JP3495017B2 - Agent cooperative processing device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a program including a knowledge base and a rule base, and uses an agent or an expert system acting on behalf of a user's request,
The present invention relates to an agent cooperative processing device that adjusts a schedule and searches for a user.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, there is an expert system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-4287. Although there are many ideas inside the expert system as shown in FIG. 15, the expert system in which the expert systems are connected by a network and exchanged by a message is disclosed in JP-A-9-231184.
Many interpret the message directly. In addition, a shared blackboard is used for communication between expert systems (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-2
14613).

[0003]

However, many of the above-mentioned conventional expert systems directly interpret and use the messages, and the received messages are accumulated before the interpretation, and the order thereof is changed, referred to, deleted, or added. , Operations such as composition cannot be performed, and there are the following problems in exchanging messages between multiple expert systems. Checking and deleting messages that are stale over time, using new messages for old messages, linking with detailed messages later, extracting multiple related messages, such as with multicast and broadcast,
Receiving a response message for a multicast or broadcast message has many impossible functions such as message processing related to the content of the message, such as restarting the processing when a required message is received before a certain specified timeout. is there.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems by providing various functions for a received message,
The purpose is to be able to deal more flexibly.

[0005]

In order to solve this problem, the present invention relates to a message input means for receiving a message sent via another agent, and a first storage means for sequentially storing the received message. The message queuing means, the second message queuing means for accumulating messages to be sent to the user in sequence, the message output means for sending a message to the user, and the user when the message input means receives the meeting schedule notification message. If the user is logged in, the conference schedule notification message is transmitted to the user via the message output means, and if the user is not logged in, the conference schedule notification message is sent to the second message queuing. accumulated in the unit, when the user logs in, Serial user is the meeting notification menu
If you have not attended the meeting mentioned in the message,
Accumulated notice message of the conference held and discussion of the conference
And a knowledge / rule base interpreting means for associating the minutes with each other by linking and synthesizing the minutes and transmitting them to the user via the message output means. Thus, by associating the two message queues, the notification item can be notified when the user logs in.

Further, according to the present invention, an agent composed of a knowledge description and a behavioral description as an element queues a message, looks at the content of the message, and operates in connection with other processing (time measurement, etc.). It is something that can be done.

Thus, for many messages to the agent, necessary messages are not extracted and other messages are not processed, but processing is performed when a necessary message is obtained, newer messages are used, new messages are used. Various processings for messages such as message detailing and related by are possible.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A according to the first aspect of the present invention
The gent cooperative processing apparatus receives a message of another user sent via another agent, a message input means, a first message queuing means for sequentially storing the received message, and sends the message to the owner user. Second message queuing means for accumulating messages in order, message output means for sending a message to the owner user via an agent equipped with a user interface, and when the message input means receives a meeting schedule notification message When the destination owner user is logged in, the meeting schedule notification message is sent to the destination owner user via the message output means, and the destination owner user logs in. If not, the message for notifying the meeting date will be displayed. It was accumulated in the second message queuing means, when the owner user of the transmission destination is logged, stored the meeting schedule notification message to the related by linking and synthesizing the conference proceedings
The knowledge / rule-based interpreting means for transmitting the message to the owner user of the transmission destination through the message output means. Thus, by associating the two message queues, the notification item can be notified when the user logs in.

In a second aspect of the present invention, in the agent cooperative processing apparatus of the first aspect , when the owner user of the transmission destination does not attend the conference described in the conference schedule notification message, When the minutes message of the meeting is received, the meeting schedule notification message stored in the second message queuing means and the minutes message stored in the first message queuing means are linked and combined. Associated with
When the user logs in, the link destination and the combined information are notified to the destination user.

A third aspect of the present invention is the first aspect or
In the agent cooperative processing apparatus of the second aspect, the conference holding schedule notification message stored in the first message queuing unit or the second message queuing unit is stored in the conference holding schedule notification message. Delete after done. Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 14.

FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of an agent cooperative processing apparatus as an embodiment of the present invention. The user inputs the user's schedule, conference adjustment request, search request, etc. to the user agents 103 and 104 through the interface agents 101 and 102. The coordinator agent 105 is the user agent 10
In response to the conference adjustment request from 3, 104, the corresponding schedule is ordered from each user agent and adjusted.
The result is reported through the user agents 103 and 104 and the interface agents 101 and 102.

Further, the cooperation promoter 106 multicasts a search message to registered user agents in response to a user search request from the user agents 103 and 104.

The agent environment server group 107 comprises a name server for an agent, an ID server, and an agent management server.

Of the overall configuration as described above, the following description will be made mainly on the user agent 103 in the first to third embodiments.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of an agent according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In FIG. 2, 201 is a message input means for receiving a message from another agent or an interface agent for inputting / outputting a user, 202 is a message queuing means for accumulating the received message, 203
Is a knowledge / rule base interpreting means for extracting a message from the message queuing means, finding a process for the corresponding message from the knowledge / rule base storing means, and executing the process, 204 is a knowledge storing the knowledge / rule base・ Rule-based storage means 205
A time measuring means for measuring and notifying time according to an instruction from the knowledge / rule base interpreting means, 206 is a message queue operating means for operating a message in the message queuing means according to an instruction from the knowledge / rule base interpreting means, Reference numeral 207 is a message output means for transmitting a message to another agent or interface agent according to an instruction from the knowledge / rule base interpretation means.

The agent 10 configured as described above
The operation of No. 3 will be described below. The agent 104 also performs the same operation.

FIG. 3 is a description of the knowledge / rule base stored in the knowledge / rule base storage means 204 used in the agent 103. This description consists of a description of the operation and knowledge of the user agent 103 who initiated the conference. The description of knowledge is a line starting from "knowledge", and the behavioral description is "? >> [?] --->.
[? ]. This is a part of the form ".? Is described in detail by each behavioral description. The user agent 103 who is the originator is the interface agent 101 of FIG.
Based on the flowchart of FIG. 4, a series of operations for collecting schedule information from each user agent, creating an adjustment plan, and transmitting a decision plan to the initiator will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 4 shows an operation procedure of the agent 103. The operation will be described below with reference to FIG. 4, assuming that the knowledge / rulebase description as shown in FIG. 3 is stored in the knowledge / rulebase storage unit 204.

Referring to FIG. 4, first, the message input means 201 receives "A >> [B] ----> from the description of the schedule adjustment plan creation request in FIG. 3 from the interface agent.
[C]. A message corresponding to part A of "is obtained (step 401). Message queuing means 202.
Accumulates this message (step 402). The knowledge / rule base interpretation unit 203 extracts one message from the message queuing unit 202, and matches the operation description of the schedule adjustment plan creation request with the description of FIG. 3 stored in the knowledge / rule base storage unit 204, The operation is executed (step 403). As its operation, from the description “for_all_receiver (...)”, the message output means 207 sends a message requesting schedule information to each user agent to the destination “ReceiversUaList” (step 404).

Next, the time-out time is referred to from the knowledge description, and here 60 seconds is set in the time measuring means 205, and when the time elapses, the time is reported. In addition, the designated message is the message queuing means 20.
When the message arrives at 2, the message is obtained, and when the message is returned from the designated destination, the following process is set. The "queing _..." portion of FIG. 3 (step 405). In response to the schedule information request message, a schedule information response from another agent is stored in the message queuing means 202 via the message input means 201. The message queue operating means 206 checks whether or not the designated message has arrived at the message queuing means 202 from the designated destination (step 406).

If the designated messages have arrived from all the designated destinations before the designated time, the process proceeds to the next process, that is, the adjustment process of FIG. If it has not arrived, adjustment processing is performed based on the information that has arrived up to that point. Then, the message output means 207 reports the adjustment result to the originator through the interface agent (step 407).

As described above, in the present embodiment, the next operation can be performed at the time when all the necessary messages are received or at the specified time by operating the message queue and the message queue and measuring the time.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an agent in the second embodiment. In FIG.
501 is a message inputting means for receiving a message from another agent or an interface agent 101 for inputting / outputting a user, 502 is a message queuing means for accumulating received messages, and 503 is a message queuing means for picking up a message from the message queuing means 502. , 504 is a knowledge / rule base interpreting means for finding a process for the corresponding message from the knowledge / rule base storing means 504 and executing the process, 504 is a knowledge / rule base storing means for storing the knowledge / rule base, 505
Is a message queue operating means for operating a message in the message queuing means 502 according to an instruction from the knowledge / rule-base interpreting means 503, and 506 is knowledge / knowledge
A message queue operating means for operating a message stored in the message queuing means 502, which stores a message according to the execution result of the rule-based interpreting means 503, and a message storing area 507, which stores a message according to the execution result of the knowledge / rule-based interpreting means 503. A message queuing means 508 is a message output means for transmitting a message to another agent or an interface agent according to an instruction from the knowledge / rule-base interpreting means.

The operation of the agent configured as described above will be described below. FIG. 6 is a description of the knowledge / rule base stored in the knowledge / rule base storage means 504 used by the agent. This description consists of a notice of holding a conference and a description of the behavior of the user agent regarding the behavior when the user logs in. Regarding the series of operations in which the user agent of the participant receives the event information of the conference and notifies the message if the user is logged in, and accumulates it when the user is not logged in and notifies it when the user logs in. Description will be given based on the flowchart of FIG. 7.

FIG. 7 shows the operation procedure of the agent 103. The operation will be described below with reference to FIG. 7, assuming that the knowledge / rule base description of FIG. 6 is stored in the knowledge / rule base storage unit 504.

In FIG. 7, first, the message input means 501 receives "A >> [B] ----> from the description of the schedule notification in FIG. 6 from the interface agent.
[C]. A message corresponding to part A of "is obtained (step 701). Message queuing means 502.
Accumulates this message (step 702). The knowledge / rule base interpreting means 503 extracts one message from the message queuing means 502, and matches the operation description of the schedule notification by the description of FIG. 6 stored in the knowledge / rule base storing means 504, and the operation thereof. Is executed (step 703).

As its operation, “notif
From the description of y (...), if the user is logged in, the message thus obtained is sent to the interface agent through the message output means 508 and the notice of the schedule is displayed to the user. if, to the message queuing means 50 7 storing the message (step 704).

A message corresponding to the login of the user in FIG. 6 arrives from the message input means 501 (step 705) and is stored in the message queuing means 502 (step 706). If it matches the message on the user's login at, "Interpret: ..."
6 is executed, and if the user requests a notification item from among the descriptions shown in FIG. 6, the description is notified and the operation is performed there. The operation here is whether or not there is a notification item. Message queue operating means 5
Check through 0 6, raking from the message queuing unit 507 if there notices (Step 7
07), the message output means 508 sends the notice to the user. (Step 708).

As described above, in the present embodiment, by associating the two message queuing means 502 and 507 with the message queue operating means 505 and 506 , the notification item can be notified when the user logs in.

In addition, for example, the conference holding information is transmitted as a message, the message of the minutes is then transmitted to the user agent of the user who did not attend, and the conference holding information message and the message of the minutes are labeled. Many application examples include efficiently notifying users by associating, linking, and synthesizing, and deleting accumulated messages related to meetings and appointments that have occurred using time measurement time. Can be considered.

(Third Embodiment) FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an agent according to the third embodiment. In FIG.
Reference numerals 801 and 810 denote message input means for receiving messages from the interface agents 101 and 102 for inputting / outputting other agents and users, 802 means message queuing means for storing received messages, and 803 and 811 means message queuing means. 8
02, a knowledge / rule base interpreting means for executing a process by extracting a message from 02, finding a process for the corresponding message from the knowledge / rule base storing means 804,
Reference numerals 804 and 812 are knowledge / rule base storage means for storing the knowledge / rule base, 805 is time measurement means for measuring and notifying time according to an instruction from the knowledge / rule base interpretation means 803, and 806 is knowledge / rule base interpretation. The message queuing means 807, 813 for operating the message in the message queuing means 802 according to the instruction from the means 803, and the messages 807 and 813 send the message to another agent or the interface agent 101 according to the instruction from the knowledge / rule base interpreting means 803. Message output means, 808 is schedule knowledge storage means for storing schedule information, and 809 is agent location knowledge storage means for storing agent name and its location information. Also, the interface agent 10
Reference numerals 1 and 102 serve as interfaces between corresponding agents and users, and communicate with each other through message input means and message output means.

Agent 10 configured as described above
The operation of No. 3 will be described below. The knowledge / rulebase description as shown in FIG. 9 is stored in the knowledge / rulebase storage 804, the knowledge / rulebase description as shown in FIG. 10 is stored in the agent location knowledge storage, and the knowledge / rulebase as shown in FIG. The description is stored in the knowledge / rule base storage unit 812, and the knowledge / rule base description as shown in FIG. 12 is stored in the schedule knowledge storage unit 808. With these descriptions, when an owner search request from a user agent is made, the user's schedule is referenced, and the location information described in the schedule is used to confirm the user's whereabouts through the user agent at that location. It consists of knowledge description and behavior description. This series of operations will be described based on the flowcharts of FIGS. 13 and 14.

13 and 14 show the operation procedure of this agent. The operation will be described below in accordance with the operation flows shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, assuming that the knowledge / rule-based descriptions of FIGS. 9 to 12 are stored in the respective storage means.

In FIG. 8, first, the message input means 801 receives a message from the interface agent 101 or another agent (step 130).
1, 1302). The message queuing means 802 stores this (step 1303).

The knowledge / rule base interpreting means 803 takes out one message from the message queuing means 802, and uses the description of FIG. 9 stored in the knowledge / rule base storing means 804 to create an operation description for the owner search task. Match and execute the action (step 130)
4). As its operation, "search_owne
In the description of r (...), the following operation is performed: First, the schedule knowledge stored in the schedule knowledge storage unit 808, the schedule that matches the current time is selected from FIG. If the schedule information from 18:00 to 20:00 on March 11, 1998 is the current time, the agent location knowledge storage means 809 in which the description of FIG. 10 is stored by the location information "meeting room 1".
The agent names corresponding to "Meeting Room 1" are "user1_ua" and "user_ua". The message output means 807 transmits an owner search request to these user agents (step 1305).

At this time, the time-out time for these messages is set in the time measuring means 805 (step 1306), and the message queue operating means 806 checks whether they have been received (step 130).
7). Then, the message output unit 807 receives the transmitted message from the agent, and outputs the owner search result to the interface agent 101 or the like.

The user agent which has received the owner search request is received by the message input means of FIG. 8 (step 1401), and is owned by the description of FIG. 11 stored in the knowledge / rule base storage means 812 of FIG. The part of the person search request matches (step 1402), and the message output means 81 is sent to the interface agent 102.
3 through step 3 (step 1403).

The interface agent 102 outputs a message such as "I am looking for Mr. ~. Isn't there Mr.?", And obtains information about whether Mr. ~ is present (step 1404). The message input means 810 obtains the information (the description part of the owner search response from the interface agent in FIG. 11) (step 1
405), by the knowledge / rule base interpreting means 811
The message output means 813 transmits a response to the searcher (step 1407).

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to use the schedule information to find a hit and to search for a user using another user agent. I used the location information of the schedule here,
A user search method using a lot of schedule information is conceivable, such as information on human relationships such as participants described in the schedule and estimating a user's whereabouts from a tendency of a plurality of schedules.

[0040]

As described above, according to the present invention, the next operation can be performed at the time when all the necessary messages are received or at the specified time by operating the message queue and the message queue and measuring the time. In addition, it is possible to realize flexible collaborative processing by changing the order of received messages and providing various functions such as reference, deletion, addition, and composition.

Further, it is possible to easily find a user by using the schedule information and search for a user by using another user agent.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of an agent cooperative processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an agent according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a knowledge / rule base description of an agent according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an agent procedure in the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an agent according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a knowledge / rule base description of an agent according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the procedure of an agent in the second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an agent according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an agent knowledge / rule base description in the third embodiment.

FIG. 10 Knowledge of agents according to the third embodiment
Diagram showing rule-based description

[FIG. 11] Knowledge of agents according to the third embodiment
Diagram showing rule-based description

[FIG. 12] Knowledge of agents according to the third embodiment
Diagram showing rule-based description

FIG. 13 is a procedure 1 of the agent according to the third embodiment.
Flow chart showing

FIG. 14 is a procedure 2 of the agent according to the third embodiment.
Flow chart showing

FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional expert system.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 Interface Agent 102 Interface agent 103 User Agent 104 User Agent 105 Coordinator Agent 106 cooperation promoter 107 Agent Environment Server Group 201 Message input means 202 Message Queuing Means 203 Knowledge / Rule Base Interpretation Means 204 Knowledge / rule base storage means 205 hour measuring means 206 Message queue operating means 207 Message output means 501 Message input means 502 Message Queuing Means 503 Knowledge / Rule-based interpreter 504 Knowledge / rule base storage means 505 Message queue operating means 506 Message queue operating means 507 Message Queuing Means 508 message output means 801 Message input means 802 Message Queuing Means 803 Knowledge / rule-based interpretation means 804 Knowledge / rule base storage means 805 time measuring means 806 Message queue operating means 807 Message output means 808 Schedule knowledge storage means 809 Agent Whereabouts Knowledge Storage Means 810 Message input means 811 Knowledge / rule-based interpretation means 812 Knowledge / rule base storage means 813 Message output means

Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-6-133061 (JP, A) JP-A-6-195314 (JP, A) JP-A-9-46370 (JP, A) JP-A-8-8965 (JP , A) JP-A-6-324850 (JP, A) JP-A-11-31188 (JP, A) JP-A-9-269940 (JP, A) "HITACHI Groupmax Agent Version 2.0 Programmer's Guide Explanation and Grammar 3020 -3-952-30 ", Japan, Hitachi, Ltd., September 1, 1997, 4th edition, pp. 42-44 Ichiro Morihara et al., "Implementation of Intelligent Mail Service by Mobile Agents", IEICE Technical Report, Japan, The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, January 26, 1996, Vol. 95, No. 495 (CFS95-35 to 44), pp. 43-48 Kahei Suzuki, et al., "Lotus Notes R4J application personnel guide", Japan, ASCII Co., Ltd., June 11, 1996, first edition, pp. 2, ISB N: 4-7561-1655-8 Atsushi Matsushita, et al., "Platform for Mobile Computing and Communication", Journal of the Institute of Image Electronics Engineers of Japan, Japan, Institute of Image Electronics, December 25, 1997, Vol. 26, No. 6, pp. 639-647, ISSN: 0285-9831 (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 15/00 G06N 5/04 G06F 13/00 G06F 17/60 CSDB (Japan Patent Office)

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. Message input means for receiving a message from another agent, first message queuing means for sequentially storing the received messages, and second message queuing means for sequentially storing messages to be sent to a user. A message output means for transmitting a message to the user, and when the message input means receives a conference notification message, if the user is logged in, the conference notification message is displayed via the message output means. Sent to the user, if the user is not logged in, the conference holding notification message is accumulated in the second message queuing means, when the user logs in,
The user is listed in the meeting notification message
Meetings that have been accumulated if you have not attended
Link the event notification message with the minutes of the meeting and
And a knowledge / rule-based interpreting unit that sends the message to the user via the message output unit by associating with each other. 2. The first message queuing means and
And stored in said second message queuing means
The conference notification message is displayed as the conference notification message.
2. The agent cooperative processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the agent cooperative processing apparatus deletes the conference after the conference described in FIG. 3. Knowledge / rule-based interpreting means is stored.
The notification message of the meeting held and the minutes of the meeting
Based on predetermined knowledge and rule description
The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that
Coordinating processor.