Title: HERMES: Heterogeneous Reasoning and Mediator System
Authors: V.S. Subrahmanian, Sibel Adali, Anne Brink, Ross Emery, J.ames J. Lu, Adil Rajput, Timothy J. Rogers, Robert Ross, Charles Ward
Abstract
Hybrid Knowledge Bases (HKB), due to Nerode and Subrahmanian, is a paradigm for integrating information from diverse sources. It forms a framework within which mediators, proposed by Wiederhold, may be formalized. HERMES is a system based on the HKB theory that has been under development over the past two years. It provides a general, declarative language for defining a mediator, which expresses semantic integration of information from diverse data sources and reasoning systems. The compiler for this language contains a facility that enables the incremental integration of new systems into an existing mediator system. Thus mediators are extensible. This paper describes the design and implementation of HERMES. Techniques for extending an existing mediator are described, illustrating how certain parts can be automated, while others may be interactively presented to a system integrator for his/her input. The system currently runs on Sun Sparc stations (under Unix), as well as on the IBM-PC platform under DOS/Windows 3.1.