Robin Bergenthum

Unfolding Semantics of Petri Nets Based on Token Flows

In this paper we propose two new unfolding semantics for general Petri nets combining the concept of prime event structures with the idea of token flows developed in [13]. In contrast to the standard unfolding based on branching processes, one of the presented unfolding models avoids to represent isomorphic processes while the other additionally reduces the number of (possibly nonisomorphic) processes with isomorphic underlying runs. We show that both the proposed unfolding models still represent the complete partial order behavior. Moreover, in both cases it is possible to construct complete finite prefixes for bounded nets through applying the known theory of cut-off events. In particular, canonical prefixes w.r.t. a given cutting context can be defined and computed for bounded nets. We present implementations of construction algorithms for complete finite prefixes of both the unfolding models. Experimental results show that the computed prefixes are much smaller and can be constructed significantly faster than in the case of the standard unfolding.

Verification of Scenarios in Petri Nets Using Compact Tokenflows

In this paper we tackle the problem of verifying whether a scenario is executable in a Petri net. In contrast to sequentially ordered runs, a scenario includes both information about dependencies and independencies of events. Consequently, a scenario allows a precise and intuitive specification of a run of a concurrent or distributed system. In this paper we consider Petri nets with arc weights, namely marked place/transition-nets p/t-nets and p/t-nets with inhibitor arcs pti-nets. A scenario of a p/t-net is a labelled partial order lpo. A scenario of a pti-net is a labelled stratified order structure lso. Accordingly, the question is either whether a given lpo is in the language of a given p/t-net or whether an lso is in the language of a given pti-net. Different approaches exist to define the partial language of a Petri net. Each definition yields a different verification algorithm, but existing algorithms perform quite poorly in terms of runtime for most examples. We introduce a new compact characterization of the partial language of a Petri net. This characterization is optimized with respect to the verification problem. The paper is a revised and extended version of the conference paper [10].