In order to reduce knowledge reasoning space and improve knowledge processing efficiency, a framework of distributed attribute reduction in concept lattices is presented. By employing the idea similar to that of the rough set, the characterization of core attributes, dispensable attributes and unnecessary attributes are described from the point of view of local formal contexts and virtual global contexts. A determinant theorem of attribute reduction is derived. Based on these results, an approach for distributed attribute reduction is presented. It first performs reduction independently on each local context using the existing approaches, and then local reducts are merged to compute reducts of global contexts. An algorithm implementation is provided and its effectiveness is validated. The distributed reduction algorithm facilitates not only improving computation efficiency but also avoiding the problems caused by the existing approaches, such as data privacy and communication overhead.
