Design of an integrated information retrieval/database management system

To increase the semantics available in a database system it is useful to integrate it with the well-understood models, leading to ranked response of queries that characterize information retrieval systems. A novel, unified architecture is presented which provides the flexibility of integrating any information retrieval (IR) model with any type of database management system. More importantly, the approach provides for the ability to use `aggregation´ and `generalization´ operations automatically to provide more meaningful responses. In addition, this framework makes possible the systematic investigation of the potential of using IR models as a general tool for supporting management decisions