In: Technical Report TR94-9, Computer Science Department, University of Tasmania. 1994.
Abstract: This paper demonstrates how Object Petri Nets can be developed from the definition of Coloured Petri Nets. It does so by defining a number of intermediate petri net formalisms and identifying the features introduced at each step of the development. Object Petri Nets support a complete integration of object-oriented concepts into petri nets, including inheritance and the associated polymorphism and dynamic binding. In particular, Object Petri Nets have a single class hierarchy which includes both token types and subnet types. Interaction between subnets can be either synchronous or asynchronous depending on whether the subnet is defined as a super place or a super transition. The single class hierarchy readily supports multiple levels of activity in the net and the generation and removal of tokens has been defined so that all subcomponents are simultaneously generated or removed. Despite this descriptive power, Object Petri Nets can be transformed into behaviourally equivalent Coloured Petri Nets, so that many existing analysis techniques can be readily applied