Process architecture

About: Process architecture is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 4876 publications have been published within this topic receiving 104171 citations.

Synthesizing Petri nets from state-based models

Abstract: This paper presents a method to synthesize labeled Petri nets from state-based models. Although state-based models (such as Finite State Machines) are a powerful formalism to describe the behavior of sequential systems, they cannot explicitly express the notions of concurrency, causality and conflict. Petri nets can naturally capture these notions. The proposed method in based on deriving an Elementary Transition System (ETS) from a specification model. Previous work has shown that for any ETS there exists a Petri net with minimum transition count (one transition for each label) with a reachability graph isomorphic to the original ETS. This paper presents the first known approach to obtain an ETS from a non-elementary TS and derive a place-irredundant Petri net. Furthermore, by imposing constraints on the synthesis method, different classes of Petri nets can be derived from the same reachability graph (pure, free choice, unique choice). This method has been implemented and efficiently applied in different frameworks: Petri net composition, synthesis of Petri nets from asynchronous circuits, and resynthesis of Petri nets.

Formal analysis of the alternating bit protocol by temporal Petri nets

Abstract: Temporal Petri nets are Petri nets in which certain restrictions on the firings of transitions are represented by formulas containing temporal operators. The use of temporal Petri nets for formal specification and verification of the alternating bit protocol is discussed. The temporal Petri net which models the protocol is analyzed formally using the existing theory of omega -regular expressions and Buchi-automata. >

Supervisory design using Petri nets

Abstract: A Petri net model is described that is consistent with the control theory for discrete event systems. The purpose is to apply the theoretical approach of supervisory control to a model that permits an efficient solution of the control problem. The focus is at the model level. The authors show how Petri nets may be used to design a supervisor. The design requires two steps. In the first step, a coarse structure for a supervisor is synthesized by means of a concurrent composition of different modules. In the second step, the structure is refined to avoid reaching forbidden markings. The refinement procedure may always be applied when the net is conservative. In both steps, the use of Petri nets allows the structure of the model to be small. >

Challenges in Business Process Management: Verification of business processes using Petri nets

Abstract: Most scientists working on formal methods are mainly focusing on technical systems such as circuit design, embedded systems, traffic control, etc. Few are working on the application of formal methods to business processes. As a result, interesting problems in the domain of Business Process Manage- ment (BPM) are not addressed. To stimulate the application of formal methods to BPM, the following two conferences, taking place in June 2003, are co-located: (1) the International Conference on Applications and Theory of Petri nets (Petri nets 2003) (8) and (2) the International Conference on Business Process Manage- ment: On the Application of Formal Methods to Process-Aware Information Sys- tems (BPM 2003) (13). Both conferences precede the International Colloquium on Automata, Languages and Programming (ICALP 2003) also taking place in Eindhoven (The Netherlands). By co-locating these events we hope to trigger cooperation between people working on BPM and formal methods. This survey/tutorial discusses the need for formal methods in BPM. Although different formal methods could be applied in this domain, we focus on the appli- cation of Petri nets in this domain. In particular, we focus on the verification of workflow processes using Petri-net-based results. By this we hope to stimulate scientists working on Petri nets to address some of the challenges posed by BPM.