COSMOS (Co-Operative State Machines for Object Synchronization) is a method for specifying the behavior of a synchronizable data store by modeling the data store as a state machine. Such a model can be used to define a standard for interoperable data synchronization systems, defining the sequence of messages sent and received during synchronization without constraining the implementation of a conforming system. COSMOS models can be collected, studied and categorized, allowing a synchronization scheme with the properties appropriate for a given application to be selected from a catalog. Alternatively, for pre-existing synchronization systems built without a common standard, COSMOS models can serve as a specification for an adapter allowing the systems to interoperate.
Index Terms:
open systems; synchronisation; finite state machines; cooperative systems; formal specification; concurrency control; interoperable data synchronization; COSMOS; cooperative state machines; object synchronization; synchronizable data store behaviour specification; message sequence; conforming system; catalog; adapter
Citation:
N.H. Cohen, A. Purakayastha, "Toward interoperable data synchronization with COSMOS," wmcsa, pp.138, Third IEEE Workshop on Mobile Computing Systems and Applications (WMCSA'00), 2000