A framework for exchanging heterogeneous messages based-on ontology mapping

Abstract

One of the challenges in achieving interoperable systems is to guarantee interoperability among syntactically or semantically heterogeneous messages which are independently developed by different systems within the same domain, but used for the same function. There has been significant progress in facilitating message integration with the schema matching techniques and message standardization. However, it still requires significant efforts and cost to develop and maintain a message translator because of the generation of new message standards and the change of existing message format specification. To address this challenge, we propose meSsage Exchange fRamework based on Ontology Mapping (SEROM). SEROM utilizes Extensible Markup Language (XML) environment to solve syntactic heterogeneity and ontology mapping to deal with semantic heterogeneity. SEROM mainly consists of two phases: message format mapping and message instance translation. The Web Ontology Language (OWL) message ontologies for the source and target message format are generated from the depository defining each message format in the message format mapping phase. Then the mapping definition from those OWL message ontologies is produced by developer``s mapping. Next, in the phase of message instance translation, OWL Mapping Engine, which interprets ontology mapping definition produced in the message format mapping phase, automatically transforms source message instance into target message instance. Using this framework, message format description, coherently represented by OWL, makes mapping definition simpler with the help of predefined mapping patterns independent from the types of message format. Moreover, in the aspect of the efforts and the cost to develop and to maintain the translator, which performs message instance translation, SEROM is considerably economic since developers can uniformly use OWL Mapping Engine, regardless of the types of message format and the relations among them. We...