Care Planning Through Auction-based Information Negotiation (CAPTAIN): The Ordering of Events in Service Negotiation

Abstract

The Software as a Service (SaaS) model is a servicebased model in which a desired service is assembled, delivered and consume on demand. A ‘proof of concept’ of SaaS is Information Broker for Heterogeneous Information Sources (IBHIS) which is based on services that deliver data. IBHIS is a fully service-based approach to support the trustworthy integration of heterogeneous forms of information possessed and manipulated by autonomous service providers. Consequently, Care Planning Through Auction-based Information Negotiation (CAPTAIN) is developed to extend the concepts and role of the broker as used in IBHIS. In particular, CAPTAIN also extends the concepts and role of the service negotiation function to demonstrate a full range of service characteristics: description, discovery, composition, negotiation and delivery. A service-oriented broker architecture for CAPTAIN has been developed based on a case study within healthcare context. It includes a negotiation model developed for the service negotiation to deals with the needs of a client and the constraints of service providers within planning service oriented circumstances. A ‘proof of concept’ of CAPTAIN is demonstrated as a serviceoriented planning broker system that is flexible, adaptable and platform independent. The CAPTAIN system is a distributed system consisting of several different system components which are spatially separated. Hence, this paper will present the investigation of the system behaviour by observing a partial ordering of the events in the CAPTAIN system. The events occur when there are the execution of a subprogram or interactions among the system components. The correct ordering of the events can ensure that the system components are accurately regulatedby the negotiation process and protocol. The timestamp of a sequence of events is recorded by using an event logger. The results of our study show that all system components of CAPTAIN can perform their tasks and interact with each other correctly during service negotiation between the planning broker and the service providers. The system components exchange their messages by sending and receiving among them, following the process of service negotiation serial. As a result, the CAPTAIN system can provide planning services properly to produce the integrated care plan for the client.