JP2006201924A - Method of converting sequence diagram in software to tree structure for analysis and its computer program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method of converting sequence diagram in software to a tree structure for analysis that can precisely formalize behavior of software by removing ambiguity. <P>SOLUTION: An activity being a verb and its object included in each sequence are extracted from a diagram representing a sequence included in software specifications. A verb representing a function being a title of a diagram representing the sequence is defined as the most significant activity. Even about the sequence caused by the sequence, the activity is defined by a similar procedure. The hierarchical relationship of the activity is expressed by the tree structure, and also the object is defined as the input and output of each activity. The output of the last activity is defined as the object included in the title of the diagram representing the sequence, thereby being converted into the tree structure to analyze the structure of sequence. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  In the field of software development, in order to shorten the development period and improve software quality, a method for converting the sequence diagram into the analysis tree structure in the software for analyzing the model described in the design document in the development process And its computer program.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to analyze a software system, a method for clarifying the structure of processing that constitutes a behavior from a document related to the behavior of the software system consisting only of text is known. In this text, the processing (10-1 to 10-n (n is a natural number)) consisting of the main part (11) and task activity (verb) (12) as shown in FIG. It is what has been. Further, as shown in FIG. 7, a method is known in which an analysis tree structure is formed by clarifying the structure of task activities a to g in an ordered hierarchical relationship with respect to a task that expresses the behavior of a software system. Yes. This analysis tree construction method is disclosed in Non-Patent Document 1 below by a method called AFM (Activity-First Method).

This method extracts a task unit, which is a sentence including a countermeasure and processing for solving a problem, from a text document, and at the same time, the object A of the task activities a to g included in the task unit. ~ E is defined, and a task is structured by an analysis tree from the flow of task activities a to g.
Seiichi Ishikawa, Narumi Kubo, Junji Furusaki, Toshinori Tsukamura, Riichiro Mizoro, "Design and Development of Ontology Construction Guide System Based on Task Domain Role", Journal of the Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence, Vol17, No.5, pp .585-597, 2002.

  It is extremely difficult to systematically express the requirements in software development, eliminating the ambiguity of the vocabulary. As a result, ambiguity is included in the software design document, and redesigning has occurred due to the designer misunderstanding the requirements.

  In addition, the conventional concept system construction technology can eliminate the fluctuation of the vocabulary that appears in the design document, but the processing configuration that constitutes the behavior cannot be uniquely expressed, and the processing configuration is determined mechanically. I couldn't do it.

  Furthermore, in the conventional technology, when constructing a tree structure for analyzing the structure of a problem solving processing procedure from a document, the structure is mechanically determined depending on the subjectivity of the person in charge of the construction work. I could not.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and its purpose is to analyze sequence diagrams in software capable of accurately formalizing the behavior of a software system by eliminating ambiguity. And a computer program for the same.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a tree structure for analyzing a structure of a sequence representing a sequence executed by each of two or more performers included in a software design document by a computer device. In the conversion, the computer device is operated by a computer program including the following steps to extract an activity that is a verb included in each sequence and its object from a diagram representing the sequence, and the sequence: A step of defining a verb representing a function that is a title of the diagram to be represented as a top-level activity, a sequence executed first in the diagram representing the sequence, and a sequence executed by a person who executed the sequence The activity that is defined as an activity that is one level below the top-level activity, the activity that is below the top-level activity is defined for each sequence order, and the sequence caused by the sequence in the above step is executed For the sequence executed by the performer of the above, another step is repeated between the sequence and the response sequence corresponding to the sequence, and the step of repeating the process of defining lower-level activities for each sequence order in the same procedure as above. If none exists, the activity included in all sequences from the sequence that caused the sequence to the sequence caused by the response sequence is the lowest activity sequence. A step for defining each sequence so that there is no duplication, and a sequence for defining the object of the activity as an input of the activity defined in each sequence and causing the object as an input of the activity defined in the sequence to cause the sequence Defining the output of the activity defined in the above, defining the object included in the title of the diagram as the output of the last activity defined in the last sequence, and the hierarchical relationship and object of the defined activity Steps represented by a tree structure are executed.

  According to the present invention, an activity which is a verb included in each sequence and its object are extracted from a diagram representing a sequence executed by each of two or more performers included in the software design document, and the diagram representing the sequence is extracted. A verb representing the title function is defined as the top activity.

  Furthermore, the sequence executed first in the diagram representing the sequence and the activities included in the sequence executed by the performer who executed the sequence are defined as activities one level lower than the highest activity, and the highest activity Are defined for each sequence order.

  In addition, with respect to sequences executed by other performers who have executed the sequences caused by the sequences in the above steps, the process of defining lower activities for each sequence order is repeated in the same procedure as described above.

  In addition, when there is no other sequence between the sequence and the response sequence corresponding to the sequence, the activities included in all sequences from the sequence that caused the sequence to the sequence caused by the response sequence Is defined as the lowest activity so that there is no duplication in each sequence order.

  Furthermore, the object of the activity is defined as the input of the activity defined in each sequence, and the object as the input of the activity defined in the sequence is defined as the output of the activity defined in the sequence causing the sequence The object included in the title of the diagram is defined as the output of the last activity defined in the last sequence, and the hierarchical relationship and objects of the defined activity are expressed in a tree structure.

  As described above, according to the present invention, an analysis tree is formed when converting a diagram representing a sequence executed by each of two or more executors expressing the behavior of software into an easy-to-understand analysis tree structure. The structure of the task activity to be performed can be determined mechanically.

  For this reason, since the vocabulary ambiguity included in the software design document can be eliminated and the requirements in software development can be systematically expressed, it is possible to prevent the re-design and the like from occurring.

  In addition, the fluctuation of the vocabulary that appears in the design document can be eliminated, the configuration of the processing that constitutes the behavior of the software can be uniquely expressed, and when constructing as a tree structure for analyzing the structure of the processing procedure Can be determined mechanically.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  This embodiment does not construct an analysis tree structure related to the behavior of the software system from a text document, but constructs an analysis tree structure from a diagram representing a sequence in which more detailed processing is described regarding the behavior of the software system. To do. At that time, using a computer device operated by the computer program of the present invention, a diagram structure representing a sequence as shown in FIG. 1 is input, and this is converted into an analysis tree structure as shown in FIG. To display. Note that the diagram representing the sequence input to the computer device is expressed formally using, for example, the well-known XML (Extensible Markup Language).

  When structuring as described above, in order to determine how to form a hierarchy by grouping verbs contained in multiple processing procedures, the functional configuration of the diagram that represents the sequence in the following procedure Is converted into a structure of an analysis tree and expressed.

  For example, in the diagram representing the sequence shown in FIG. 1, “Title” (100) is set, there are three process performers, and a task unit is executed between the process performers.

  That is, according to the diagram showing the sequence shown in FIG. 1, after the task unit A is executed from the process executor 1 to the process executor 2 (101), from the process executor 2 to the process executor 3 Task unit B is executed (102).

  Next, task unit C is executed from process executor 3 to process executor 2 (103), and task unit D is executed from process executor 2 to process executor 3 (104). Then, the task unit E is executed for the process executor 2 (105).

  Thereafter, the task unit F is executed from the process executor 2 to the process executor 1 (106), and the task unit G is executed from the process executor 1 to the process executor 2 (107). Further, the task unit 2 is executed from the process executor 2 to the process executor 3 (108), and the task unit I is executed from the process executor 3 to the process executor 2 (109). Then, the task unit J is executed for the process executor 3 (110), and the task unit K is executed by the process executor 3 for the process executor 2 (111). Next, the task unit L is executed from the process executor 2 to the process executor 1 (112).

  Here, each of the task units A to L is expressed in the form of “Q Q”, where “P” is an object and “Q” is a task activity.

  Next, the procedure for converting the diagram representing the sequence shown in FIG. 1 into the analysis tree structure shown in FIG. 2 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  First, a diagram representing a sequence included in the software design document is input (SA1), and a task activity that is a verb included in each sequence and its object are extracted from this diagram (task units A to L) (SA2). Here, the task activities A to L, which are verbs, and their object words Oa to Ol are extracted from the diagrams of the task units A to L.

  Next, a verb representing the function shown in the title (100) of the diagram representing the sequence is defined as the highest task activity (201) (SA3).

  Thereafter, the task activities A and G included in the sequence (101) executed first in the diagram representing the sequence and the sequence (107) executed by the processing person 1 who executed the sequence (101) Task activity (201) is defined as a task activity (202, 203) that is one level lower than the task activity (201), and task activities (202, 203) that are lower than the highest task activity (201) are defined for each sequence order (SA4).

  For other process performers who executed the sequence (102 to 112) caused by the sequence (101, 107) in the above steps, define lower task activities (204 to 215) for each sequence in the same procedure as above. Is repeated (SA5).

  If there is no other sequence between the sequence and the corresponding response sequence, the task activity included in all sequences from the sequence that caused the sequence to the sequence caused by this response sequence The lowest activity is defined so as not to overlap every sequence order (SA6).

  Here, there is no other sequence between sequence (102) and sequence (103), and between sequence (104) and sequence (105), so the process that caused these sequences (102 to 105) Task activities A to F included in all sequences (101 to 106) from the sequence (101) executed by the executor 1 to the sequence (106) caused by the response sequence (105) are sequenced as the lowest activity. Since there is no other sequence between the sequence (108) and the sequence (109) and between the sequence (110) and the sequence (111), these sequences (108 to 111) to the last sequence (112) caused by the response sequence (111) from the sequence (107) executed by the process executor 1 that caused the The task activities G to L included in all the sequences (107 to 112) up to are defined as the lowest activity so as not to overlap in the sequence order.

  Further, the tasks O to O of the task activities A to L are defined as inputs of the task activities A to L defined in the respective sequences (101 to 112), and the tasks defined in the respective sequences (102 to 112) are defined. The objects Ob to Ol as inputs of the activities B to L (205 to 215) are defined as outputs of the task activities A to K defined in the sequence (101 to 111) that causes the sequence (102 to 112), and the diagram Is defined as the output of the last task activity L (215) corresponding to the last sequence (112) (SA7).

  Finally, the upper and lower relations of the task activities (201) and task activities A to L (202 to 215), which are verbs representing the functions shown in the title (100) defined as described above, and the objects Oa to Om It is expressed by a tree structure (SA8). Here, the above tree structure is displayed on a display of a computer device and printed by a printer.

  In the above tree structure, two task activities A and L (202, 203) in the second hierarchy are compared with the task activity (201) in the top (first hierarchy) included in the title (100) of the diagram representing the sequence. Is branched and connected. Further, six task activities A to F (204 to 209) in the third hierarchy are branched and connected to one task activity A (202), and the third hierarchy is connected to the other task activity L (203). The six task activities G to L (210 to 215) are branched and connected.

  For the task activity (201) in the first hierarchy, an input object Oa and an output object Om are defined.

  For one task activity (202) in the second hierarchy, an input object Oa and an output object Og are defined.

  For the other task activity (203) of the second hierarchy, an input object Og and an output object Om are defined.

  For the task activity A (204) in the third hierarchy, an input object Oa and an output object Ob are defined.

  For the task activity B (205) in the third hierarchy, an input object Ob is defined and an output object Oc is defined.

  For the task activity C (206) in the third hierarchy, an input object Oc is defined and an output object Od is defined.

  For the task activity D (207) in the third hierarchy, an input object Od is defined and an output object Oe is defined.

  For the task activity E (208) in the third hierarchy, an input object Oe and an output object Of are defined.

  For the task activity F (209) in the third hierarchy, an input object Of is defined and an output object Og is defined.

  For the task activity G (210) of the third hierarchy, an input object Og is defined and an output object Oh is defined.

  For the task activity H (211) in the third hierarchy, an input object Oh is defined and an output object Oi is defined.

  For the task activity I (212) in the third hierarchy, an input object Oi and an output object Oj are defined.

  For the task activity J (213) in the third hierarchy, an input object Oj is defined and an output object Ok is defined.

  For the task activity K (214) in the third hierarchy, an input object Ok is defined and an output object Ol is defined.

  For the task activity L (215) in the third hierarchy, an input object Ol is defined and an output object Om is defined.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the sequence expressing the behavior of the software is converted into an easy-to-understand analysis tree structure, the structure of the task activity constituting the analysis tree can be mechanically determined. it can.

  For this reason, since the vocabulary ambiguity included in the software design document can be eliminated and the requirements in software development can be systematically expressed, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of re-design and the like.

  In addition, the fluctuation of the vocabulary that appears in the design document can be eliminated, the configuration of the processing that constitutes the behavior of the software can be uniquely expressed, and when constructing as a tree structure for analyzing the structure of the processing procedure Can be determined mechanically.

  Next, a specific embodiment to which the present invention is applied will be described.

  In this embodiment, the method of the present invention is applied based on the server function design document of GE-OLT (GE-Optical Line Terminal) of GE-PON (Gigabit Ethernet-Passive Optical Network) ("Ethernet" is a registered trademark) system. An example is shown.

  In order to understand the tasks related to the function of the diagram of the sequence having the title “Change OLT” in the functional design document, the function of each task unit is expressed.

  When a tree structure for analysis is constructed from the UML (Unified Modeling Language) sequence diagram shown in FIG. 4, it is as shown in FIG. Since the process performers appearing in the sequence with the title “Change OLT” (300) are “OSS-Client”, “OSS-Sever”, and “DB (database)”, The tree structure has three levels.

  In this embodiment, the task activity of the second layer is expressed by the task activity of the sequence executed from the OSS-Client to the OSS-Sever, and the task activity of the third layer represents all the sequences. They are arranged side by side so that they do not overlap in time series. This confirms that the tree structure for analyzing the task structure can be mechanically constructed.

  That is, according to the diagram showing the sequence shown in FIG. 4, after the task unit (401) “Check for unchanged state” is executed from the OSS-Client to the OSS-Server (301), the OSS-Server Then, a task unit (402) “change change waiting state” is executed on the DB (302).

  Next, the task unit (403) of “Accept the changed unacknowledged status” is executed from the DB to the OSS-Server (303), and the OSS-Client issues an “unchanged unnotified status” to the OSS-Server. The task unit (404) "confirms" is executed (304), and the task unit (405) "notify available state" is executed from the OSS-Server to the OSS-Client (305).

  Here, as described above, each task unit (401 to 405) is expressed in the form of “Q P”, where “P” is an object and “Q” is a task activity.

  Next, a procedure for converting the diagram representing the sequence shown in FIG. 4 into the analysis tree structure shown in FIG. 5 will be described.

  First, in order to create a tree structure for analysis, a task activity that is a verb included in each sequence 301 to 305 and its object are extracted from a diagram (task unit) representing a sequence included in the software design document. Here, a task activity that is a verb and its object are extracted from the diagrams of the task units 401 to 405 described above.

  Next, “change” representing the function of “change OLT (changed state)”, which is the title (300) of the diagram representing the sequence, is defined as the highest task activity (501).

  After this, the task activity included in the task unit (401, 404) of the sequence (301) executed first in the diagram representing the sequence and the sequence (304) executed by the OSS-Client that executed the sequence (301) is maximized. It is defined as a task activity (502, 503) that is one level lower than the upper task activity (501), and a lower task activity (502, 503) of the uppermost task activity (501) is defined for each sequence order. Here, “confirm” and “notify” are defined as lower task activities (502, 503) of the highest task activity (501).

  For the other sequences (302, 303, 305) caused by the sequence (301, 304) in the above steps, the process of defining lower task activities (504 to 508) is repeated in the same procedure as described above.

  In addition, since there is no other sequence between the sequence (302) and the corresponding response sequence (303), the response from the sequence (301) executed by the OSS-Client that caused these sequences. Define the task activities included in the task units (401 to 403) of all the sequences (301 to 303) up to the sequence (303) as the lowest activity so as not to overlap in the sequence order, and the sequence (304) Since there is no other sequence between the corresponding response sequence (305), the task activities included in the task units (404, 405) of these sequences (304, 305) are duplicated in the sequence order as the lowest activity. Define not to.

  Here, “confirm”, “change”, “accept”, “confirm”, and “notify” are defined as the lowest task activities (504 to 508).

  Furthermore, as the input of the task activity defined in each sequence (301 to 305), "unchanged state", "waiting for change", which is the object (601 to 605) of the task activity (504 to 308), " Define “Changed unacknowledged state”, “Changed unnotified state”, and “Notifiable state”. The object (602 to 605) as the input of the task activity (505 to 508) defined in each sequence (302 to 305) is defined in the sequence (301 to 304) that causes this sequence (302 to 305). The task status (504 to 507) is defined as the output of the last task activity (508) corresponding to the last sequence (305). Define as output.

  Finally, the hierarchical relationship between the title (501) and task activities (502 to 508) defined above and the objects (601 to 606) are expressed in a tree structure. Here, the above tree structure is displayed on a display of a computer device and printed by a printer.

  In the above tree structure, two task activities “confirmation” in the second hierarchy with respect to the task activity “change” (501) in the top (first hierarchy) included in the title (300) of the diagram representing the sequence “Yes” and “Notify” (502, 503) are branched and connected. Further, one task activity “confirm” (502) is branched and connected to three task activities “confirm”, “change”, and “accept” (504 to 506) in the third hierarchy, Two task activities “confirm” and “notify” (507, 508) in the third hierarchy are branched and connected to the other task activity “notify” (503).

  For the task activity “change” (501) in the first hierarchy, an input object “unchanged” (601) is defined and an output object “changed” (606) is defined. Is defined.

  For one task activity “confirm” (502) in the second hierarchy, an input object “unchanged state” (601) is defined and an output object “changed unreported state” (604) ) Is defined.

  For the other task activity “notify” (503) of the second hierarchy, an input object “changed unnotified state” (604) is defined and an output object “changed state” (606). ) Is defined.

  For the third level task activity “confirm” (504), the input object “unchanged” (601) and the output object “waiting for change” (602) are defined. ing.

  For the task activity “change” (505) in the third hierarchy, an input object “waiting for change” (602) is defined and an output object “changed unacknowledged state” (603) Is defined.

  For the task activity “accept” (506) in the third hierarchy, the input object “changed unacknowledged status” (603) is defined and the output object “changed unacknowledged status” ( 604) is defined.

  For the task activity “confirm” (507) in the third hierarchy, the input object “changed non-notification state” (604) is defined and the output object “notification possible state” (605) is defined. Is defined.

  For the third level task activity “notify” (508), an input object “notification possible state” (605) and an output object “changed state” (606) are defined. ing.

  As described above, according to this embodiment, from the UML sequence diagram regarding the function titled “Change OLT (changed state)” in the GE-OLT server function design document of the GE-PON system, the software When the sequence expressing the behavior of the task is converted into an easily understood tree structure for analysis, the structure of task activities constituting the tree for analysis can be mechanically determined.

  For this reason, since the vocabulary ambiguity included in the software design document can be eliminated and the requirements in software development can be systematically expressed, it is possible to prevent the re-design and the like from occurring.

  In addition, the fluctuation of the vocabulary that appears in the design document can be eliminated, the configuration of the processing that constitutes the behavior of the software can be uniquely expressed, and when constructing as a tree structure for analyzing the structure of the processing procedure Can be determined mechanically.

Diagram representing sequence in one embodiment of the present invention The figure which shows the tree structure for analysis in one Embodiment of this invention The flowchart which shows the procedure which converts the diagram showing the sequence in one Embodiment of this invention into the tree structure for analysis Diagram showing sequence in one embodiment of the present invention The figure which shows the tree structure for analysis in one Example of this invention The figure explaining the composition of the document about the behavior of the software system which consists only of text in the conventional example The figure which shows the tree structure for analysis which clarifies the composition of the task activity with the order hierarchy order in the conventional example

Explanation of symbols

  101-112 ... sequence, 201-215 ... task activity, Oa-Om ... object, 301-305 ... sequence, 401-405 ... task unit, 501-508 ... task activity, 601-606 ... object.

Claims (2)

A method of converting a diagram representing a sequence executed by each of two or more performers included in a software design document into a tree structure for analyzing the structure of the sequence by a computer device,
The computer device includes:
Extracting an activity that is a verb included in each sequence and its object from a diagram representing the sequence;
Defining a verb representing a function that is the title of a diagram representing the sequence as a top-level activity;
In the diagram representing the sequence, the sequence executed first and the activity included in the sequence executed by the person who executed the sequence are defined as activities one level lower than the highest activity. Defining the subordinate activities for each sequence in the sequence;
Repeating the process of defining lower-order activities for each sequence in a sequence similar to the above for sequences executed by other performers who executed the sequence caused by the sequence in the above steps;
If no other sequence exists between the sequence and the corresponding response sequence, the activity contained in all sequences from the sequence that caused the sequence to the sequence caused by the response sequence is minimized. Defining a subordinate activity so that it does not overlap in each sequence order;
Defining an object of the activity as an input of the activity defined in each sequence, and defining an object as an input of the activity defined in the sequence as an output of the activity defined in the sequence causing the sequence, Defining the object in the diagram title as the output of the last activity defined in the last sequence;
A method for converting a sequence diagram into a tree structure for analysis in software, comprising: performing the hierarchical relationship of the defined activities and expressing the object in a tree structure. A computer program for converting a diagram representing a sequence executed by each of two or more performers included in a software design document into a tree structure for analyzing the structure of the sequence by a computer device,
Extracting an activity that is a verb included in each sequence and its object from a diagram representing the sequence;
Defining a verb representing a function that is the title of a diagram representing the sequence as a top-level activity;
In the diagram representing the sequence, the sequence executed first and the activity included in the sequence executed by the person who executed the sequence are defined as activities one level lower than the highest activity. Defining the subordinate activities for each sequence in the sequence;
Repeating the process of defining lower-order activities for each sequence in a sequence similar to the above for sequences executed by other performers who executed the sequence caused by the sequence in the above steps;
If no other sequence exists between the sequence and the corresponding response sequence, the activity contained in all sequences from the sequence that caused the sequence to the sequence caused by the response sequence is minimized. Defining a subordinate activity so that it does not overlap in each sequence order;
Defining an object of the activity as an input of the activity defined in each sequence, and defining an object as an input of the activity defined in the sequence as an output of the activity defined in the sequence causing the sequence, Defining the object in the diagram title as the output of the last activity defined in the last sequence;
A program for converting a sequence diagram to a tree structure for analysis in software, comprising the step-up relationship of the defined activities and a step of expressing the object in a tree structure.

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