STORING INFORMATION WITH A DESCRIPTION LOGIC FILE SYSTEM

• US 20090132604A1
• Filed: 11/19/2008
• Published: 05/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines SA (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Faraotti, Alessandro, Salvatore, Berardino
• Granted Patent: US 8,209,295 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/16 File or folder operations, e.g. details of user interfaces specifically adapted to file systems

Abstract

Methods, systems, and products for storing information in a data processing system. The method includes providing a knowledge base for a file system manager that is adapted to organize a plurality of real files on a mass memory of the data processing system. The knowledge base defines a collection of knowledge that includes a set of concepts, a set of relations among the concepts, and a set of relations of inclusion that describe each real file as an instance of at least one concept. The method includes detecting a command for the file system manager for accessing a set of selected instances. The method also includes identifying a set of selected real files, which are described by the selected instances (according to the knowledge), and accessing the selected real files on the mass memory.

Claims

1. A method for storing information in a data processing system, the method comprising:

providing a knowledge base for a file system manager, the file system manager being adapted to organize a plurality of real files on a mass memory of the data processing system and the knowledge base defining knowledge comprising a set of concepts, a set of relations among the concepts, and a set of relations of inclusion describing each real file individually as an instance of at least one concept according to a predefined ontology;

detecting a command for the file system manager for accessing a set of selected instances;

identifying a set of selected real files described by the selected instances according to the knowledge; and

accessing the selected real files on the mass memory.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

inferring further knowledge from the knowledge by applying predefined logical inference rules; and

identifying further selected files according to the further knowledge.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

detecting a further command for the file system manager for manipulating a set of further selected instances; and

updating the knowledge according to the further command.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein:

the further command is configured to add the further selected instances to a target concept; and

updating the knowledge according to the further command comprises individually asserting a relation of inclusion of each further selected instance in the target concept.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein:

the further command is configured to weakly delete the further selected instances from a target concept; and

updating the knowledge according to the further command comprises removing a relation of inclusion of each further selected instance from the target concept.

6. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

identifying a set of further selected real files being described by the further selected instances according to the knowledge; and

changing the further selected real files according to the further command.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein:

the further command is configured to strongly delete the further selected instances from a target concept; and

updating the knowledge according to the further command comprises removing the further selected instances and the relations involving at least one of the further selected instances;

the method further comprising canceling from the mass memory the real files described by the further selected instances.

8. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

verifying a logical consistency of the update to the knowledge; and

providing a warning in response to a negative result of the verification of the logical consistency.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising updating the knowledge, in response to a negative result of the verification of the logical consistency, to remove the logical inconsistency.

10. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

associating a virtual folder with each concept individually and a virtual file with each instance individually; and

displaying a representation of the file system including the virtual folders and the virtual files organized according to at least one of the relations, the command, and the further command.

11. The method of claim 3 wherein detecting the further command comprises:

intercepting the further command; and

forwarding the further command to an inference engine for the knowledge base.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein detecting the command comprises:

intercepting the command; and

forwarding the command to an inference engine for the knowledge base.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the concepts conform to a hierarchical taxonomy, the concepts being organized by the relations in a tree starting from a root one of the concepts for all the real files.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the knowledge base is stored in a mass memory structure that is independent of the real files.

15. A system for storing information in a data processing system, the system comprising:

a processor; and

a computer memory operatively coupled to the processor;

wherein the computer memory has disposed within it;

computer program instructions for providing a knowledge base for a file system manager, the file system manager being adapted to organize a plurality of real files on a mass memory of the data processing system and the knowledge base defining knowledge comprising a set of concepts, a set of relations among the concepts, and a set of relations of inclusion describing each real file individually as an instance of at least one concept according to a predefined ontology;

computer program instructions for detecting a command for the file system manager for accessing a set of selected instances;

computer program instructions for identifying a set of selected real files described by the selected instances according to the knowledge; and

computer program instructions for accessing the selected real files on the mass memory.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the computer memory has further disposed within it:

computer program instructions for inferring further knowledge from the knowledge by applying predefined logical inference rules; and

computer program instructions for identifying further selected files according to the further knowledge.

17. The system of claim 15 wherein the computer memory has further disposed within it:

computer program instructions for detecting a further command for the file system manager for manipulating a set of further selected instances; and

computer program instructions for updating the knowledge according to the further command.

18. A computer program product disposed upon a computer-readable medium for storing information in a data processing system, the computer program product comprising:

computer program instructions for providing a knowledge base for a file system manager, the file system manager being adapted to organize a plurality of real files on a mass memory of the data processing system and the knowledge base defining knowledge comprising a set of concepts, a set of relations among the concepts, and a set of relations of inclusion describing each real file individually as an instance of at least one concept according to a predefined ontology;

computer program instructions for detecting a command for the file system manager for accessing a set of selected instances;

computer program instructions for identifying a set of selected real files described by the selected instances according to the knowledge; and

computer program instructions for accessing the selected real files on the mass memory.

19. The computer program product of claim 18 further comprising:

computer program instructions for inferring further knowledge from the knowledge by applying predefined logical inference rules; and

computer program instructions for identifying further selected files according to the further knowledge.

20. The computer program product of claim 18 further comprising:

computer program instructions for detecting a further command for the file system manager for manipulating a set of further selected instances; and

computer program instructions for updating the knowledge according to the further command.