Method and apparatus for specifying web service interfaces and processing web service messages using protocol multiplexing

Methods and apparatus are provided for specifying Web service interfaces and for processing Web service messages using protocol multiplexing. A Web service comprised of a plurality of sub-services (or clients of the Web service) are designed in accordance with the present invention by analyzing a plurality of micro-protocols between two or more of the sub-services, the Web service, and one or more clients of the Web service. A composite message is created if a plurality of messages of the micro-protocols have the same sender and receiver and belong to compatible message sequences. The present invention ensures that the execution of two or more message handlers is based on a defined execution order, when one or more collaborations of the micro-protocols are dependent on other collaborations. A Web service according to the present invention decomposes one or more incoming messages into a plurality of micro-messages (or composes one or more outgoing messages from a plurality of micro-messages) and provides a plurality of message handlers that process (or generate) said plurality of micro-messages.