Description of the RACER System and its Applications.pdf

Description of the RACER System and its Applications Volker Haarslev and Ralf Mo?ller University of Hamburg, Computer Science Department Vogt-Ko?lln-Str. 30, 22527 Hamburg, Germany Abstract RACER implements a TBox and ABox reasoner for the logic SHIQ. RACER was the first full-fledged ABox description logic system for a very expressive logic and is based on optimized sound and complete algorithms. 1 Introduction The description logic (DL) SHIQ [26] extends the logic ALCNHR+ [14] by ad- ditionally providing qualified number restrictions and inverse roles. ALCNHR+ was the logic supported by RACE (Reasoner for ABoxes and Concept Ex- pressions), the precursor of RACER (Renamed ABox and Concept Expres- sion Reasoner). Using the ALCNHR+ naming scheme, SHIQ could be called ALCQHIR+ (pronunciation: ALC-choir). ALCQHIR+ is briefly introduced as follows. We assume a set of concept names C , a set of role names R, and a set of individual names O . The mutually disjoint subsets P and T of R denote non-transitive and transitive roles, respectively (R = P ∪ T ). ALCQHIR+ is introduced in Figure 1 using a standard Tarski- style semantics. The term ? (⊥) is used as an abbreviation for C ? ?C (C ? ?C). If R, S ∈ R are role names, then R ? S is called a role inclusion axiom. A role hierarchy R is a finite set of role inclusion axioms. Then, we define ?? as the reflexive transitive closure of ? over such a role hierarchy R. Given ??, the set of roles R↓ = {S ∈ R | S ?? R} defines the sub-roles of a role R. We also define the set S := {R ∈ P |R↓ ∩ T = ?} of simple roles that are neither transitive nor have a transitive role as sub-role. Number restrictions are only allowed for simple roles. This restriction is moti- vated by a known undecidability result in case of an unrestricted syntax [25]. In concepts, instead of role names R (or S), inverse roles R?1 (or S?1) may be used. 1 Syntax Semantics Concepts A AI ? ?I ?C ?I \ CI C ? D CI ∩ DI C ? D CI ∪ DI ?R . C {a ∈ ?I | ? b ∈ ?I