Deconstruction and reconstruction of heterogeneous electronic product catalogues for semantic interoperation

A very important issue in constructing global electronic markets is to enable semantic interoperation between fragmented electronic markets by constructing an interoperable electronic product catalogue (EPC) for product data exchange. Nevertheless, the heterogeneous EPCs are highly complex, which, causes the severe semantic inconsistency that prevents from semantic interoperation between them. To reduce complexity and to provide a solution to semantic consistency maintenance, this paper has developed a theory of deconstruction and reconstruction. The theory deconstructs heterogeneous EPCs into ordered concepts, structures and semantic relations by a proposed articulation approach. It reconstructs the deconstructed units into a novel CONEX framework for component EPC integration. The CONEX maintains semantic consistency amongst heterogeneous component EPCs in structure, concept and context.