Ontological Model for Schema-Independent Document Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing document processing systems face challenges in accessing documents formatted according to different schemas, as they are typically written to assume a specific schema, leading to interpretation issues and compatibility problems across various organizations and languages.
Innovation Solution
A computer system and method that supports schema-independent access by using a model to establish relationships between different schemas, allowing an executable program to access documents by referencing ontological elements that define semantic relationships between data and objects, enabling access to documents regardless of their schema format.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If an API is written to access documents according to a particular schema, then the API can properly interpret documents formatted according to that schema, but the API cannot properly interpret documents formatted according to different schemas
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary layer (the model with ontological constructs and triplets) between the API and the document schemas. This intermediary translates requests from a schema-independent ontological representation to schema-specific document structures, enabling the API to work with multiple schemas without being rewritten for each one.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal interface layer that can handle multiple different schemas through a single unified model. The ontological constructs and triplets provide a schema-agnostic representation that can map to various document formats, making the API multi-functional across different schema types.
2Adaptability or versatility
If different organizations use different schemas for conceptually analogous documents, then each organization can customize schemas for their specific needs, but a single API cannot access documents from multiple organizations without schema-specific code
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses an intermediary model layer that abstracts away the complexity of multiple organization-specific schemas. The ontological constructs serve as a universal language that can represent concepts from any organization's schema, eliminating the need for multiple schema-specific APIs.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the document access problem into two independent layers: the ontological representation layer (which handles schema independence) and the document-specific implementation layer (which handles organization-specific schemas). This segmentation allows each layer to be developed and maintained independently.
3Adaptability or versatility
If a DOM implementation presents XML documents as a tree structure, then a single API can access XML documents, but the solution does not work for documents with different schemas
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary ontological model between the DOM tree structure and the API. This intermediary layer maps ontological constructs to DOM nodes, allowing the API to access documents through a schema-independent interface while still respecting schema constraints through the triplet relationships.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer system supports the access of documents formatted according to different schemas. A model includes a relationship for different schemas. The relationship specifies a particular data and, corresponding to the particular data and one of the different schemas, a reference to one or more ontological-elements(s). An ontological-element defines a semantic relationship between the particular data (as subject) and objects with regard to a semantic relationship in documents. An executable program can include instructions or queries to access the particular data in a one or more documents. To access the particular data in the document, the executable program can access the model to obtain the reference to the ontological-elements corresponding to the particular data and the various schema for the various documents can refer to ontological-elements corresponding to the particular semantic relationships among the data, the ontological-elements further specifying one or more objects corresponding to the particular data; and can access objects in the particular documents as specified by ontological-elements.