Conceptual query refinement: The basic model

In this paper we present a novel approach for the refinement of Boolean queries by using ontologies. We introduce a conceptual model for defining user's queries, whih enables that the disambiguation (and consequently the refinement) of a query can be performed on the level of the meaning of a query. In that way the refinement process results in a set of meaningful, conceptual extensions of the initial query. Moreover, since a query is represented as a set of logic formulas, the query refinement process can be modeled as an inference process. It opens a palette of additional services that can enrich the query refinement process, like cooperative answering.