Data query and location through a central ontology model

• US 7,962,503 B2
• Filed: 06/18/2008
• Issued: 06/14/2011
• 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, Marcel Zvi, Marchant, Hayden, Edelstein, Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): Woo; Isaac M
• Application Number:
  US12/141,637
• Publication Number:
  US 20080313232A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,091 Days
• Field of Search: 707600-831
• US Class Current: 707/761
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/25 Integrating or interfacing systems involving database management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/84 Mapping; Conversion
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure

Abstract

A data query system including a first storage medium including a data schema having a data schema query language associated therewith, a second storage medium including an ontology model including classes and properties, the ontology model having an ontology query language associated therewith, wherein constructs of the database schema are mapped to corresponding classes, properties or compositions of properties of the ontology model, and an ontology query processor generating a query expressed in the data schema query language corresponding to a specified query expressed in the ontology query language. A method is also described and claimed.

Claims

1. A computer readable storage medium storing an ontology modeling system comprising:

at least one first data construct for container classes for modeling sets, bags and lists;

at least one second data construct for modeling multi-valued properties whose targets are said container classes;

at least one third data construct for imposing constraints on said multi-valued properties; and

computer usable program code which, when executed by a processor, uses the at least one first, second, and third data constructs to map an instance in a source class to more than one instance in a target class.

2. The ontology modeling system of claim 1 further comprising at least one data construct for assigning a minimum number of elements and a maximum number of elements to said multi-valued properties.

3. The ontology modeling system of claim 1, wherein the container classes are built from simpler classes using the sets, bags, and lists.

4. The ontology modeling system of claim 1, wherein the bags describe unordered finite sequences of a class.

5. The ontology modeling system of claim 4, wherein the bags further comprise subsets of the class, and wherein the class can contain repeated elements.

6. The ontology modeling system of claim 1, wherein containers of containers are not collapsed.

7. The ontology modeling system of claim 1, wherein the multi-valued properties are used for embedding data schema into an ontology model, for schema that include constructs that can include more than one data element.

8. A method implemented in a processor, the method comprising:

establishing an ontology modeling system using the processor by;

constructing at least one first data construct for container classes for modeling sets, bags and lists;

constructing at least one second data construct for modeling multi-valued properties whose targets are said container classes;

constructing at least one third data construct for imposing constraints on said multi-valued properties; and

using the at least one first, second, and third data constructs to map an instance in a source class to more than one instance in a target class.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

constructing at least one data construct for assigning a minimum number of elements and a maximum number of elements to said multi-valued properties.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the container classes are built from simpler classes using the sets, bags, and lists.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the bags describe unordered finite sequences of a class.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the bags further comprise subsets of the class, and wherein the class can contain repeated elements.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein containers of containers are not collapsed.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the multi-valued properties are used for embedding data schema into an ontology model, for schema that include constructs that can include more than one data element.

15. A data processing system comprising:

a processor;

a bus connected to the processor;

a computer readable storage medium connected to the bus, the computer readable storage medium storing an ontology modeling system comprising;

at least one first data construct for container classes for modeling sets, bags and lists;

at least one second data construct for modeling multi-valued properties whose targets are said container classes;

at least one third data construct for imposing constraints on said multi-valued properties; and

computer usable program code which, when executed by a processor, uses the at least one first, second, and third data constructs to map an instance in a source class to more than one instance in a target class.

16. The data processing system of claim 15, wherein the ontology modeling system further comprises at least one data construct for assigning a minimum number of elements and a maximum number of elements to said multi-valued properties.

17. The data processing system of claim 15, wherein the container classes are built from simpler classes using the sets, bags, and lists.

18. The data processing system of claim 15, wherein the bags describe unordered finite sequences of a class.

19. The ontology modeling system of claim 15, wherein containers of containers are not collapsed.

20. The ontology modeling system of claim 15, wherein the multi-valued properties are used for embedding data schema into an ontology model, for schema that include constructs that can include more than one data element.