Ontology Co-occurrence Network for Semantic Web Term Mapping

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Solution Overview

Problem

The Semantic Web faces challenges in automatically mapping natural language or vocabulary words to appropriate ontology terms due to ambiguity and the need for manual knowledge of ontologies, making it difficult for users to efficiently describe, search, or query data without prior familiarity with ontologies.

Innovation Solution

A system and method that utilize an ontology co-occurrence network and term index to determine the most suitable ontology context and terms for a given set of input words by ranking term sets based on consistency and popularity, allowing users to input natural language or vocabulary words and providing ranked term sets for mapping without requiring prior knowledge of ontologies.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If manual ontology selection is used, then ontology term accuracy is improved, but user expertise requirement increases and operation complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveontology term accuracyVSAvoiduser expertise requirement
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs automatic ontology term mapping without requiring user expertise. The mapping service autonomously analyzes input words, queries the ontology co-occurrence network, and returns appropriate ontology terms, eliminating the need for manual ontology selection by users.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces an intermediary mapping service that acts as a bridge between natural language input and ontology terms. This service uses the ontology co-occurrence network as an intermediate data structure to automatically determine the most appropriate ontology context and terms, resolving the contradiction between accuracy and ease of use.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Measurement precision

If comprehensive ontology coverage is provided, then term matching accuracy is improved, but system complexity increases and computational expense increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveterm matching accuracyVSAvoidsystem complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the large ontology space into manageable units by creating an ontology co-occurrence network. This network organizes ontology terms into clusters based on co-occurrence relationships, allowing the system to efficiently search only relevant portions of the ontology space rather than examining all ontologies comprehensively.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs preliminary processing by pre-computing the ontology co-occurrence network and storing it in a term index. This preliminary action enables faster querying and reduces computational expense during actual mapping operations, as the heavy lifting of ontology analysis is done in advance.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

3Ease of operation

If automatic mapping is implemented, then ease of operation is improved, but handling of ambiguous words becomes difficult

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveautomatic mapping capabilityVSAvoiddisambiguation accuracy
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The system uses feedback from the ontology co-occurrence network to resolve ambiguities. When multiple ontology contexts are possible for an input word, the network provides feedback on which contexts are most relevant based on co-occurrence statistics, allowing the system to automatically select the most appropriate ontology terms even for ambiguous words.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

Data Source

PatentUS8332434B2Method and system for finding appropriate semantic web ontology terms from words
Publication Date: 2012.12.11 SAP IRELAND LTD
  • US8332434B2 patent drawing
  • US8332434B2 patent drawing
  • US8332434B2 patent drawing

AI summary

A system and method to map a set of words to a set of ontology terms, the method including determining a starting point for ontologies including terms matching a set of words, determining a term set corresponding to the set of words in an ontology context of each of the starting points, ranking the term sets determined for all of the starting points, and providing an output of the term sets in a ranked order.