated repository by identifying class and relation definitions implicit in the XML Schema, with aid of a user choosing which class and relation definitions implicit in the XML Schema are embedded within the designated repository; and responding to queries relating to the class and the relation definitions in at least one repository of the repositories. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
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51. An ontology system for responding to queries comprising:
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a central computer within a distributed ontology system comprising a global ontology directory for an ontology, the global ontology directory indexing class and relation definitions, wherein class definitions define ontological classes, the ontological classes being sets of instances having a common characterization, and relation definitions define ontological relations, the ontological relations being inter-relationships between classes that are used to relate instances of one or more classes; a computer network connecting said central computer with a plurality of ontology server computers; said plurality of ontology server computers comprising; a plurality of repositories, each repository including a different portion of the class and relation definitions and a different portion of superclass-subclass definitions, wherein at least one superclass-subclass definition resides in a different repository of the plurality of repositories than the repository containing the definition of the subclass or the repository containing the definition of the superclass; an authoring tool for updating said repositories, comprising; a validator for ensuring that updates made to said repositories maintain backward compatibility, so that expressions that were valid before being updated remain valid after said updating is performed; and a relation editor for editing relation definitions in said repositories, by expanding domains of relations; an Extensible Markup Language (XML) embedder communicating with said repositories for embedding an XML Schema within a designated repository with aid of a user choosing class and relation definitions implicit in the XML Schema that are embedded within the designated repository; an agent for seeking out class and relation definitions included in said repositories; and a query processor for responding to queries relating to the class and the relation definitions in said repositories. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69)
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Specification