AL-log: Integrating Datalog and Description Logics.

We present an integrated system for knowledge representation, called AL-log, based on description logics and the deductive database language Datalog. AL-log embodies two subsystems, called structural and relational. The former allows for the definition of structural knowledge about classes of interest (concepts) and membership relation between objects and classes. The latter allows for the definition of relational knowledge about objects described in the structural component. The interaction between the two components is obtained by allowing constraints within Datalog clauses, thus requiring the variables in the clauses to range over the set of instances of a specified concept. We propose a method for query answering in AL-log based on constrained resolution, where the usual deduction procedure defined for Datalog is integrated with a method for reasoning on the structural knowledge.