An object-based architecture for biomedical expert database systems

Objects play a major role in both database and artificial intelligence research. In this paper, we present a novel architecture for expert database systems that introduces an object-based interface between relational databases and expert systems. We exploit a semantic model of the database structure to map relations automatically into object templates, where each template can be a complex combination of join and projection operations. Moreover, we arrange the templates into object networks that represent different views of the same database. Separate processes instantiate those templates using data from the base relations, cache the resulting instances in main memory, navigate through a given network's objects, and update the database according to changes made at the object layer. In the context of an immunologic-research application, we demonstrate the capabilities of a prototype implementation of the architecture. The resulting model provides enhanced tools for database structuring and manipulation. In addition, this architecture supports efficient bidirectional communication between database and expert systems through the shared object layer.