Unifying domain ontology with agent-oriented modeling of services

Modeling plays a crucial role in model-driven development of service-oriented systems. This paper proposes a framework for service-oriented modeling that combines an agent-oriented software development methodology with an ontology-based domain analysis technique. It aims at improving the dynamic composability of services at requirements and design stages through modeling. The framework consists of an architectural structure of service models and a process of modeling. The architecture combines agent-oriented models of software systems in which service providers and requesters are regarded as autonomous entities (and called agents), and domain ontology, which specifies the entities in the application domain and their dynamic behaviors. The domain ontology extends classic ontology by including causal and symbolic entities as well as autonomous entities. The approach is illustrated by an example of online auction service.