A deontic logical framework for modelling product families

We discuss the application of deontic logics to the modelling of variabilities in product family descriptions. Deontic logics make it possible to express concepts like permission and obligation, and hence promise a direct modelling of constraints over the products of a family. Indeed, we first show how feature models can be straightforwardly characterised by means of a deontic logic. We then study the deontic modelling of the behavioural variability in product families by defining a deontic extension of a behavioural logic. This allows both constraints over the products of a family and constraints over their behaviour to be expressed in a single framework: a novelty in the field. We discuss how model-checking tools could support formal verification in this framework, and we indicate some future research into that direction.