A Formal Engineering Approach to Product Family Modeling

Software Product Line deals with the development of product families for diverse market needs and includes feature model to describe the structure of the included products. Since feature model is lack of detailed specification of individual features, some behavior-oriented methods have been proposed to analyze the inner functionalities of features. But how these functions relate to the feature model remains a problem and a systematic approach is still needed to support the whole process of product family modeling. This paper provides a formal engineering approach to modeling product family where feature model evolves as individual features are formalized through informal, semi-formal and formal stages. For each stage, a set of evolvement rules are given to guide the refactoring of the feature model which will then serve as a basis for formal specifications of individual features. Such an iterative process repeats until achieving a feature model with consistent feature specifications. A case study is described to illustrate the effectiveness of our approach.