Reasoning in classification of paths in ER schemata by using a description logic

The notion of `classes of a path in an Entity-Relationship (ER) data schema' has been proposed as a means of identifying and formalizing the capability of a database in answering a query. In the literature, a possible approach based upon Description Logics (DL) has been put forward to accurately and formally describe paths in ER schemata. However the reasoning part of classifications of paths has not been well addressed. In this paper, we exploit two popular reasoning algorithms, namely structural subsumption and tableau-based subsumption algorithms to demonstrate how to reason about the subsumption and satisfiability relationships in classes of paths.