Research Article

Design of communication protocols using a message transfer pattern

  1. YoungJoon Byun1,†,*,
  2. Beverly A. Sanders1,
  3. Chang-Sup Keum2

Article first published online: 15 MAR 2005

DOI: 10.1002/dac.712

Issue

International Journal of Communication Systems

International Journal of Communication Systems

Volume 18, Issue 5, pages 465–485, June 2005

Additional Information

How to Cite

Byun, Y., Sanders, B. A. and Keum, C.-S. (2005), Design of communication protocols using a message transfer pattern. Int. J. Commun. Syst., 18: 465–485. doi: 10.1002/dac.712

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Computer and Information Science and Engineering, University of Florida, P.O. Box 116120, Gainesville, FL 32611, U.S.A.

  2. 2

    Network Technology Laboratory, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, 161 Kajong-Dong, Yusong-Gu, Taejon 305-600, Korea

  1. †

    This research was done while the author was at the University of Florida. He is currently with the Pennsylvania State University at Erie, PA.

*School of Engineering and Engineering Technology, The Pennsylvania State University at Erie, 5091 Station Road, Erie, PA 16563, U.S.A.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 27 MAY 2005
  2. Article first published online: 15 MAR 2005
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 12 NOV 2004
  4. Manuscript Revised: 3 SEP 2004
  5. Manuscript Received: 15 SEP 2003

Funded by

  • Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute

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Keywords:

  • design pattern;
  • pattern language;
  • communicating extended finite state machine;
  • state transition diagram;
  • ATM signalling protocol

Abstract

Design patterns help to improve software quality and reduce development cost by reusing experience of experts for recurring problems. Patterns have potential to be useful in almost all areas of software systems, but to date they are mainly concentrated on the development of object-oriented systems. In this paper, we apply the pattern concept to the description of communication protocols, particularly focusing on message interaction. We hypothesize that many communication protocols can be developed using a few recurring patterns to obtain an initial design description of a system. For the protocol description, we propose a set of patterns which are grouped in two categories: structural and behavioural patterns. A complex protocol can be obtained by composing such patterns. To show the usefulness of our patterns in a realistic application, we perform a case study for an ATM signalling protocol design. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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