1980 Reports

Knowledge-Based Retrieval on a Rational Database Machine

Shaw, David Elliot

The central focus of this research has been the efficient retrieval of records from very large databases in applications where the criteria for description-matching require deductive inference over a domain-specific "knowledge base." Our approach has involved the design of a specialized non-von Neumann machine which permits the highly efficient evaluation of certain operators of a relational algebra of particular importance to the computational task at logical satisfaction. The architecture permits an O(log n) improvement over the best known evaluation methods for these operators on a conventional computer system, and may also offer a significant improvement over the performance of previously implemented or proposed database machines in other applications of practical import.