Theory FRAME-ONTOLOGY

• Last modified: Thursday, 27 March 1997
• Source code: frame-ontology.lisp
• List of other known theories

Theory documentation:

The frame ontology defines the terms that capture conventions used in object-centered knowledge representation systems. Since these terms are built upon the semantics of KIF, one can think of KIF plus the frame-ontology as a specialized representation language. The frame ontology is the conceptual basis for the Ontolingua translators.

One purpose of this ontology is to enable people using different representation systems to share ontologies that are organized along object-centered, term-subsumption lines. Translators of ontologies written in KIF using the frame ontology, such as those provided by Ontolingua, allow one to work from a common source format and yet continue to use existing representation systems.

The definitions in this ontology are based on common usage in the computer science and mathematics literatures. However, there is no claim that these definitions capture the semantics of existing, implemented systems in full detail. Nuances of the meaning of terms that depend on the algorithms for inheritance, for instance, are not addressed in this ontology. See the acknowledgements at the end of the file.

This ontology is specified using the definitional forms provided by Ontolingua. All of the embedded sentences are in KIF 3.0, and the whole thing can be translated into pure KIF top level forms without loss of information.

The basic ontological commitments of this ontology are

- Relations are sets of tuples -- named by predicates

- Functions are a special case of relations

- Classes are unary relations -- no special syntax for types

- Extensional semantics for classes -- defined as sets, not descriptions

- No special treatment of slots, just binary relations and unary functions

- KL-ONE style specs are relations on relations (second-order relations, not metalinguistic or modal)

Theories included by Frame-Ontology:

  Kif-Extensions
  Kif-Relations

Theories that include Frame-Ontology:

  Abstract-Algebra
  Basic-Matrix-Algebra
  Metaontology
  Ranges
  Simple-Time
  Slot-Constraint-Sugar
  Structuring-Concepts

18 classes defined:

    Antisymmetric-Relation
       Asymmetric-Relation
          Partial-Order-Relation
             Total-Order-Relation
    Class
    Class-Partition
    Irreflexive-Relation
       Asymmetric-Relation ...
    Many-To-Many-Relation
    Many-To-One-Relation
    One-To-Many-Relation
    One-To-One-Relation
    Reflexive-Relation
       Equivalence-Relation
       Partial-Order-Relation ...
    Symmetric-Relation
       Equivalence-Relation
    Thing
       Individual-Thing
    Transitive-Relation
       Equivalence-Relation
       Partial-Order-Relation ...
    Weak-Transitive-Relation

30 relations defined:

  Alias
  Composition-Of
  Direct-Instance-Of
  Direct-Subclass-Of
  Documentation
  Domain
  Domain-Of
  Exhaustive-Subclass-Partition
  Has-Value
  Inherited-Slot-Value
  Instance-Of
  Maximum-Slot-Cardinality
  Maximum-Value-Cardinality
  Minimum-Slot-Cardinality
  Minimum-Value-Cardinality
  Nth-Domain
  Onto
  Range
  Range-Of
  Related-Axioms
  Same-Slot-Values
  Same-Values
  Single-Valued-Slot
  Slot-Value-Type
  Subclass-Of
  Subclass-Partition
  Subrelation-Of
  Superclass-Of
  Total-On
  Value-Type

12 functions defined:

  All-Inherited-Slot-Values
  All-Instances
  All-Values
  Arity
  Compose
  Exact-Domain
  Exact-Range
  One-Of
  Projection
  Relation-Universe
  Slot-Cardinality
  Value-Cardinality

No instances defined.

The following constants were used from included theories:

• = defined as a relation in theory Kif-Sets
• =< defined as a relation in theory Kif-Numbers
• >= defined as a relation in theory Kif-Numbers
• Binary-Relation defined as a class in theory Kif-Relations
• Bounded defined as a class in theory Kif-Sets
• Butlast defined as a function in theory Kif-Lists
• Cardinality defined as a function in theory Kif-Extensions
• Composition defined as a function in theory Kif-Relations
• Defined defined as a class in theory Kif-Extensions
• Double defined as a class in theory Kif-Lists
• Empty defined as a class in theory Kif-Sets
• First defined as a function in theory Kif-Lists
• Function defined as a class in theory Kif-Relations
• Holds defined as a relation in theory Kif-Relations
• Individual defined as a class in theory Kif-Sets
• Integer defined as a class in theory Kif-Numbers
• Inverse defined as a function in theory Kif-Relations
• Item defined as a relation in theory Kif-Lists
• Last defined as a function in theory Kif-Lists
• Length defined as a function in theory Kif-Lists
• List defined as a class in theory Kif-Lists
• Member defined as a relation in theory Kif-Sets
• Nonnegative-Integer defined as a class in theory Kif-Numbers
• Nth defined as a function in theory Kif-Lists
• Null defined as a class in theory Kif-Lists
• Positive-Integer defined as a class in theory Kif-Extensions
• Relation defined as a class in theory Kif-Relations
• Rest defined as a function in theory Kif-Lists
• Set defined as a class in theory Kif-Sets
• Simple-Set defined as a class in theory Kif-Sets
• Single defined as a class in theory Kif-Lists
• String defined as a class in theory Kif-Extensions
• Unary-Function defined as a class in theory Kif-Relations
• Undefined defined as a class in theory Kif-Extensions

The following constants were used from theories not included:

• Sentence defined as a class in theory Peak-Level
• Sentence defined as a class in theory Kif-Meta

All constants that were mentioned were defined.