Abstract
A path-method (PM) is a mechanism to retrieve or to update information relevant to one class, in an object-oriented database (OODB), that is not stored with that class but with some other class. The PM traverses a chain of classes and connections that ends at the class where the required information is stored. However, it is a difficult task for a user to write PMs. This is because it might require comprehensive knowledge of many classes of the conceptual schema. But a typical user has often incomplete or even inconsistent knowledge of the schema. Currently we are developing a system, called Path-Method Generator (PMG), which generates PMs automatically according to a naive user's requests. One algorithm of PMG uses numerical access relevance between pairs of classes as a guide for the traversal of an OODB schema. In this paper we define the notion of access relevance to measure the significance of the (indirect) connection between any two classes in an OODB and present efficient algorithms to compute access relevance. The manual PM generation in an interoperable multi object-oriented database (IM-OODB) is even more difficult than for one OODB since a user has to be familiar with several OODBs. We use a hierarchical approach for developing efficient online algorithms for the computation of access relevances in an IM-OODB, based on precomputed access relevances for each autonomous OODB. In an IM-OODB the access relevances are used as a guide in generating PMs between the classes of different OODBs.
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.References
Aho, A., Hopcroft, J., and Ullman, J.D. (1983). Data Structures and Algorithms, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.
Alashqur, A.M., Su, S.Y.W., and Lam, H. (1989). OQL: A Query Language for Manipulating Object-Oriented Databases. In P.M.G. Apers and G. Wiederhold (Eds.), Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on Very Large Databases, pp. 433–442.
Alhajj, R. and Arkun, M.E. (1993). A Query Model for Object-Oriented Databases. In Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Data Engineering (pp. 163–171). Los Alamitos, CA: IEEE Computer Society Press.
Bertino, E., Negri, M., Pelagatti, G., and Sbattella, L. (1992). Object-Oriented Query Languages: The Notion and the Issues. IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering, 4, 223–237.
Biliris, A. and Panagos, E. (1995). A High-Performance Configurable Storage Manager. To appear in Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Data Engineering, Taipei, Taiwan.
Bonissone, P.P. and Decker, K.S. (1986). Selecting Uncertainty Calculi and Granularity: An Experiment in Trading-off Precision and Complexity. Machine Intelligence Pattern Recognition, 4, 217–247.
Cheiney, J.-P. and Lanzelotte, R.S.G. (1992). A Model for Optimizing Deductive and Object-Oriented DB Requests. In F.Golshani, Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Data Engineering (pp. 385–392). (Ed.), Los Alamitos, CA: IEEE Computer Society Press.
Czejdo, B. and Taylor, M. (1991). Integration of Database Systems Using an Object-Oriented Approach. In Proc. First International Workshop on Interoperability in Multi-Database Systems (pp. 30–37). Kyoto, Japan.
Czejdo, B. and Taylor, M. (1991). Integration of Database Systems and Smalltalk. In Proc. Symposium on Applied Computing, Kansas City.
Elmasri, R. and Navathe, S.B. (1989). Fundamentals of Database Systems. New York, NY: Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Co.
Fankhauser, P., Kracker, M., and Neuhold, E.J. (1991). Semantic vs. Structural Resemblance of Classes. SIGMOD Record, ‘Semantic Issues in Multidatabase Systems’, 34, 59–63.
Fankhauser, P. and Neuhold, E.J. (1992). Knowledge Based Integration of Heterogeneous Databases. In Proc. of the IFIP TC2/WG2.6 Conference on Semantics of Interoperable Database Systems, DS-5, Lorne, Victoria, Australia.
Geller, J., Perl, Y., and Neuhold, E.J. (1991). Structure and Semantics in OODB Class Specifications. SIGMOD record, ‘Semantic Issues in Multidatabase Systems’, 34, 40–43.
Halper, M., Geller, J., Perl, Y., and Neuhold, E.J. (1992). An OODB Graphical Schema Representation. In Proc. IDS92: Int. Workshop on Interfaces to Database Systems, Glasgow.
Horowitz, E. and Sahni, S. (1989). Fundamentals of Computer Algorithms, Reading, MA: Computer Science Press.
Kemper, A. and Moerkotte, G. (1990). Advanced Query Processing in Object Bases Using Access Support Relations. In D. McLeod, R. Sacks-Davis, and H. Schek (Eds.). Proc. of the Sixteenth International Conference on Very Large Databases, pp. 290–301.
Kifer, M., Kim, W., and Sagiv, Y. (1992). Querying Object-Oriented Databases. In Proceedings 1992 ACM SIGMOD International Conf. on Management of Data (pp. 393–402). San Diego, California.
Kim, W. (1989). A Model of Queries for Object-Oriented Databases. In P.M.G. Apers and G. Wiederhold (Eds.). Proceeding of the Fifteenth International Conference on Very Large Databases, pp. 423–432.
Kim, W. (1990). Introduction to Object-Oriented Databases, Reading, MA: The MIT Press.
Klas, W., Neuhold, E.J., Bahlke, R., Drosten, K., Fankhauser, P., Kaul, M., Muth, P., Oheimer, M., Rakow, T., and Turau, V. (1991). VML Design Specification Document. Tech. Report, GMD-IPSI, Germany.
Klir, G.L. and Folger, T.A. (1988). Fuzzy Sets, Uncertainty and Information, Prentice Hall.
Kracker, M. (1992). A Fuzzy Concept Network Model and its Applications. In Proc. FUZZ-IEEE'92 (pp. 761–768). San Diego.
Kracker, M. and Neuhold, E.J. (1989). Schema Independent Query Formulation. In Proc. 8th Int. Conf. on Entity-Relationships Approach (pp. 233–247). Toronto, Canada.
Lamb, C., Landis, G., Orenstein, J., and Weinreb, D. (1991). The Objectstore Database System. Communications of the ACM, pp. 50–63.
Lanzelotte, R.S.G., Valduriez, P., and Zait, M. (1992). Optimization of Object-Oriented Recursive Queries Using Cost-Controlled Strategies. In Proc. 1992 ACM SIGMOD International Conference on Management of Data (pp. 256–265). San Diego, California.
Litwin, W. (1985). Implicit Joins in the Multidatabase System MRDSM. IEEE-COMPSAC, pp. 495–504.
Maier, D., Rozenshtein, D., Salvater, S., Stein, J., and Warren, D. (1987). PIQUE: A Relational Query Language Without Relations. In Information Systems, 12(3), 317–335.
Maier, D. and Ullman, J.D. (1983). Maximal Objects and the Semantic of Universal Relation Databases. ACM Transactions on Database Systems, 8(1), 1–14.
Martin, R. (1991). ONTOS Overview. In Proc. Executive Briefing on Object-oriented Database Management, San Francisco.
Mehta, A. (1993). Algorithms for Generation of Path-Methods in Object-Oriented Databases. Doctoral Dissertation, CIS Dept., New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ.
Mehta, A., Geller, J., Perl, Y., and Fankhauser, P. (1993). Computing Access Relevance for Path-Method Generation in OODBs and IM-OODB. Research Report CIS-93–02, CIS Dept, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ.
Mehta, A., Geller, J., Perl, Y., and Neuhold, E.J. (1993). The OODB Path-Method Generator (PMG) Using Precomputed Access Relevance. In Proc. of the 2nd Int'l Conference on Information and Knowledge Management (pp. 596–605). Washington DC.
Mehta, A., Geller, J., Perl, Y., and Neuhold, E.J. (1995). The OODB Path-Method Generator (PMG) Using Access Weights and Precomputed Access Relevance. (submitted for journal publication, under revision).
Neuhold, E.J., Perl, Y., Geller, J., and Turau, V. (1989). Separating Structural and Semantic Elements in Object-Oriented Knowledge Bases. In Proc. Advanced Database System Symposium (pp. 67–74). Kyoto, Japan.
Neuhold, E.J., Perl, Y., Geller, J., and Turau, V. (1990). A Theoretical Underlying Dual Model for Knowledge Based Systems. In Proc. First Int. Conf. on Systems Integration (pp. 96–103). NJ Morristown.
Neuhold, E.J., Perl, Y., Geller, J., and Turau, V. The Dual Model for Object-Oriented Databases. NJIT Technical Report CIS 91-30.
Neuhold, E.J. and Schrefl, M. (1988). Dynamic Derivation of Personalized Views. In Proc. 14th International Conference on Very Large Databases, VLDB '88 (pp. 183–194). Los Angeles, CA.
Schweizler, B. and Sklar, A. (1961). Associative Functions and Statistical Triangle Inequalities. Publicationes Mathematicae Debercen, 8, 169–186.
Sheth, A.P. and Larson, J.A. (1990). Federated Database Systems for Managing Distributed, Heterogeneous, and Autonomous Databases, ACM Computing Surveys, 22(3), 183–236.
Zadeh, L.A. (1965). Fuzzy Sets. Information and Control, 8, 228–353.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mehta, A., Geller, J., Perl, Y. et al. Computing access relevance for path-method generation in OODB and IM-OODB. J Intell Inf Syst 7, 75–100 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00125523
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00125523