Checking MSC Specifications for Timing Inconsistency

Message sequence chart (MSC) is a graphical and textual language for thedescription and specification of the interactions between systemcomponents. MSC specifications allow convenient expression of multiplescenarios, and offer an intuitive and visual way of describing designrequirements. Like any other aspect of the specification and designprocess, MSCs are amenable to errors, and their analysis is important.In this paper, the verification problem of MSC specificationfor timing inconsistency is studied, which means that no execution scenariodescribed by an MSC specification is timing consistent. An algorithm isdeveloped to check MSC specifications for timing inconsistency.