Oxford Semantic Technology Secures Patent for Optimizing Graph Database Querying

Oxford Semantic Technologies has been granted the patent, US Patent No. 11,216,456, for SPARQL query optimization techniques that exploit sideways information passing, extending its patent holdings within the information technology space. Sideways information passing massively reduces the number of intermediate answers that need to be considered during query processing, enabling RDFox to improve query response times by orders of magnitude, from minutes to milliseconds. 

The new sideways information passing optimizations drastically improve the efficiency of SPARQL queries over a graph database. With these revolutionary techniques we’ve transformed the already extraordinary performance of RDFox into something that’s astonishingly quick.

Prof. Ian Horrocks, OST Co-founder

The ultra-fast load, reasoning, and query times of RDFox stem from the patented in-memory data structures and the newly patented query optimizations. A novel extension of sideways information passing, the cutting-edge development supports the full SPARQL query language, including built-in functions (arithmetic, string manipulation, etc.) and features such as OPTIONAL, FILTER and BIND.

The latest patent for sideways information passing builds on the library of innovation and years of exceptional academic backing that has led RDFox to become the world's most performant knowledge graph.

With every improvement we push the bar higher as we continue to find creative and groundbreaking solutions that change what the industry considers possible. RDFox has exceeded the supposed limitations around reasoning and querying, offering immense speeds at scale and opening graph technology to a new breed of application.

Peter Crocker, OST Co-founder and CEO

In a recent internal benchmark conducted by Dow Jones, the RDFox query engine was shown to be at least ten times faster than other graph databases, and hundreds or even thousands of times faster over more complex queries. This led to the swift adoption of RDFox within the company’s vast range of commercial products.

This most recent enhancement to RDFox is to the credit of inventors and Oxford Semantic Technologies co-founders Prof. Ian Horrocks, Prof. Boris Motik, and Dr. Yavor Nenov of the Data and Knowledge Group, University of Oxford.

Oxford Semantic Technologies is an Oxford University spin-out, founded by leaders in the field as the culmination of decades of cutting-edge research in semantic web technologies. The company is backed by Samsung Venture Investment Corporation, Oxford Sciences Enterprises, and Oxford University Innovation. 

The founders started working on RDFox in 2011 at the Computer Science Department of the University of Oxford with the conviction that flexible and high-performance reasoning was a possibility for data intensive applications without jeopardizing the correctness of the results. RDFox provides unparalleled insights into the questions that matter, with speed, reliability, scale, and correctness.  

To get in touch with Oxford Semantic Technologies regarding RDFox, reach out to info@oxfordsemantic.tech. Alternatively, contact Oxford Semantic Technology directly through the OST website where you can learn more about RDFox or even try it for yourself. 

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