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Checking MSC specifications for timing inconsistency

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Abstract

Message sequence chart (MSC) is a graphical and textual language for the description and specification of the interactions between system components. MSC specifications allow convenient expression of multiple scenarios, and offer an intuitive and visual way of describing design requirements. Like any other aspect of the specification and design process, MSCs are amenable to errors, and their analysis is important. In this paper, the verification problem of MSC specification for timing inconsistency is studied, which means that no execution scenario described by an MSC specification is timing consistent. An algorithm is developed to check MSC specifications for timing inconsistency.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Novel Software Technology, Department of Computer Science and Technology, Nanjing University, 210093, Nanjing, P.R. China

    Xuandong Li, Wenkai Tan & Guoliang Zheng

Authors
  1. Xuandong Li
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  2. Wenkai Tan
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  3. Guoliang Zheng
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xuandong Li.

Additional information

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 60073031 and No. 69703009), the National ‘863’ High-Tech Programme of China (No. 863-306-ZT04-4) and Jiangsu Province Research Foundation.

LI Xuandong is a professor in the Department of Computer Science, Nanjing University. He received his Ph.D. degree in computer science from Nanjing University in 1994. His research interests include formal methods and object-oriented technology

TAN Wenkai is a graduate student in the Department of Computer Science, Nanjing University. He received his B.S. degree in computer science from Nanjing University in 1998. His research interests include verification of real-time systems, model checking.

ZHENG Guoliang is a professor in the Department of Computer Science, Nanjing University. He received his B.S. degree in computer science from Nanjing University in 1961. His main research area is software engineering.

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Li, X., Tan, W. & Zheng, G. Checking MSC specifications for timing inconsistency. J. Comput. Sci. & Technol. 17, 47–55 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02949824

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02949824

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