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Probe: A Knowledge-Oriented Database Management System

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On Knowledge Base Management Systems

Part of the book series: Topics in Information Systems ((TINF))

Abstract

Existing database management systems will be inadequate for many of the information processing applications (e.g., business and industrial automation, CAD/CAM, and military command and control) of the future. Our objective is to develop an advanced DBMS called PROBE that will handle more of the information types and intensional knowledge relevant to the new application areas. Our approach is to enhance existing DBMSs with (a) Abstract object types as the basis for defining new objects and operations and for integrating specialized processors, (b) Dimensional (space and time) concepts, which are the common characteristic of many of the new information types, and (c) Recursive predicates and queries, which provide intensional knowledge processing (deductive question-answering) capabilities. In each case, it is necessary to augment both the logical (data model, query language) components and the physical (storage structures, access methods, query processor) components of the DBMS. We describe approaches to addressing all these issues. We demonstrate via examples the dramatic performance improvement that can result if the DBMS optimizer is made cognizant of the information types and knowledge used by the application programs

This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under award number DCR-8360576, and is currently being supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and by the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command under contract number N00039-85-C0263. The views and conclusions contained in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official policies of the National Science Foundation, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, or the U.S. Government.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Computer Corporation of America, USA

    John Miles Smith

Authors
  1. Umeshwar Dayal
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  2. John Miles Smith
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Computer Corporation of America, 4 Cambridge Center, 02142, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Micheal L. Brodie

  2. Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, M5S IA4, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    John Mylopoulos

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© 1986 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

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Dayal, U., Smith, J.M. (1986). Probe: A Knowledge-Oriented Database Management System. In: Brodie, M.L., Mylopoulos, J. (eds) On Knowledge Base Management Systems. Topics in Information Systems. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4980-1_22

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4980-1_22

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-9383-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-4980-1

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