An index based on superimposed coding for a fuzzy object oriented database system

Next generation database applications-for example, design; environmental and scientific applications-have to cope with incomplete and uncertain data and queries. Many of the approaches to modeling uncertainty in databases are based on fuzzy set theory. However, for fuzzy data access and vague query evaluation the usual access methods are no longer usable. Thus, the need arises for efficient index structures capable of dealing with fuzzy data and vague queries. In this article the author shows that superimposed coding, which was originally proposed for partial match retrieval, is a very promising approach for building an efficient index structure for fuzzy database systems