Constraints-based Query Translation across Heterogeneous Sources for Distributed Information Retrieval.

In this paper we propose a method for translating queries across heterogeneous information sources with widely varying query forms. First, the query capabilities of specific sources are described while taking into account the information of various constraints. When translating a query from one source to another source, we also sufficiently consider the function and position restrictions of terms, term modifiers and logical operators among the controls in the user interfaces to the underlying sources, so we can utilize the query capabilities of the specific sources as much as possible. In addition, we put forward a two-phase query subsuming mechanism to compensate for the functional discrepancies between sources, in order to make a more accurate query translation.