Formalizing Higher-Order Mobile Embedded Business Processes with Binding Bigraphs

Abstract. We propose and formalize HomeBPEL, a higher-order WSBPEL-like business process execution language where processes are firstclass values that can be stored in variables, passed as messages, and activated as embedded sub-instances. A sub-instance is similar to a WSBPEL scope, except that it can be dynamically frozen and stored as a process in a variable, and then subsequently be thawed when reactivated as a sub-instance. This makes it possible to define business process management processes within the language, as opposed to the present standard architecture relying on meta-level tools for process deployment, adaption and administration. We provide a formal semantics based on binding bigraphical reactive systems implemented in the BPL Tool as part of the Bigraphical Programming Languages project at ITU. The semantics is an extension of a semantics given previously for a simplified subset of WS-BPEL and exploits the close correspondence between bigraphs and XML to provide a form...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2008
• Where: COORDINATION
• Authors: Mikkel Bundgaard, Arne J. Glenstrup, Thomas T. Hildebrandt, Espen Højsgaard, Henning Niss
• Keywords: Business Process, Business Process Execution Language, COORDINATION 2008, Distributed And Parallel Computing, Standard Ws-bpel Syntax