A fuzzy framework for Semantic Web Service description, matchmaking, ranking and selection

Semantic Web Services (SWSs) provide a semantic representation of web services that provides a well-defined semantics in order to make them computer-interpretable, use-apparent, and agent-ready. In the last years it is becoming more and more accepted the idea that current Semantic Web technologies are not appropriate to deal with imprecise and vague knowledge, inherent to several real world domains. This paper proposes a fuzzy logic-based framework that makes service description, discovery and selection more flexible, and that includes support for non-functional properties. In particular, we extend OWL-S services by including a fuzzy domain ontology, which improves the definition of functional properties, and a fuzzy Quality of Service ontology, which improves the definition of non-functional properties. We also show how to enhance the tasks of SWS selection and ranking by means of fuzzy reasoning.