Method of constructing model transformation rule based on reusable pattern

Model transformation is one of the core operations in model driven architecture (MDA) and engineering (MDE), which happens among heterogeneous models in various modeling languages. Constructing rules for such model transformation is time consuming and of great challenge. A question arises that how to describe these knowledge in standardized form and reuse them to construct model transformation rules quickly and in low cost. In this paper, transformation pattern is introduced and well defined according to the design pattern in software development. It represents transformation rules in a modeling language independent form and is easy to reuse. This study proposes a model transformation framework based on pattern and a rule constructing method. Seven reusable atomic patterns are given and nine rule extracting strategies based on this are figured. Finally, this study presents an algorithm which incorporates these strategies for constructing transformation rules. Case study in transformation between two business process models in BPMN and JPDL shows the applicability of the method in real model transformation.