Bringing Together Description Logics and Database in an Object Oriented Model

Description logics have powerful deductive capabilities but rely on a weakly structured model. Databases provide storage optimization and offer better structuring capacities, especially within the object-oriented paradigm. We propose a model which offers the deductive capabilities of description logics and the structuring possibilities of the object approach. We distinguish between three types of classes : concrete classes, where objects are instantiated, virtual classes, which are subsets of concrete classes, corresponding to database object-preserving views, and abstract classes, which factor common properties of objects from different concrete classes. A schema in this model can be translated into a description logics schema and into a database schema. The former represents the deductive part and the latter deals with the storage aspect.