A novel approach to hierarchical contextual bipolar queries: A winnow operator approach

Abstract

We propose a new approach to the bipolar database queries, which involve a necessary (required) and optional (desired) conditions, connected with a non-conventional aggregation operator “and possibly”, combined with a context, exemplified by “find houses which are cheap and – with respect to other houses in town – possibly close to a railroad station”. We use our winnow operator based interpretation of the bipolar queries. We assume that the query, posed by the human user, involves terms, which do not directly relate to attributes, and which are then to be decoded using a concept of a query hierarchy, leading to the queries, which involve terms directly related to attribute values. The original query is considered to be of level 0, at the bottom of the precisiation hierarchy, then its required and optional parts are assumed to be bipolar queries themselves, both accounting for context. The precisiation proceeds further, to level 1 queries, level 2, etc. A real estate related example is provided as illustration.