Methodology for Extended Schema Representation in Database Integration

There have been several research efforts to support interoperability among multiple databases. In integrating multiple databases, we must resolve schema conflicts due to the heterogeneity in databases. To resolve these conflicts, not only meta-data for database schemas but also general knowledge expressing the real world meanings associated with the database schemas are required. This paper presents a uniform representation method for relational schema and general knowledge base that is composed, among other things, of concept hierarchy and thematic roles in relationship, using the knowledge representation language Lk. This representation method has a flexible descriptive power which facilitates concepts to be expressed at different levels of granularity and can describe knowledge expressed in Lk are used for input of the next step, such as conflict resolution and query processing of multiple database.