Analyzing Compatibility and Similarity of Web Service Processes
Li Xi · Chinese Journal of Computers · 2009
Service composition and substitution are key research issues in Service-Oriented Computing(SOC).Among them,analyzing compatibility and similarity of Web service processes are two closely-related issues and of great importance.This paper models Web service processes using Colored Petri nets (CPN) and presents the definitions of correctness and compatibility of Web service processes.Then,the notion of well-structuredness of Web services is developed.The paper proves that all reachable final markings of a composite service composed by well-structured services are correct.Based on the compatibility analysis,the paper develops the definition of similarity of Web service processes in order to investigate service substitution.It is concluded that substituting a service in a composition can be performed independent of the context as long as the new service is similar to the substituted one.There is thus no need to verify the substituted service composition again.The paper develops an algorithm for verifying similarity between two services.The results and algorithm are used to improve the existing methods of service composition verification and service substitution.