CROSSMARC WP4: Prototype architecture VeltiNet S.A.

Current status Design of a generic implementation architecture that can fulfill the evolving demands of the project. Design of a flexible infrastructure to map the information architecture to. Consideration of internationalization aspects.

Architecture Schema Three-tier architecture. First tier (front end) independent of fact extraction. Third tier (back end) still indeterminate. Middle tier (item repository) quasi- independent of first and third tier.

First tier (front end, UI) Decoupling visual design from localized content. Interaction models Simple IM: quickest path to results, less refined preferences. Profile IM: different starting sets of preferences, arbitrary subsequent refinement.

Preference solicitation cycle Due to the large number of offers, initial preferences are bound to produce many offers. Iterative preference refinement that focuses in on wanted targets. Possible backtracking to focus out if needed.

Middle tier: flexibility Flexible data representation to accommodate multiple ontologies. Ontology representation that permits arbitrary number of target languages.

Middle tier: querying Two components: Filtering will make use of text matching techniques (to be developed) to satisfy free text queries. Constraint satisfaction will eliminate items with unwanted characteristics

Middle tier: sorting results Eventually large number of results: necessity to order them by pertinence. Some attributes: the higher value the better (e.g. speed, memory) Other attributes: the lower value the better (e.g. price, weight)

Middle tier: internationalization Considerations for a multi-national setting: locale-neutral representation, or at least facilitating internationalization. Locale-dependent issues: language, currency, units of measurement.

I18n: Language Output: Inverse dictionaries to recover structured text in target languages and approximate transliteration for free text. Input: Fixed choices for structured text and free text for approximate matching.

I18n: Currency Prices retain their original monetary unit. Converted to user currency at the time of comparison. In that way, offers remain honest to their intended content.

I18n: UOMs Convertible numerics retain their original units of measurement. Depending on locale, they are converted to the appropriate unit system (e.g. metric, English). Heuristics to choose appropriate unit in system to display.