1.3 Overview

The Devices Profile for Web Services (DPWS), as defined in [DPWS], specifies a well-structured messaging model that provides basic functionality such as discovery of an endpoint [WSADDR], metadata for that endpoint, and request/response messaging. [DPWS] specifies the role of clients, devices, and services. Clients discover services and communicate with their endpoints. Devices are special service endpoints that can host other services. [DPWS] defines metadata for both devices and the services hosted by those devices. Clients can request this metadata and send requests to specific endpoints described in the metadata.

This model fits the requirements of a computer. Computers are often set to be discoverable and advertise metadata that describes themselves and their resources to clients on a network. Publication Services models a computer as a DPWS device, and the resources on a computer are modeled as Web services within the same device. The information that describes a computer and the actual data associated with the resources are stored as part of the device metadata.

The Publication Services Data Structure document defines the organization used for the information that describes how a computer and its resources are represented within the DPWS device metadata.

For additional explanatory information about DPWS, see [MSDN-DPWS]. For information about the Microsoft implementation of DPWS, which is called Web Services for Devices (WSD), see [MSDN-WSD].