Deriving Distributed Design Models from Global State Machines Requirements

Abstract

This paper deals with deriving a distributed design model from a global requirements model written in the notation of Hierarchical State Machines (HSMs). In this paper, we extend the UML notation of HSMs to describe the roles (components) that participate in the actions of each state of the global behaviour. A simple state represents some local actions, while a hierarchical state usually represents a collaboration between several roles (system components). Our global HSM requirements model describes the sequencing of collaborations and local actions. We compare this notation with other notations such as UML Collaborations, Hierarchical Message Sequence Charts (HMSC), Activity Diagrams, Partial-Order(PO)-Charts and others. Then we explain how a distributed design model, including all required coordination messages between the different system components, can be automatically derived from a global requirements model. We consider the following sequencing constraints between different collaborations: weak or strict sequence, alternatives, weak or strict while loop, and concurrency.