Query translation system for retrieving business vocabulary terms

A computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for translating any of a plurality of queries for related concepts in a database of concepts and relationships among concepts, the database local to a concept server process, a first query originating from a first concept client process, wherein a plurality of other concept client processes may issue other respective queries, which instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to carry out the steps of:

• accepting the first query in a format required by the first concept client process;
• translating the query into one or more concept server request data structures that are expressed using a markup language in a first document, wherein each of the request data structures represents a request for the concept server to transform the first query into a concept tree, one or more related concepts, or one or more normative terms;
• sending the first document to a concept server over a network;
• receiving over the network from the concept server a second document in the markup language that includes results based on the concept server process processing the request data structures, wherein the results comprise one or more concept categories, normative terms, alternative terms, or related concepts for the first query;
• and
• translating from the markup language in the second document into values of related concepts in the format required by the first concept client process.

An apparatus for translating any of a plurality of queries for related concepts in a database of concepts and relationships among concepts, the database local to a concept server process, a first query originating from a first concept client process, wherein a plurality of other concept client processes may issue other respective queries, comprising:

• means for accepting the first query in a format required by the first concept client process;
• means for translating the first query into one or more concept server data structures that are expressed using a markup language in a first document, wherein each of the request data structures represents a request for the concept server to transform the first query into a concept tree, one or more related concepts, or one or more normative terms;
• means for sending the first document to the concept server process over a network;
• means for receiving over the network from the concept server a second document in the markup language that includes results based on the concept server process processing the request data structures, wherein the results comprise one or more concept categories, normative terms, alternative terms, or related concepts for the first query;
• and
• means for translating from the markup language in the second document into values of related concepts in the format required by the first client process.

An apparatus for translating any of a plurality of queries for related concepts in a database of concepts and relationships among concepts, the database local to a concept server process, a first query originating from a first concept client process, wherein a plurality of other concept client processes may issue other respective queries, comprising:

• one or more processors;
• one or more sequences of instructions that are accessible to the one or more processors and which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to carry out the steps of:
• accepting the first query in a format required by the first concept client process;
• translating the first query into a normalized format using a markup language in a first document, wherein each of the request data structures represents a request for the concept server to transform the first query into a concept tree, one or more related concepts, or one or more normative terms;
• sending the first document to a concept server over the network;
• receiving over the network from the concept server a second document in the markup language that includes results based on the concept server process processing the request data structures, wherein the results comprise one or more concept categories, normative terms, alternative terms, or related concepts for the first query;
• and
• translating from the markup language in the second document into values of the related concepts in the format required by the first concept client process.