WSML Deliverable D 5 . 1 v 0 . 1 WSMO Web Service Discovery

The Web Service Modeling Ontology (WSMO) provides the conceptual framework for semantically describing web services and their specific properties. The Web Service Modeling Language (WSML) is a formal language for annotating web services with semantic information, which is based on the WSMO conceptual framework. Service discovery, i.e., the automatic location of services that fulfill a user goal is a popular research topic. However, a proper conceptual setting for this task is largely missing. In this document we try to fill in this gap and discuss a number of conceptual issues related to service discovery. First, we propose a distinction between service discovery and Web service discovery. Then we identify three major steps in service discovery and note that only one of these steps has to do with Web service discovery proper. Second, we discuss different techniques for web service discovery using this as a means for a better understanding of the dialectic relationship between discovery and mediation. Third, we will discuss the logical foundations of web service discovery. In order to cover the complete range of scenarios that can appear in practical applications, several approaches to achieve the automation of web service discovery are presented and discussed. They require different levels of semantics in the description of web services and requests, and have different complexity and precision. WSMO, WSML, and the discovery model presented in this paper constitute the necessary theoretical basis for automatic location of services in different scenarios, ranging from natural language descriptions of web services and discovery requests to precise logical definitions of the functionality of web services and the requester’s objectives. Copyright c © 2004 DERI r © , All Rights Reserved. DERI liability, trademark, document use, and software licensing rules apply. D5.1 – WSMO Web Service Discovery 3