Patent Document ID: 5487132
Application ID: 08348742
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. An end user query facility for accessing a database having a plurality of database files formed using a database model, comprising: a knowledge base which stores key-types of items of said database files and a set of linkages of the database model; a keyword library which stores a set of keywords of said database model representative of items of said database files; a semantics extractor for reading said database model and extracting the semantics of said database model, and which stores in said knowledge base said key-types of items and said set of linkages and which stores in said keyword library said set of keywords; an information scout for interfacing with a user to obtain from the user a designation of the information to be extracted from said database; an inference engine which, based upon said designation of information to be extracted from said database, identifies one or more of said database files which Contain the desired information and searches said knowledge base to determine the linkage(s) connecting said one or more identified files; a program generator which accesses the linkages obtained by said inference engine and generates a program to extract said desired information from said database; and a model purifier for interfacing with a user to alter said key-types of items and said set of linkages in the knowledge base.