Fresh-Variable Automata: Application to Service Composition

Abstract

We introduce fresh-variable automata, a natural extension of finite-state automata over infinite alphabet. In this model the transitions are labeled with constants or variables that can be refreshed in some specified states. We prove several closure properties for this class of automata and study their decision problems. We show the applicability of our model in modeling Web services handling data from an infinite domain. We introduce a notion of simulation that enables us to reduce the Web service composition problem to the construction of a simulation of a target service by the asynchronous product of existing services, and prove that this construction is computable.