A Semantic Based Framework for Supporting Negotiation in Service Oriented Architectures

Abstract

Negotiation is required before invoking a service in order to identify how the invocation must occur in terms of functional and non-functional criteria. This process is possible when all the involved parties agree on the same negotiation protocol (e.g., bilateral negotiations). Considering a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), this negotiation protocol cannot be predefined, but it must be selected by considering the negotiation capabilities of the involved services.In this work, we propose a semantic-based framework for supporting the negotiation in SOA. Specifically, the framework allows to express the negotiation capabilities of service requesters and providers and proposes a mechanism for discovering the negotiation protocols that can be enacted when a negotiation is required. To improve the flexibility of the framework, the concept of delegation is introduced to deal with the situation in which a party, that is not able to support the negotiation protocol, wants to participate in a negotiation. In this case, the negotiation can be fully or partially delegated to one or more other parties that, instead, are able to support the negotiation protocol.