Concept-oriented model

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Concept-oriented model (CoM) is a model of data which is based on the following three principles:

[duality principle] This principle postulates that any element consists of two parts, called identity and entity. Accordingly, the process of modelling has two orthogonal branches: identity modelling and entity modelling.
[inclusion principle] This principle postulates that any element has a super-element which is specified via inclusion relation. Accordingly, all elements exist within a nested container with a hierarchical address space.
[order principle] This principle postulates that any element has a number greater elements and this structure is a partially ordered set. It is assumed that each reference stored in this element represents a greater element.

Types of elements are described by a special data modelling construct, called concept, which consists of two classes: identity class and entity class.

Each concept has a super-concept specified via inclusion relation and a number of greater concepts specified via its dimension (field) types. A number of concepts where each concept participates simultaneously in these two structures is referred to as concept-oriented schema.