Query rewriting for open XML data integration systems

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Queryrewritingfor

openXMLdataintegrationsystems

Abstract

ThispaperpresentsOpenXView,amodelforopenXMLdataintegrationsystems,characterizedbytheautonomyofusersthatpublishXMLdataonacommontopic.Autonomyimpliesfrequentandunpredictablechangestodataandahighdegreeofstructureheterogeneity.TheOpenXViewmodelprovidesanoriginalintegrationschema,basedonahybridontology-XMLschemastructure.Weproposesolutionsfortwoimportantproblemsinsuchsystems:easyaccesstodatathroughasimplequerylanguageoverthecommonschemaandsimpleintegrationviewmanagementwhendatachanges.ThispaperfocusesonthequeryrewritingprobleminOpenXView,forwhichexistingalgorithmsarenotsuitable,andproposesaquerytranslationalgorithm.

Keywords:XML,heterogeneousdataintegration,ontology,queryrewriting,local-as-view

1Introduction

ManycompaniesarenowconsideringstoringtheirdatainXMLrepositories.Hence,theintegrationandtransforma-

tionofsuchdatahasbecomeincreasinglyimportantforapplicationsthatneedtosupporttheiruserswithquerying

environments.

WeaddressheretheproblemofXMLdataintegrationinaparticularcontext.First,weareinterestedinopen

integrationsystems,whereusersmayfreelypublishdatainthesystem,inordertoshareinformationoncommon

interesttopics.Atypicalexampleispeer-to-peer[8]communities,initiallysharingmultimediafiles,butcurrently

focusingmoreandmoreonstructuredcontent,suchasXMLdata.Thekeycharacteristicofopenintegrationsystems

isuserautonomyinpublishingdata.Frequentandunpredictablechangestodataandschemas,asuserspublishnew

informationisafirstconsequenceofuserautonomy.Theotherimportanteffectofautonomyisdataheterogeneity,for

documentscomingfromdifferentusers,thathaveindependentlydesignedthestructureoftheirdocuments.

ThedataintegrationmodelwehavechosenforsolvingthisXMLdataintegrationproblemisnovel.Usually,the

common(target)schemaforXMLdataintegrationiseitheratree-likeXMLschema,oranontology.Intheformer

case,theadvantageisalowmodelmismatch,i.e.agoodadequacyofthecommonschemamodelwithsourcedata

andwithqueryresults(XMLdata).Thedrawbacksarealimitedsemanticexpressivenessandsomerigidityindata

typingatqueryprocessing:thesystemoftenmatchesonlyresultsthatpreserveinsourcesthesamerelationsbetween

thequeriedelementsinthecommonschema.Ontologieseliminatethesedrawbacks,butthemodelmismatchbetween

XMLschemasandontologiescomplexifiestheexpressionofmappingsbetweensourcesandthecommonmodel.

WeproposeamodelthatcombinestheadvantagesofontologiesandXMLschemas,bydefiningahybridintegra-

tionschema:asimpleontology,whereconceptshavepropertiesorganizedinhierarchies(suchasinXMLschemas),

butmaybeconnectedthroughtwo-way“relatedTo”relationships,moreflexibleatqueryprocessing.

Onthesourceside,userspublishXMLschemasanddocuments.Weintroducedin[1]thenotionofPhysical

DataView(PDV),betteradaptedtodataintegrationthantheXMLschemaspublishedbythesources.APDVisa

viewonarealschema;ithasatree-likestructure,gatheringaccesspathstousefulnodesintherealschema,and

mappingsbetweenthistreeandtheontologygraph.Mappingsareexpressedthroughsimpletwo-way,node-to-node

correspondencesbetweenPDVandontologynodes.ThedifferencebetweenapublishedXMLschemaandaPDVis

subtle.Ontheonehand,evenifnotmandatory,aPDVmaydiscarduselessnodesintheXMLschema,byremoving

subtreesorbyreplacingapathbetweentwonodesbyasingle“//”edge.Removingnodeshelpsimprovingschema

management,storageandqueryprocessing.ThePDVtreeisactuallyadataguide,asummaryofaccesspathsto

nodesusefulforqueries.Ontheotherhand,PDVsproducedfromsourceXMLschemas,unliketheseschemas,

provideauniquewaytotranslateuservisibleontologynodes,byassociatingwitheachontologynodeatmostone

nodeinasinglePDV.ThisimpliesthatapublishedXMLschemamayproduceseveralPDVs.Eachtimeaschema

ispublished,thesystemmustassisttheusertogeneratePDVs,throughsemi-automaticprocedures.Thisadditional

effortatpublishingtimeislargelyjustifiedbytheeffortsavedatqueryrewritingtime,whenheavycombinatorial

computationandpossiblywrongrewritingsareavoided.

Figure1illustratesthedifferencebetweenPDVsandXMLschemasthroughasimpleexample.Theontology

containsasingleconcept(Artist)withthreeproperties(name,country,birthdate).ThepublishedXMLschemaisa

treecontaininginformationabouttwokindsofartists:filmdirectorsandactors.TwoPDVsareobtainedfromthis

schema,soastodissociatedirectorsfromactorsbothmappedtoconceptArtistintheontology,eachoneproviding

Artist

namecountrybirthdatenamebirthdatecountrydirectoractor

namecountrytitlemoviecast

role

namebirthdatecountrydirectoractor

namecountryPhysical data views (PDV)

//XML document schemaOntology

//PDV1PDV2

Figure1:XMLdocumentschemavsPhysicalDataView

auniquetranslationfortheartist(possiblyincomplete,e.g.actorslackbirthdate).Uselessnodesareremovedfrom

eachPDV;thisproducesa“//”edgeabovetheroot:e.g,nodesmovie,castandroleremovedwhencreatingPDV2.