Method and an apparatus for matching data network resources

An apparatus for matching data network resources of a data network with an appropriate group of concepts of an ontology comprising:

• a) at least one interface to said data network for receiving a request indicating at least one expert field from a requesting unit connected to said data network, wherein at least one data network resource comprising at least one tag is accessible by means of said network interface;
• b) means for accessing a memory which stores at least one ontology of said expert field, said ontology comprising at least one concept;
• and
• c) a minimum spanning tree determination unit provided to determine a minimum spanning tree of said concepts in the stored ontology corresponding to said tags of said data network resources;
• d) wherein the concepts of said selected minimum spanning tree are returned by means of said network interface to said requesting unit.

A method for matching at least one concept of an ontology with an appropriate group of data network resources comprising the steps of:

• a) receiving a request comprising at least one concept of an ontology of an expert field;
• b) providing at least one data network resource corresponding to said expert field having at least one tag and an ontology corresponding to said expert field having at least one concept;
• c) determining a minimum spanning tree of said concepts in said ontology corresponding to said tags of said data network resources;
• d) providing a database configured to store pairs of said data network resources and said selected minimum spanning trees and storing calculated pairs of said resources comprising tags and said selected minimum spanning tree in said database;
• e) selecting at least one data network resource matching said at least one concept based on data stored in said database;
• and
• f) returning the selected data network resources corresponding to said at least one concept in response to the received request.

An apparatus for matching at least one concept of an ontology with at least a single most appropriate group of data network resources of a data network comprising:

• a) at least one network interface to said data network for receiving a request comprising at least one concept of an ontology of an expert field, wherein at least one data network resource comprising at least one tag is accessible by means of said network interface;
• b) means for accessing a memory which stores at least one ontology of said expert field comprising at least one concept;
• c) a minimum spanning tree determination unit provided to determine minimum spanning trees of said concepts in the stored ontology corresponding to said tags of said data network resources;
• d) providing a database which stores pairs of said data network resources and said selected minimum spanning trees and which stores calculated pairs of said data network resources comprising tags and said selected minimum spanning tree;
• and
• e) a resource selection unit configured to select at least one data network resource matching said at least one concept based on data stored in said database, wherein the selected data network resources correspond to said at least one concept and are returned by means of said network interface in response to the received request.