Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Automated Mining and Checking of Formal Properties in Natural Language Requirements

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Book cover Knowledge Science, Engineering and Management (KSEM 2019)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 11776))

  • 1263 Accesses

Abstract

Bridging the gap between natural language requirements (NLR) and precise formal specifications is a crucial task of knowledge engineering. Software system development has become more complex in recent years, and it includes many requirements in different domains that users need to understand. Many of these requirements are expressed in natural language, which may be incomplete and ambiguous. However, the formal language with its rigorous semantics may accurately represent certain temporal logic properties and allow for automatic validation analysis. It is difficult for software engineers to understand the formal temporal logic from numerous requirements. In this paper, we propose a novel method to automatically mine the linear temporal logic (LTL) from the natural language requirements and check the consistency among different formal properties. We use natural language processing (NLP) to parse requirement sentences and map syntactic dependencies to LTL formulas by using our extraction rules. Also, we apply the automata-based model checking to assess the correctness and consistency of the extracted properties. Through implementation and case studies, we demonstrate that our approach is well suited to deal with the temporal logic requirements upon which the natural language is based.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    http://nlp.stanford.edu:8080/parser/index.jsp.

  2. 2.

    https://nlp.stanford.edu/software/lex-parser.shtml.

References

  1. Akhtar, Z.: Model based automotive system design: a power window controller case study. Master’s thesis, University of Waterloo (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Alur, R., et al.: Formal specifications and analysis of the computer-assisted resuscitation algorithm (CARA) infusion pump control system. Int. J. Softw. Tools Technol. Transfer 5(4), 308–319 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Baier, C., Katoen, J.P.: Principles of Model Checking. MIT Press, Cambridge (2008)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  4. Clarke Jr., E.M., Grumberg, O., Peled, D.A.: Model Checking. MIT Press, Cambridge (1999)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  5. Fazaeli, R.: Translating from a natural language to a target temporal formalism. Final Year Project (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Gastin, P., Oddoux, D.: Fast LTL to Büchi automata translation. In: Berry, G., Comon, H., Finkel, A. (eds.) CAV 2001. LNCS, vol. 2102, pp. 53–65. Springer, Heidelberg (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-44585-4_6

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  7. Heim, S., Dumas, X., Bonnafous, E., Dhaussy, P., Teodorov, C., Leroux, L.: Model checking of SCADE designed systems. In: 8th European Congress on Embedded Real Time Software and Systems (ERTS 2016) (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Lempia, D.L., Miller, S.P.: Requirements Engineering Management Handbook. National Technical Information Service (NTIS), vol. 1 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Marneffe, M.C.D., Maccartney, B., Manning, C.D.: Generating typed dependency parses from phrase structure parses. In: LREC, pp. 449–454 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Nelken, R., Francez, N.: Automatic translation of natural language system specifications into temporal logic. In: Alur, R., Henzinger, T.A. (eds.) CAV 1996. LNCS, vol. 1102, pp. 360–371. Springer, Heidelberg (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-61474-5_83

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  11. Prowell, S.J., Trammell, C.J., Linger, R.C., Poore, J.H.: Cleanroom Software Engineering: Technology and Process. Pearson Education, London (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Sadoun, D., Dubois, C., Ghamri-Doudane, Y., Grau, B.: From natural language requirements to formal specification using an ontology. In: IEEE International Conference on TOOLS with Artificial Intelligence, pp. 755–760 (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Vardi, M.Y.: An automata-theoretic approach to linear temporal logic. In: Moller, F., Birtwistle, G. (eds.) Logics for Concurrency. LNCS, vol. 1043, pp. 238–266. Springer, Heidelberg (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-60915-6_6

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  14. Wongpiromsarn, T.: Formal methods for design and verification of embedded control systems: application to an autonomous vehicle. Ph.D. thesis, California Institute of Technology (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Yan, R., Cheng, C.H., Chai, Y.: Formal consistency checking over specifications in natural languages. In: Proceedings of the 2015 Design, Automation & Test in Europe Conference & Exhibition, pp. 1677–1682. EDA Consortium (2015)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work is partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61602178), Shanghai Science and Technology Committee Rising-Star Program (No. 18QB1402000).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Trusted Embedded Software Engineering Technology Research Center, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China

    Xingxing Pi, Jianqi Shi, Yanhong Huang & Hansheng Wei

  2. Hardware/Software Co-Design Technology and Application Engineering, Research Center, Shanghai, China

    Jianqi Shi

  3. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Trustworthy Computing, Shanghai, China

    Yanhong Huang

Authors
  1. Xingxing Pi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jianqi Shi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Yanhong Huang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Hansheng Wei
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jianqi Shi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Piraeus, Piraeus, Greece

    Christos Douligeris

  2. University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Dimitris Karagiannis

  3. University of Piraeus, Piraeus, Greece

    Dimitris Apostolou

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Pi, X., Shi, J., Huang, Y., Wei, H. (2019). Automated Mining and Checking of Formal Properties in Natural Language Requirements. In: Douligeris, C., Karagiannis, D., Apostolou, D. (eds) Knowledge Science, Engineering and Management. KSEM 2019. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11776. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29563-9_8

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29563-9_8

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-29562-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-29563-9

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation