Capability Ontology in Adaptable Service System Framework

This paper presents a Capability Ontology (CapOnt) and a rule-based reasoning mechanism, which support service management within adaptable service systems. The ontology concepts comprise capability types, capability parameters and service management functions related to capabilities. Capability parameter values can be defined by constraints on other capability parameters. The service management functions included in the ontology are Capability Administration, Capability Configuration, Capability Allocation and Capability Performance Diagnosis. The service management functions are defined by rules consisting of constraints and management actions. The ontology concepts are represented in OWL (Web Ontology Language) and OWL/XDD (XML Declarative Description Language) - a rule-oriented knowledge representation. An intelligent conference room example with simulation results, that demonstrates the CapOnt and the rule-based reasoning, is also presented.