A Hierarchical Semantic Overlay System for Semantic Search and Service Matchmaking

The explosive growth of content makes it difficult for end-users to find data that they want. Keyword-based searches are brittle – they require the user to know the set of keywords that the system is using, and are ineffective for finding data based on meaning. This paper describes a new hierarchical overlay model that combines the best of structured Peer-to-Peer (P2P) systems with semantic processing, enabling users to use keyword-based searches as well as meaning-based searches. This paper can also use the same architecture to support service matchmaking, enabling the user to find services to view or play discovered content.