Abstract:In this paper, the current research progresses of ontology reuse is reviewed and the issue that current ontology reuse algorithms can merely be applied to a single independent ontology is addressed. Focusing on the modular ontologies with ε-Connections language, the IKMO (integrity of knowledge about the module in an ontology) is presented based on the theory of conservative extension. The related properties of IKMO are proved. Further, an algorithm for the ontology reuse with the conservative extension ERMMO (extracting reused modules from modular ontologies) is provided. The features and conditions of two sub-algorithms of ERMMO are discussed. Lastly, the feasibility and soundness of ERMMO are analyzed and verified. ERMMO is a generalization of the current reuse algorithms based on conservative extension theory, and can be served as the guidelines for reuse of modular ontologies.