Studies On Process Modeling Based On Logic Situation Calculus For Virtual Enterprises

This thesis studies the constructing and running processes of the virtual enterprise and proposes the virtual enterprise ontology oriented to the process modeling. It also represents the process model decomposed hierarchically described by logic situation calculus based on the virtual enterprise ontology and presents the corresponding organization model decomposed hierarchically for the virtual enterprise in the dynamic allying process. We use software agents to support the companions to share the tasks, cooperate and negotiate with each other. Based on the agent federations, the virtual enterprise is built. In this thesis, we describe the workf low process in the continuous converting process of logical situations and build the multi梐gent workf low management system supporting the virtual enterprise. The virtual enterprise ontology presented in the thesis is oriented to the process modeling for the virtual enterprise and used for describing the process model of the virtual enterprise formally. In the ontology, the essential elements, the constraints between the elements and pertinent information are included. All the core elements are defined in the classified system. They have good stability and reusability. Because the virtual enterprise is built dynamically for responding the requirements of the market and the different companions sharing the task may decompose the task in the different ways. All these make the process model of the virtual enterprise change dynamically. In order to describe the dynamic and complicated process model exactly, we propose the logic situation calculus based on the expanding the situation calculus and describe the virtual enterprise in this formal logic framework. In this thesis, we describe the running process of the virtual enterprise with the continuous converting process of logical situations and the decomposed tasks and activities make the logic situation convert from one to another. The whole converting process of logic situations is the running process of the virtual enterprise for the given product. So we can describe the process model in the logic situation calculus based on the virtual enterprise ontology. In the process model, the tasks and activities are decomposed through the sharing of the continuous converting process of logical situations and the companions who take on the constraints between the tasks or activities will be confirmed in the allying process. So the relations of enables constraints and facilitates II! constraints will be built dynamically and the process model is finished. Through satisfying of the constraints, the tasks and activities can be driven and can convert the corresponding logic situations. In the meantime, we also can change the status of the logic situations and describe the allying process and cooperative process. In addition, we represent the virtual enterprise ontology in the formal logic situation calculus and can define the core elements more accurately. It maintains the consistency and integrality of the ontology. Accordingly, the process model based on the ontology will have strong reusability, accessibility and consistency. In this thesis, we propose the method to build the virtual enterprise based on the agent federations. The software agents are used as the core technology. Software agent is an important technology to intelligentize software in distributed computation environments. It acts as a software entity which has social and dom...