A Protocol State Machine is always defined in the context of a classifier. It specifies which Operations of the classifier can be called, in which State, and under which condition, thus specifying the allowable call sequences on the classifier's operations.
The Protocol State Machine presents the possible and permitted Transitions on the instances of its context classifier, together with the Operations that carry the Transitions.
In this manner, an instance lifecycle can be created for a classifier, by specifying the order in which the Operations can be activated and the States through which the instance progresses during its existence.
The Protocol State Machine diagram is created for use with the Protocol State Machine and the Protocol Transitions.
Related pages