VQS-a vague query system prototype

Conventional relational database systems are designed to produce exact query results. If there is no record complying to the specified query conditions, the system will return an empty answer. In this case the user is forced to modify the query criteria and to try again. This process would gain much more user-friendliness if the database system would suggest alternative query results by itself in the case of failure of a conventional query. In this paper an extended query system called VQS will be introduced. This system obtains the query result on semantic information which is hidden behind the attribute values and not visible to the user. The consequence of VQS is to retrieve records semantically close to the query. VQS has been designed to be an application independent attachment for any relational database. In the case of using an existing database its structure has not to be changed. The prototype explaining and evaluating the concept works with any Oracle database