Using semantics in XML query processing

Efficient query processing in XML database has attracted extensive research efforts. However, majority of existing approaches for XML query processing do not exploit semantic information in the underlying database. In this paper, we address the importance of using semantics for XML query processing. In particular, we consider two common types of queries in XML, twig pattern query and keyword search query. We discuss how semantics can be used for optimizing twig pattern queries. Then, we discuss the usage of semantics to interpret keyword queries in order to retrieve and rank the most relevant results to users.