Integration of Information from Internet Sources

多个互联网源的集成提出了许多新的挑战，如处理半结构化数据，创建视图没有完整的知识的源结构，适应有限的查询接口（能力）的来源，并回答查询指的是虚拟对象，这是复杂的信息融合操作的结果。最近的工作提供了灵活的，但往往效率低下，方法来迅速发展的调解人，实现上述目标。这项研究开发的数据结构，算法和系统，可以提高性能，往往由数量级，并改善用户界面，而不影响开发的灵活性。数据指南提出了描述的概念（或概念的组合），显着出现在每个来源和调解员创建的综合视图。数据指南计算算法使用（1）中介规范，（2）源数据的解析器，以及（3）查询结果的实际数据。调解人和用户界面进行了扩展，使查询处理和查询公式的数据指南的使用。这项研究还开发了算法，（1）进一步扩展调解人的能力，以适应有限的能力的来源，（2）使用知识（例如，依赖性）以增强对象融合查询的性能，以及（3）优化部分答案的递送。这项研究将展示如何灵活的集成系统（如系统构建虚拟商场，通过整合多个Web购物网站或系统融合所有可用的财务信息有关的公司）可以迅速发展，同时仍然实现难以建立定制的集成系统的性能。

Integration of multiple Internet sources poses many novel challenges such as handling semistructured data, creating views without complete knowledge of the source structure, adapting to the limited query interfaces (capabilities) of the sources, and answering queries referring to virtual objects which are the result of complex information fusion operations. Recent works have provided flexible, though very often inefficient, ways to rapidly develop mediators that achieve the above goals. This research develops data structures, algorithms and systems which can enhance the performance, often by orders of magnitude, and improve the user interface without compromising the development flexibility. Data guides are proposed for describing the concepts (or combinations of concepts) that significantly appear in each source and in the integrated view created by the mediator. Data guide computation algorithms use (1) the mediator specification, (2) the parser of the source data, and (3) actual data of query results. Mediators and user interfaces are extended to make use of the data guides upon query processing and query formulation. This research also develops algorithms that (1) further extend the mediator's ability to adapt to the limited capabilities of the sources, (2) use knowledge (e.g., dependencies) of the source data to enhance the performance of object fusion queries, and (3) optimize the delivery of partial answers. This research will demonstrate how flexible integration systems (such as systems for constructing virtual malls by integrating multiple Web shopping sites or systems for fusing all available financial information relating to a company) can be rapidly developed while still achieving the performance of hard-to-built custom made integration systems.