The refinement of communication in protocol engineering is studied by analyzing the relation between a peer-to-peer communication scheme and its service-level counterpart, a characteristic that is well-known in practice but rarely studied in detail. It is shown how an abstract protocol can be developed towards a concrete implementation by gradually refining the abstract messages and the involved state machines, moving systematically from layer to layer over the subject application. The characteristics of the refinement are formalized, and an example is given showing how the method can be applied in practical protocol development. The object-oriented language Kannel is introduced as an advanced tool for protocol engineering providing special support for the refinement technique.     «

The refinement of communication in protocol engineering is studied by analyzing the relation between a peer-to-peer communication scheme and its service-level counterpart, a characteristic that is well-known in practice but rarely studied in detail. It is shown how an abstract protocol can be developed towards a concrete implementation by gradually refining the abstract messages and the involved state machines, moving systematically from layer to layer over the subject application. The character...     »