Synthesising structure from at speci cationsBrian

Within the design process, a high-level speciication is subject to two connicting tensions. It is used as a vehicle for validating the requirements, and also as a rst step of the reenement process. Whilst the structuring mechanisms available in the B method are well-suited for the latter purpose, the rich type constructions of VDM are useful for the former. In this paper we propose a method which synthesises a structured B design from a at VDM speciication by analysing how type deenitions are used within the VDM state in order to generate a corresponding B machine hierarchy.