A Fundamental Framework for Realizing Semantic Interoperability in a Multidatabase Environment

Issue title: Multidatabase and Interoperable Systems

Guest editors: A.R. HursonGuest Editor and M.W. BrightGuest Editor

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Kiyoki, Yasushi^{; *} | Kitagawa, Takashi | Hitomi, Youichi

Affiliations: Institute of Information Sciences and Electronics, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 305, Japan

Correspondence: [*] To whom all correspondence should be addressed.

Abstract: In multidatabase research, the realization of semantic interoperability is the most important issue for resolving semantic heterogeneity between different databases. In this paper, we propose a fundamental framework for realizing semantic interoperability at the level of semantic relationships between data items in a multi database environment. We present a metadatabase system which extracts the significant information from different databases. The metadatabase system uses a mathematical model of meaning to dynamically recognize the semantic equivalence, similarity, and difference between data items. The essential feature of this model is that the specific meaning of a data item is dynamically fixed and unambiguously recognized according to the context by semantic interpretation mechanisms.

DOI: 10.3233/ICA-1995-2102

Journal: Integrated Computer-Aided Engineering, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 3-20, 1995