A Hierarchy of Communication Models for Message Sequence Charts

In a Message Sequence Chart (MSC) the dynamical behaviour of a number of cooperating processes is depicted. An MSC defines a partial order on the communication events between these processes. This order determines the physical architecture needed for implementingthe specified behaviour, such as a FIFO buffer between each of the processes. In a systematic way, we define 50 communication models for MSC and we define what it means for an MSC to be implementable by such a model. Some of these models turn out to be equivalent, in the sense that they implement the same class of MSCs. After analysing the notion of implementability, only ten models remain, for which we develop a hierarchy. Keywords Message Sequence Charts,semantics, implementation,validation,buffering,communication models, hierarchy

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1997
• Where: FORTE
• Authors: André Engels, Sjouke Mauw, Michel A. Reniers
• Keywords: Dynamical Behaviour, FORTE 1997, FORTE 2007, Message Sequence, Message Sequence Chart