OWL-S
Encyclopedia
OWL-S is an ontology
built on top of Web Ontology Language (OWL)
by the DARPA DAML program. It replaces the former DAML-S
ontology. "OWL-S is an ontology, within the OWL-based framework of the Semantic Web
, for describing Semantic Web Services
. It will enable users and software agents to automatically discover, invoke, compose, and monitor Web resources offering services, under specified constraints." http://www.w3.org/Submission/OWL-S/
The OWL-S ontology has three main parts: the service profile, the process model and the grounding.
. Although both languages target at different levels of specification, there is an intersection between them:
Ontology (computer science)
In computer science and information science, an ontology formally represents knowledge as a set of concepts within a domain, and the relationships between those concepts. It can be used to reason about the entities within that domain and may be used to describe the domain.In theory, an ontology is...
built on top of Web Ontology Language (OWL)
Web Ontology Language
The Web Ontology Language is a family of knowledge representation languages for authoring ontologies.The languages are characterised by formal semantics and RDF/XML-based serializations for the Semantic Web...
by the DARPA DAML program. It replaces the former DAML-S
DAML-S
The DARPA agent markup language for services is a semantic markup language for describing web services and related ontologies.DAML-S is built on top of DAML+OIL.DAML-S has been superseded by OWL-S...
ontology. "OWL-S is an ontology, within the OWL-based framework of the Semantic Web
Semantic Web
The Semantic Web is a collaborative movement led by the World Wide Web Consortium that promotes common formats for data on the World Wide Web. By encouraging the inclusion of semantic content in web pages, the Semantic Web aims at converting the current web of unstructured documents into a "web of...
, for describing Semantic Web Services
Semantic Web Services
Semantic Web Services, like conventional web services, are the server end of a client–server system for machine-to-machine interaction via the World Wide Web...
. It will enable users and software agents to automatically discover, invoke, compose, and monitor Web resources offering services, under specified constraints." http://www.w3.org/Submission/OWL-S/
The OWL-S Ontology
Development of OWL-S aims to enable the following tasks:- Automatic Web serviceWeb serviceA Web service is a method of communication between two electronic devices over the web.The W3C defines a "Web service" as "a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network". It has an interface described in a machine-processable format...
discovery: with the development of the Semantic Web, many Web Services will be available on the Web, performing the most various tasks. OWL-S will help software agents to discover the Web Service that would fulfill a specific need within some quality constraints, without the need for human intervention.
- Automatic Web service invocation: generally, it is necessary to write a specific program to invoke a Web Service, using its WSDLWeb Services Description LanguageThe Web Services Description Language is an XML-based language that is used for describing the functionality offered by a Web service. A WSDL description of a web service provides a machine-readable description of how the service can be called, what parameters it expects and what data structures...
description. OWL-S will open the possibility for a software agent to automatically read the description of the Web Service's inputs and outputs and invoke the service.
- Automatic Web service composition and interoperation: in a Web where many services are available, it should be possible to perform a complex task, involving the coordinated invocation of various Web Services, based solely on the high-level description of the objective. OWL-S will help in the composition and interoperation of the Services in a way that will enable the automatic execution of this tasks.
The OWL-S ontology has three main parts: the service profile, the process model and the grounding.
- The service profile is used to describe what the service does. This information is primary meant for human reading, and includes the service name and description, limitations on applicability and quality of service, publisher and contact information.
- The process model describes how a client can interact with the service. This description includes the sets of inputs, outputs, pre-conditions and results of the service execution.
- The service grounding specifies the details that a client needs to interact with the service, as communication protocols, message formats, port numbers, etc.
OWL-S and WSDL
OWL-S requires an additional description for a full specification of the grounding, the most commonly used being WSDLWeb Services Description Language
The Web Services Description Language is an XML-based language that is used for describing the functionality offered by a Web service. A WSDL description of a web service provides a machine-readable description of how the service can be called, what parameters it expects and what data structures...
. Although both languages target at different levels of specification, there is an intersection between them:
- An OWL-S atomic process corresponds to a WSDL operation;
- The inputs and outputs of an OWL-S atomic process correspond to WSDL messages;
- The types of the inputs and outputs of an OWL-S atomic process correspond to WSDL abstract types.
See also
- Ontology (computer science)Ontology (computer science)In computer science and information science, an ontology formally represents knowledge as a set of concepts within a domain, and the relationships between those concepts. It can be used to reason about the entities within that domain and may be used to describe the domain.In theory, an ontology is...
- Semantic WebSemantic WebThe Semantic Web is a collaborative movement led by the World Wide Web Consortium that promotes common formats for data on the World Wide Web. By encouraging the inclusion of semantic content in web pages, the Semantic Web aims at converting the current web of unstructured documents into a "web of...
- Semantic Web ServicesSemantic Web ServicesSemantic Web Services, like conventional web services, are the server end of a client–server system for machine-to-machine interaction via the World Wide Web...
- Web Ontology LanguageWeb Ontology LanguageThe Web Ontology Language is a family of knowledge representation languages for authoring ontologies.The languages are characterised by formal semantics and RDF/XML-based serializations for the Semantic Web...
(OWL) - WSDLWeb Services Description LanguageThe Web Services Description Language is an XML-based language that is used for describing the functionality offered by a Web service. A WSDL description of a web service provides a machine-readable description of how the service can be called, what parameters it expects and what data structures...
- WSMOWSMOWSMO or Web Service Modeling Ontology is a conceptual model for relevant aspects related to Semantic Web Services.It provides an ontology based framework, which supports the deployment and interoperability of Semantic Web Services....