Service specification description method for advanced intelligent network

The communication service software (SLP) which realizes the communication service in advanced IN is usually generated automatically through a description of the service specification in a diagram format in the service generation environment (SCE). This paper considers such a description of the service specification in diagram format for SLP generation, and proposes a method of service specification description which allows easier description, is easier to understand, and has greater descriptive capability than the conventional description method. A widely used conventional description is the method proposed in ITU-T, in which the descriptive elements (having the role of icons) correspond one-to-one to the service-independent building blocks (SIBs). It sometimes happens, however, that the SIB as a functional unit is too large, degrading the reusability and understandability of the service specification. In contrast, the proposed description method is based on the information sequence diagram previously proposed by the authors, and extends the descriptive capability by adding descriptive elements so that the service specification of advanced IN can be described. The proposed description method was evaluated by nonexpert examinees, and it was verified that the description is easy and understandable. The proposed description method is also applied to SLP description of many commercial services, and it is verified that the necessary descriptive capability is provided.