Using protocol validation techniques to solve protocol conversion problems

Protocol conversion and protocol validation have some common problems to solve. A protocol converter is designed to realize a mapping at a given layer between two different communication protocols. Protocol validation is validation of the syntax properties of a converter. In this work the protocol conversion problem is transformed into the protocol validation problem so that existing techniques can be used to solve the protocol conversion problem. The functions of a converter are expressed explicitly through the interaction of several processes whose representations are easily constructed from the given CFSMs. An algorithm that routinely produces a converter and is free from syntax errors is presented. The validation technique used in the approach makes the algorithm very efficient for solving complicated protocol conversion problems