Ontology-based Service Component Model for Interoperability of Service Systems

Abstract

Service system as the foundation for service providers and customers to create and capture value via co-production relationship, is a complex socio-technological system composed of people, techniques and shared information. One of the most significant characteristics of a service system is that there exist a mass of dynamic, stochastic and semantic interactions (i.e., interoperability) between heterogeneous service elements. For better considerations on interoperability during service system design, we import OWL-based service ontology to precisely express service semantics. Based on such ontology, heterogeneous service elements are elaborately classified and encapsulated into a unified form “Service Component” with a set of uniform interfaces to expose or acquire semantics-based services to/from outside. In such way, right service components will be chosen out by ontology matching, and semantics conflicts between service elements will be easily discovered. Based on interface connections, selected service components are weaved together to form service system with good interoperability performance.