Specifying timing constraints in real-time object-oriented systems

Modeling object interactions is an important aspect of Object-Oriented (OO) system design and development. In this paper, we propose a specification technique, Guarded Method Sequence Specification (GMtSS), for modeling such interactions in real-time OO systems. GMtSS extends another specification technique, MtSS, by adding guard constructs that can be used to specify timing constraints in conjunction with sequencing relationships that can be expressed using MtSS. The paper also discusses interpretation mechanisms for GMtSS and examples showing how GMtSS can be used for modeling system properties involving sequencing as well as timing constraints. GMtSS specialization, a technique that can be used for reuse and extensibility of OO real-time systems is also discussed.