A framework for ACL message translation for information agents

Abstract

Legacy databases are a valuable asset for any large organisation. The rapid spread of the Internet has created opportunities where these databases can be made available on-line (via information agents) to third parties and thus generate further revenue. The key enabler for this scenario is semantic interoperability of heterogeneous databases. In this paper we present an approach to semantic interoperability, which uses shared ontologies to describe the heterogeneity of database schema for information agents, hi order to automate message translation at run time. Unlike any other work hi this area, we take advantage of ontological knowledge to improve the degree of automation for this mapping process.