Abstract
The integration of information from multiple databases has been an enduring subject of research for over 20 years, and many different solutions have been attempted or proposed. Missing from this research has been a uniform framework. Usually, each solution develops its own ad-hoc framework, designed to address the particular aspects of the problem that are being attacked and the particular methodology that is being used. To address this situation, in this paper we define a formal model for multidatabases, which we call Multiplex. Multiplex is a simple extension of the relational model, which may serve as a uniform abstraction for many previous ad-hoc solutions. Multiplex is based on formal assumptions of integrability, which distinguish between scheme and instance reconcilability among independent databases. Multiplex supports database heterogeneity, and it provides several degrees of freedom that allow it to model actual situations encountered in multidatabase applications. In addition, in situations in which a single answer is not obtainable (either because the global query is not answerable, or there are multiple candidate answers), Multiplex defines approximative answers. Finally, Multiplex provides a practical platform for implementation. A prototype of such an implementation is described briefly.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
M.A. Abidi and R.C. Gonzalez, editors Data Fusion in Robotics and Machine Intelligence. Academic Press, 1992.
A. Levy an D. Srivastava and T. Kirk Data model and query evaluation in global information systems. Journal of Intelligent Information Systems, 5(2):121–143, Sep. 1995.
Y. Arens, C.A. Knoblock, and W.-M. Shen Query reformulation for dynamic information integration. Journal of Intelligent Information Systems, 6(2/3):99–130, June 1996.
C. Batini, M. Lenzerini, and S.B. Navathe A comparative analysis of methodologies for database schema integration. Computing Surveys, 18(4):323–364, Dec. 1986.
Y. Breitbart Multidatabase interoperability. SIGMOD Record, 19(3): 53–60, Sep. 1990.
Y. Breitbart, P.L. Olson, and G.R. Thompson Database integration in a distributed heterogeneous database system. In Proceedings of the IEEE Computer Society Second International Conference on Data Engineering, pp. 301–310, 1986.
M.W. Bright, A.R. Hurson, and S.H. Pakzad A taxonomy and current issues in multidatabase systems. Computer, 25(3):50–60, March 1992.
A. Brodsky and A. Motro The problem of optimal approximations of queries using views and its applications. Technical Report ISSE-TR-95-104, Department of Information and Software Engineering, George Mason University, May 1995.
O.P. Buneman, S. Davidson, and A. Watters Federated approximations for heterogeneous databases. Data Engineering, 3(2):27–34, Aug. 1989.
S. Ceri and G. Pelagatti Distributed Databases: Principles and Systems. McGraw-Hill, 1984.
N. Coburn Derived Relation Prototype: User Guide. Department of Computer Science, University ofWaterloo, 1988.
P. Drew, R. King, D. McLeod, M. Rusinkiewicz, and A. Silberschatz Report of the workshop on semantic heterogeneity and interoperation in multidatabase systems. SIGMOD Record, 22(3):47–56, Sep. 1993.
G. Wiederhold, editor Special issue: Intelligent integration of information. Journal of Intelligent Information Systems, 6(2/3), June 1996.
D. Fang, J. Hammer, and D. McLeod The identification and resolution of semantic heterogeneity in multidatabase systems. In Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Interoperability in Multidatabase Systems, pp. 136–143, 1991.
H. Garcia-Molina, Y. Papakonstantinou, D. Quass, A. Rajaraman, Y. Sagiv, J. Ullman, and J. Widom The TSIMMIS approach to mediation: Data models and languages. In Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Next Generation Information Technologies and Systems, pp. 185–193, 1995.
A.R. Hurson, M.W. Bright, and S.H. Pakzad, editors Multidatabase Systems: An Advanced Solution for Global Information Sharing. IEEE Computer Society Press, 1994.
Y. Kambayashi, M. Rusinkiewicz, and A. Sheth, editors Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Research Issues on Data Engineering: Interoperability in Multidatabase Systems, 1991.
W. Kim and J. Seo Classifying schematic and data heterogeneity in multidatabase systems. IEEE Computer, 24(12):12–18, 1991.
R. Krishnamurthy, W. Litwin, and W. Kent Interoperability of heterogeneous databases with semantic discrepancies. In Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Interoperability in Multidatabase Systems, pp. 144–151, 1991.
T.A. Landers and R.L. Rosenberg An overview of Multibase. In H.J. Schneider, editor, Distributed Databases, North-Holland, 1982.
P.-A. Larson and H.Z. Yang Computing queries from derived relations. In Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on Very Large Data Bases, pp. 259–269, 1985.
P.-A. Larson and H.Z. Yang Computing queries from derived relations: Theoretical foundations. Technical Report CS-87-35, Department of Computer Science, University ofWaterloo, Aug. 1987.
A.L. Levy, A.O. Mendelzon, Y. Sagiv, and D. Srivastava Answering queries from views. In Proceedings of the 14th Symposium on Principles of Database Systems, pp.95–104, 1995.
W. Litwin, L. Mark, and N. Roussopoulos Interoperability ofmultiple autonomous databases. Computing Surveys, 22(3):267–293, Sep. 1990.
D. Maier The Theory of Relational Databases. Computer Science Press, 1983.
A. Motro Superviews: Virtual integration of multiple databases. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, SE-13(7):785–798, July 1987.
A. Motro Integrity = validity + completeness. ACM Transactions on Database Systems, 14(4):480–502, Dec. 1989.
A. Motro and I. Rakov Not all answers are equally good: Estimating the quality of database answers. In Flexible Query-Answering Systems, pp. 1–21. Kluwer, 1997.
H.-J. Schek, A. Sheth, and B.D. Czejdo, editors Proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Research Issues on Data Engineering: Interoperability in Multidatabase Systems, 1993.
P. Scheuermann, C. Yu, A. Elmagarmid, H. Garcia-Molina, F. Manola, D. McLeod, A. Rosenthal, and M. Templeton Report on the workshop on heterogeneous database systems. SIGMOD Record, 19(4):23–31, Dec. 1990.
A.P. Sheth and J.A. Larson Federated database systems for managing distributed, heterogeneous and autonomous databases. Computing Surveys, 22(3):183–236, Sep. 1990.
V.S. Subrahmanian Amalgamating knowledge bases. ACM Transactions on Database Systems, 19(2):291–331, June 1994.
M. Templeton, D. Brill, S.K. Dao, E. Lund, P. Ward, A.L.P. Chen, and R. McGregor Mermaid–a front-end to distributed heterogeneous databases. In Proceedings of IEEE, volume 75,number 5, pp. 695–708, May 1987.
J.D. Ullman Principles of Database Systems. Computer Science Press, 1982.
G. Widerhold Glossary: Intelligent integration of information. Journal of Intelligent Information Systems, 6(2/3):281–291, June 1996.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1999 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Motro, A. (1999). Multiplex: A Formal Model for Multidatabases and Its Implementation. In: Pinter, R.Y., Tsur, S. (eds) Next Generation Information Technologies and Systems. NGITS 1999. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1649. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-48521-X_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-48521-X_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-66225-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-48521-6
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive