Service combination support apparatus, service combination support method, and storage medium

A service combination support method comprising:

• referring, by a computer, to a storage unit storing a plurality of existing pairs of an output data item and an input data item connectable to each other, the plurality of existing pairs being extracted from a service combination definition that defines a data flow among a plurality of web services connectable to one another and that does not include data type information of output data items and input data items in the plurality of existing pairs;
• determining, by the computer, whether or not a data type of an output data item in a first pair corresponds to a data type of an input data item in a second pair using a first inference rule and a second inference rule, the first pair and the second pair being included in the plurality of existing pairs, the plurality of existing pairs not including a pair of the output data items in the first pair and the input data item in the second pair, the first inference rule specifying that output data items associated with the same input data item by the service combination definition correspond to each other, the second inference rule specifying that input data items associated with the same output data item by the service combination definition correspond to each other;
• and
• generating, by a computer, a new pair that has not been defined in the service combination definition and is formed with the output data item included in the first pair and the input data item included in the second pair when determining that the data types correspond to each other,
• wherein in a first case the data type of the output data item in the first pair corresponds to the data type of the input data item in the second pair, and in a second case the data type of the output data item does not correspond to the data type of the input data item.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to perform the following operation:

• a data item relationship inferring operation to:
• refer to a storage unit storing a plurality of existing pairs of an output data item and an input data item connectable to each other, the plurality of existing pairs being extracted from a service combination definition that defines a data flow among a plurality of web services connectable to one another and that does not include data type information of output data items and input data items in the plurality of existing pairs;
• determine whether or not a data type of an output data item in a first pair corresponds to a data type of an input data item in a second pair using a first inference rule and a second inference rule, the first pair and the second pair being included in the plurality of existing pairs, the plurality of existing pairs not including a pair of the output data items in the first pair and the input data item in the second pair, the first inference rule specifying that output data items associated with the same input data item by the service combination definition correspond to each other, the second inference rule specifying that input data items associated with the same output data item by the service combination definition correspond to each other;
• and
• generate a new pair that has not been defined in the service combination definition and that is formed with the output data item in the first pair and the input data item in the second pair when determining that the data types correspond to each other,
• wherein in a first case the data type of the output data item in the first pair corresponds to the data type of the input data item in the second pair, and in a second case the data type of the output data item does not correspond to the data type of the input data item.