Multi-mapping based ontology merging system design

It is found that ontology merging is the most effective way to solve the problem of ontology heterogeneity in distributed environment which can hinder the inter-operability of the services by using ontology to describe Web services and merged ontology can provide a good basis for the inter-operability of services. To solve this problem, firstly a framework for multi-mapping based ontology merging systems (MMOMS) is proposed, and the functions and working processes of its six composition modules are fully described. Secondly, the compound strategy to merge ontology mapping results is set forth in detail. Thirdly, 5 rules for ontology merging and 2 rules for conflict handling are given. Lastly, algorithms of ontology merging, attribute merging, relation merging, and super-class merging of MMOMS are designed formally. In terms of general performance, the experimental verification result reveals that the MMOMS works well in solving the problem of ontology heterogeneity in Semantic Web Services.