Instance browser for ontology

Abstract

An instance browser including a repository of class and relation definitions, a server for responding to queries relating to class and relation definitions in the repository, and a graphical user interface including icons for representing instances of classes. A method is also described and claimed.

1 - 100 . (canceled)  
   
   
       101 . An instance browser comprising: 
 at least one repository containing a model including a plurality of classes;    an instance repository containing information on a plurality of instances and on a plurality of relationships between the instances;    a repository associating the plurality of instances with the plurality of classes;    a system for assigning unique identifiers to instances;    a system for assigning graphical icons to classes;    a system for displaying said icons; and    a system for navigating between the icons responsive to the relationships between instances in the instance repositories.    
   
   
       102 . The instance browser of  claim 101  containing a plurality of repositories containing information on a plurality of instance where such repositories use semantically distinct persistence formats.  
   
   
       103 . The instance browser of  claim 102  where a semantic mapping relates the persistence formats to the model.  
   
   
       104 . The instance browser of  claim 101  further containing a model associating processes with classes, a graphical representation of processes and a system for navigating from an icon to the graphical representation of the processes associated with the class which is associated with the instance which is associated with the icon.  
   
   
       105 . The instance browser of  claim 101  further comprising a system for embedding said icons in a document.  
   
   
       106 . The instance browser of  claim 101  wherein the unique identifies are globally unique strings.  
   
   
       107 . The instance browser of  claim 101  wherein the unique identifier of an instance belonging to a class is a view comprising a set of properties where the model determines that this set of properties uniquely identifies instances associated with the class.  
   
   
       108 . The instance browser of  claim 101  where some of the instances denote real-world objects outside the system.  
   
   
       109 . The instance browser of  claim 101  further containing a system for querying instances across the plurality of repositories and a graphical user interface for such queries.  
   
   
       110 . A method for instance browsing comprising: 
 managing at least one repository containing a model including a plurality of classes;    managing a plurality of instance repositories containing information on the plurality of instances and on a plurality of relationships between the instances;    managing a repository associating the plurality of instances with the plurality of classes;    assigning unique identifiers to the instances;    assigning graphical icons to the plurality of classes;    displaying the graphical icons; and    navigating between the graphical icons responsively to the relationships between instances in the instance repositories.    
   
   
       111 . The method for instance browsing of  claim 110  further comprising a plurality of repositories containing information on the plurality of instance where such repositories use semantically distinct persistence formats.  
   
   
       112 . The method for instance browsing of  claim 110  further comprising managing a model associating processes with the classes, managing a graphical representation of the processes navigating from an icon to the graphical representation of the processes associated with the class which is associated with the instance which is associated with the icon.  
   
   
       113 . The method for instance browsing of  claim 110  further comprising embedding said graphical icons in a document.  
   
   
       114 . The method for instance browsing of  claim 110  wherein the unique identifies are globally unique strings.  
   
   
       115 . The method for instance browsing of  claim 110  wherein the unique identifier of an instance belonging to a class is a view comprising a set of properties where the model determines that this set of properties uniquely identifies instances associated with the class.  
   
   
       116 . The method for instance browsing of  claim 110  where some of the instances denote real-world objects outside the system.  
   
   
       117 . The method for instance browsing of  claim 110  further containing a system for querying instances across the plurality of repositories and a graphical user interface for such queries.  
   
   
       118 . An access control system involving a set of resources and resource groups where the resource groups are related to other resource groups by a recursive membership fun; and 
 a set of user and user groups where the user groups are related to users and user groups by a recursive membership function and an association of user groups and resource groups with privileges.    
   
   
       119 . The access control system of  claim 118  where the privileges are associated with action groups.  
   
   
       120 . The access control system of  claim 119  where a recursive membership function associates the action groups with actions and groups.