Embedding Knowledge Patterns into OWL

Abstract

We describe the design and use of the Ontology Pre-Processor Language (OPPL) as a means of embedding the use of Knowledge Patterns in OWL ontologies. We illustrate the specification of patterns in OPPL and discuss the advantages of its adoption by Ontology Engineers with respect to ontology generation, transformation, and maintainability. The consequence of the declarative specification of patterns will be their unambiguous description inside an ontology in OWL. Thus, OPPL enables an ontology engineer to work at the level of the pattern, rather than of the raw OWL axioms. Moreover, patterns can be analysed rigorously, so that the repercussions of their reuse can be better understood by ontology engineers and tools implementers. Thus the delivery of patterns with OPPL can provide a means of addressing the opacity and sustainability of OWL ontologies.