JPH07107169A - Agent communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To flexibly provide a multi-media communication service. CONSTITUTION:This system consists of plural multi-media terminals to which an address is set uniquely, and an agent communication network for providing the service corresponding to multi-media data sent out of these terminals, defines each service OBc, OBs as an agent having its own attribute AT, a procedure PR conducted by itself and knowledge related to a communication network, and also, has an agent identifier peculiar to each agent, and each agent sends and receives message to and from other agent by using the own agent identifier and the agent identifier of other agent and sets a common target (goal) related to procedures of both of them, and also, conducts the procedure in accordance with the common target.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an agent communication system suitable for use in multimedia communication services.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a multimedia communication system has attracted attention as a next-generation social system. The multimedia is a composite media formed by fusing conventional media such as telephone and broadcasting, or fusing these media with new media. The multimedia communication system is a system that provides a multimedia communication service that combines technologies of different fields such as broadcasting, information processing, and communication.

The multimedia communication service will be examined below. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an information generation model of an information source of a multimedia communication service, and shows an example of the information generation model in the upper layer and the lower layer.
In this figure, WS1 and WS2 are, for example, multimedia terminals such as workstations, and multimedia data such as moving images and still images are displayed in a window WD which is a rectangular area on the screen.

Each window WD is based on a window system such as an X window, and the multimedia data is displayed on the screen under the control of the window system. Therefore, it is possible to provide various services according to the window system. Further, in FIG. 13, RE is real-time data updated corresponding to real time, and
Is non-real time data that is updated as needed. As shown in this figure, each layer simultaneously realizes real-time communication or non-real-time communication.

Conventionally, in the field of computer communication systems, the OSI seven-layer model has been proposed by ISO in the field of computer communication systems so as to be able to handle the above-mentioned information generation model, and has already started to be used. Further, in the field of computer communication systems, the performance of distributed computer terminals such as workstations has dramatically improved, so that a distributed computing environment in which a wide area communication network (hereinafter referred to as a public network) is also used. Development and industry standardization are steadily progressing centering on the higher layers, as represented by the trend of OSF (Open Software Fundation).

Through such development and standardization, the concept of distributed object orientation has been highlighted as an important technology in the next generation distributed computing environment. In a conventional UNIX environment or distributed computing environment, as a distributed processing mechanism for application communication, for example, RPC is used.
There was a mechanism such as (Remote Procedure Call) that makes a one-to-one correspondence between a client and a server. On the other hand, the distributed object orientation is a concept that allows a distributed processing mechanism to be flexibly configured to construct a distributed linkage mechanism of 1: n and m: n.

[0007]

However, the distributed object-oriented computer communication system is applied to a private network using a broadband cable such as a LAN (Local Area Network) and can be applied to a public network. is not.

Further, as described above, the multimedia communication service in the computer communication system is
Since it is provided as a service in the Ith layer (application layer), various services can be developed. However,
The above-mentioned various services are developed by operating a unique OS (Operat
ing System) is provided,
It can be inferred that it is difficult to construct such a mechanism in a wide area network.

Further, as described above, the multimedia communication service has characteristics as a real-time communication service such as a telephone service and a computer communication service similar to the data communication service. Therefore, a network that realizes a multimedia communication service needs to be an intelligent network that enables "providing various connection forms", "promptly providing new services", and "providing various services".

That is, "economic communication system for transmitting broadband information", "flexible network configuration capable of responding to fluctuations in demand and changes in traffic (traffic) characteristics", "various service forms" A satisfactory system is considered necessary. By the way, in a conventional public network for telephone service, a system has been adopted in which a telephone number output from a transmitting side telephone terminal is used to identify a receiving side telephone terminal as a communication partner and a telephone exchange is performed. In this system, the telephone numbers are allocated by region, and even if the number of terminals increases and the communication system becomes huge, it is possible to respond sufficiently.

However, in recent years, with the advent of intelligent network services (for example, toll-free numbers), which are advanced telephone services, network configuration has become difficult. Intelligent network
When using the service, the user first inputs the service identification number into the transmission side terminal. Since this service identification number is different from the conventional telephone number assigned to each region, the principle of making the number correspond to the conventional telephone network is not clear.

Under these circumstances, research is being conducted on intelligent communication networks that add advanced functions to existing telephone networks. The intelligent communication network referred to here is defined as a new network service provided by adding a new function to an existing network, and its general concept is being solidified. According to the concept, the intelligent communication network is composed of a transfer layer and a high function layer, controls the transfer layer via the high function layer, and thereby provides a new network service.

[0013] However, the way in which the intelligent network service is perceived is slightly different depending on the standardization organization or the researcher, and the research on the intelligent network service is being carried out in accordance with the trend of further improving the telephone service. Therefore, a model including support for future multimedia communication services has not been proposed so much.

Therefore, it is difficult to clarify the functions that the intelligent communication network should have and the interfaces that should be standardized, and it is very difficult to evaluate various capabilities of the intelligent communication network. was there. Therefore,
A communication system capable of providing a multimedia communication service using a public network is desired. The present invention is
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an agent communication system capable of flexibly providing a multimedia communication service.

[0015]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An agent communication system according to the present invention includes a plurality of multimedia terminals whose addresses are uniquely set, and a communication network which provides services according to multimedia data sent from the terminals. And an agent identifier unique to each agent, wherein the service is defined as an agent having attribute data regarding its own attributes, procedure data performed by itself, and knowledge data regarding a communication network. Uses the agent identifier of its own agent and the agent identifier of another agent to send and receive a message to and from the other agent to set a common goal for both procedures and perform the procedure according to the common goal. It is characterized by that.

[0016]

According to the above construction, the service corresponding to the multimedia data sent from the multimedia terminal is defined as an agent having attribute data regarding its own attribute, procedure data performed by itself, and knowledge data regarding the communication network. . Each agent has a unique agent identifier and uses its own agent identifier and the agent identifiers of other agents to send and receive messages to and from the other agents to set common goals for both procedures, and Perform the above procedure according to common goals. Therefore, the multimedia communication service is flexibly provided.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An agent communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Here, in FIG. 1 to FIG. 13, common parts are denoted by the same reference numerals, and overlapping description will be omitted. In this embodiment, first, a multimedia communication service is defined as an agent communication service, and an agent communication network that realizes a multiplexed agent communication service is constructed. Here, a hierarchical model of the agent communication network is shown in FIG.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing a network hierarchy model of an agent communication network. The network hierarchy shown in this figure is roughly divided into three layers, and an application layer R5, a middleware layer R4, and an access transport layer R are arranged in this order from the upper layer. The access / transport layer R is a layer for flexibly realizing agent communication, and includes an agent communication layer R3, a transport layer R2, and a physical layer R1.

By the way, as described above, a model has been considered which enables flexible communication in a distributed environment by grasping individual services and the like as objects. The object-oriented mechanism that is the basis of this model is shown in FIG. FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing an object-oriented mechanism. As shown in this figure, services are grasped as objects OB _c and OB _S. The object OB _s has a predetermined procedure PR and an attribute (data) AT, and by receiving a predetermined message from the object OB _c which is a client, the procedure corresponding to the message is performed.

By such modeling, the characteristics of the object (that is, encapsulation, abstraction, inheritance, message passing, etc.) defined in object orientation are exhibited, and it is considered that various services can be provided in a distributed environment. Has been. However, in a large-scale distributed environment, it is difficult to realize a communication service in a large-scale distributed environment only by an object-oriented mechanism for various reasons described later.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the agent-oriented mechanism as shown in FIG. 3 is adopted as the mechanism for providing the agent communication service. Figure 3
In the above, AG is an agent, and an attribute AT consisting of an attribute representing the characteristics of the agent AG itself and its value, a procedure PR in which a processing procedure performed by a request (message reception) from another agent AG, etc. are described, It is composed of a negotiation NG that exchanges information with another agent AG and performs processing based on the procedure PR, knowledge KL about the agent AG itself or the environment.

That is, the agent communication service is
Contents of communication as a communication service entity (for example, multimedia signal), information about communication procedure (telephone number,
Information regarding charging, route control, etc.) and communication is regarded as an integrated agent (intellectual agent) AG, and a plurality of agent AGs cooperate to provide a communication service.

Therefore, the agent AG has a learning mechanism for making the knowledge KL correspond to changes in the environment. Further, the negotiation NG considers the processing performed by the agent AG including itself and the other agent AG, and the “common goal setting algorithm” for setting the “common goal (goal)” of both agents and each agent AG It operates based on a "distributed cooperation protocol" that cooperatively determines communication paths.

As described above, in the agent communication system according to the present embodiment, the services are represented by the agents AG so that the agents AG work together. Here, how each service is represented in the agent communication system will be described by taking a telephone service as an example. FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing a class of telephone service according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing a method server of an agent of the telephone service.

As shown in these figures, as a telephone service agent AG, classes, applications,
Classes, method servers and methods are defined. Also, "telephone service", "network connection service", "audio", etc. are defined as application classes, and "message telephone service", "message connection service", "microphone", as sub application classes.
"Speaker" etc. are defined.

The above-mentioned application class and sub-application class inherit various characteristics of the class. This is clear when considering the object-oriented characteristics. By the above-mentioned "inheritance", even if a request for providing a new network connection service is requested, the request can be promptly met. Also, the method server of the agent AG, as in the case described above,
Define the class. By doing so, the telephone service is realized.

Next, the process of performing the telephone service will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. Figure 6
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing message passing between agents that realize a telephone service. In this diagram, each message is described at a position corresponding to the time at which it is transmitted and received. On the other hand, FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram showing a distributed cooperative agent communication mechanism among agents for realizing a telephone service. The agent communication system according to the present embodiment is configured based on the communication mechanism shown in FIG.

In FIG. 7, A, B and C are multimedia terminals used by users A, B and C (not shown) who can receive telephone services, and AN is each terminal A, B and C.
Is an agent communication network to which is connected. Of course, although not shown, many terminals are connected to the agent communication network AN in addition to the terminals A, B, and C.

The terminals A, B, C are, for example, workstations, etc., and execute the client agent CL, the telephone service agent TE, the audio agent OE, and the charging agent PE as processes. The client agent CL is the user A,
A message according to the service request of B and C is supplied to the telephone service agent TE.

The telephone service agent TE, based on its own procedure PR, has a client agent CL or an agent communication network AN.
Performs processing according to the message supplied from. Also,
Audio agent OE, billing agent PE
Each performs processing according to the message supplied from the telephone service agent TE based on its own procedure PR. In the actual service, there are more agent AGs.

The agent communication network AN
, S _{1 to} S ₄ are agent communication servers, each having a network connection service agent CE, a charging agent PE, and a knowledge base CK. The network connection service agent CE has its own procedure P
Based on R and the knowledge base CK, processing is performed according to the message supplied from the telephone service agent TE connected to the agent CE or the network connection agent CE.

The knowledge base CK is composed of a context agent XE and a class repository CR which will be described later. Although not shown, in the agent communication network AN, the above-mentioned agent communication server S ₁
There are many agent communication servers other than ~ S ₄ .

Now, a process in which the user A calls the user B will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. Here, it is assumed that the telephone service agent TE of the terminal A has its target set so as to transfer the telephone to a predetermined terminal when the user B is absent. The process of agent communication based on this goal is as follows.

First, when the user A operates the terminal A to make a call to the user B, the client agent CL in the terminal A sends a connection start request message to the telephone service agent TE. To do. Upon receiving this message, the telephone service agent TE activates the server corresponding to the message and executes the service.

Next, the telephone service agent TE
Sends a connection request message to the user B to the network connection service agent CE of the agent communication server S ₁ . In this case, the telephone service agent TE
Requests the network connection service agent CE with the agent identifier indicating the user B as the called number. This agent identification number can uniquely identify the agent in the entire agent communication system.

The network connection service agent CE of the agent communication server S ₁ is a terminal B used by the user B.
The location on the agent communication network AN where the agent communication server S ₂ directly connected to the server exists is clarified by inquiring the context agent XE in the server S ₁ . The network connection service agent CE of the agent communication server S ₁ requests the telephone connection with the terminal B to the network connection service agent CE in the agent communication server S ₂ whose position has been clarified.

Then, the network connection service agent C
E requests a telephone connection from the telephone service agent TE in terminal B. Here, since the user B is absent, the telephone service agent TE in the terminal B is
"User B in the absence, went to the user C's house" to the effect that the message of the agent communication server S ₂ network connection service
Supply to the agent CE.

The network connection service agent of agent communication server S ₂ CE, the agent communication server S
Through the network connection service agent CE of _{1 to} the telephone service agent TE in the terminal A, "user B
Is absent and entered user C's house. " Terminal A
The telephone service agent TE in the network communication service agent CE in the agent communication server S ₁
Requesting a telephone connection to the terminal C used by the user C.

The network connection service agent CE in the agent communication server S ₁ negotiates with the context agent XE to obtain the position of the agent communication server S ₃ to which the terminal C is directly connected,
A telephone connection is requested from the network connection service agent CE of the server S ₃ . And finally, the telephone service agent TE in the terminal C is requested to ring the call bell.

As a result, the telephone service agent TE in the terminal C activates the client agent CL, generates the microphone and speaker of the audio agent OE, and calls the client agent CL of the terminal C. To prepare. When the connection with the terminal B becomes possible, in the terminal A, the voice of the user A is input from the microphone to the terminal A. Therefore, the telephone service agent TE informs the audio agent OE of "microphone" as a multimedia application. -Request to start "server".

Further, the telephone service agent TE of the terminal A instructs the charging agent PE to negotiate with the charging agent PE in the agent communication network AN to perform charging processing. Thus, the user A can make a call to the user B who is in the home of the user C. In this case, the telephone service agent TE in terminal C is a duplicate of the telephone service agent TE in terminal B. That is, the process migration is performed in the wide area network. The agent replicated here is managed by garbage collection.

As described above, in the agent communication system, many agents distributed geographically and operating in parallel have message passing (knowledge exchange).
Then, by performing negotiations with each other, a predetermined service (for example, telephone service) is provided.

As described above, in the agent communication system according to the present embodiment, since the hierarchical model shown in FIG. 1 is adopted, individual services such as X window and X video are applied to the application layer R on the terminal system 1 side.
5 is generated, and the agent communication layer R3 communicates via the middleware layer R4. In this way, by including each service in the agent, it is possible to conceal the specifications of multimedia services that differ depending on the configuration of the terminal system 1. That is, multimedia services of various specifications can be handled in a unified manner. Furthermore, since agents representing individual multimedia services can be identified end-to-end in a network-wide manner, agent communication can be performed among an unspecified number of users.

By the way, when the above-mentioned agent communication system is constructed in a wide area network which is a large-scale distributed environment, it is not enough to operate each service or function as an agent. In a wide area network, for example, it is necessary to properly manage various agents, unify the description method of agents, and the mechanism thereof.

Further, the specifications of each terminal are at various levels (OS
It is also necessary to conceal the difference in the description mechanism of the agent that occurs when the difference occurs in the middleware layer R4, etc.). It is required to realize a mechanism that meets these various requirements on a large-scale distributed computing system in a higher layer.

The mechanism required for applying the agent communication system to the wide area network will be described below. First, the structure and communication mechanism of the agent communication network will be examined with reference to FIG. As described above, in the agent communication network, communication between agents is performed by the access transport layer R.

The agent communication layer R3 constituting the access transport layer R realizes end-to-end communication by negotiation between agents. The transport layer R2 is, for example, a socket (Socket) which is an inter-process communication mechanism of a session layer (fifth layer) of the conventional OSI seven-layer model, and a transport layer (fourth layer).
TCP protocol, network layer (third layer) IP
It includes a protocol and a flow control function of the data link layer (second layer), and is higher in function by modularizing each function than the conventional protocol model consisting of many layers. The physical layer R1 is an actual transmission system, and has an STM (Synchronous Transfer Method).
), ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Method), etc. have already been realized.

In each of the layers R1 to R3 described above, the agent communication layer R3 is a layer that realizes a mechanism for executing various service agents by an agent-oriented mechanism. This agent communication layer R3
Has various distributed and transparent functions required to realize an agent-oriented system in a large-scale, wide-area distributed network.

Of the various dispersive permeabilities, of particular importance are positional and mobile permeabilities. Location transparency means that a user who receives a service does not need to know the location of each agent that represents a service or network mechanism in a wide area network, which is a large-scale distributed environment. In addition, the mobility is that an agent as a service can move arbitrarily.

The agent communication layer R3 is roughly divided into two, as shown in FIG. 8, according to the above two transparency. One is a distributed computing platform PF when the communication network is regarded as a large-scale distributed environment, and the other is a service agent executed by an agent-oriented mechanism built on the distributed computing platform PF. Agent Request Brok
er) ARB (hereinafter referred to as broker ARB).

Further, in FIG. 8, S _i and S _j are agent communication servers, natural numbers i and j are N (N is the number of agent control servers, and depending on the scale of the agent communication network N). Is set), and i is set such that i ≠ j. Here, the agent communication server S _i corresponds to the user A, and the server S _j corresponds to the user B.

In FIG. 8, the distributed cooperative agent communication mechanism between agents in the agent communication system can meet the above-mentioned various requests by being composed of various agents representing individual services and functions and the broker ARB. it can. Here, the broker ARB mediates the exchange of messages between the client agent and the server agent.

Further, since the broker ARB manages the position of the agent and transmits the message, each agent can send a message without worrying about the position and format (description language etc.) of the partner agent. Further, the client agent and the server agent can independently make corrections and changes.

The communication process of the agent communication system to which the above-mentioned broker ARB is applied is divided into the following five phases. (1) Message transmission (2) Server / Agent selection (3) Location management by name service (4) Security management and authentication (5) Process activation and message allocation Hereinafter, the above five phases will be described with reference to FIGS. Will be sequentially described with reference to.

FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram showing the function and structure of the agent request broker. In this figure, CS is an agent control server provided at each of the distributed sites in the broker ARB,
Has class repository CR, context agent XE, knowledge KL. The server CS also has a name service function. What is the name service function?
A function that manages the location and name of agents in a distributed system, which enables clients and clients to be aware of where the server agents are stored.
Can describe agents.

(1) Transmission of Message As shown in FIG. 8, the telephone service agent TE, which is a client agent, is
To send a message to the agent CE, first,
Send a message to the broker ARB.

(2) Selection of Server Agent In this way, when the client agent AG requests the broker ARB to send a message, the process shown in FIG.
Agent Control Server C as shown in
The S refers to the class repository CR and the context agent XE to select the optimum server or method for processing the request represented by the message. At this time, depending on the case, a plurality of servers and methods may be selected. Where class repository CR
Is registered with information such as operations that can be performed on the agent, information about the agent and its function, and messages to be supplied to the agent, and is used for selecting an optimum server.

(3) Location Management by Name Service The broker ARB obtains the location information of the server agent CE (see FIG. 8) most suitable for processing the request and activates the agent CE. The process of obtaining the position of the agent CE is performed by the name service function of the agent control server CS.

(4) Security Management and Authentication The agent control server CS is a server
Before starting the agent CE (see FIG. 8), the access right is authenticated and security management is performed. (5) Process startup and message allocation After the agent control server CS performs security management, the server agent CS (see FIG. 8)
To start. Then, if it is necessary to return the processing result, a message corresponding to the processing result is supplied to the client agent TE (see FIG. 8).

When the server agent CE is activated, the processing may be performed by a multi-agent between a plurality of clients and servers. In that case, a distributed collaborative protocol is used to perform message passing efficiently by multi-agent. According to this protocol, a method of a server agent is executed by setting a certain common goal while exchanging knowledge among a plurality of agents. Communication between agents is performed as described above.

Further, the broker ARB will be described in detail. The broker ARB has the following functions. (1) Secure communication channels between different models by centralized management of communication (2) Unify communication contents such as data format (3) Distributed cooperative message passing (4) Negotiation (5) Knowledge acquisition, change, learning Each of the above functions will be sequentially described.

(1) Securing communication path between different models by centralized management of communication In a wide area network, agents on terminals having different specifications may communicate. Therefore, the broker ARB can create a logical instance of the server object on the client side and hide the difference.

(2) Unification of communication contents such as data format When the client agent and the server agent exchange information and knowledge by message passing, their message formats may be different from each other. For example, data representations (integers, floating point representations, etc.) are closely related to the architecture of the computer that is the terminal, and differ depending on the terminal model. Broker A
The RB has a function of converting the data format of the message sent from the client side into a format that can be handled by the server side.

(3) Distributed Cooperative Message Passing In a multi-agent environment, message passing needs to be performed in parallel and efficiently. In order to meet this demand, as mentioned above, the broker ARB adopts the distributed cooperation protocol. According to this protocol, unnecessary communication route search can be avoided and the time required for the route search can be set within a predetermined time.

(4) Negotiation Based on the distributed cooperation protocol, the procedure is performed while exchanging information and knowledge among a plurality of agents, and it is possible to set a common goal for a plurality of agents. As a result, the service can be provided extremely efficiently.

(5) Acquiring, Changing, and Learning Knowledge Each agent possesses various kinds of knowledge, and it is necessary for the agents themselves to acquire knowledge according to changes in the environment. The broker ARB has a learning mechanism and can add knowledge to the agent.
That is, it is possible to flexibly respond to environmental changes such as the addition of new services and changes in demand and communication volume.

An example in which an agent communication system constructed by using the above-mentioned broker ARB is constructed on an existing network will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 to 12.
FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a networking software structure in a communication system. In this figure, the agent communication system is based on the existing TCP / I.
It is built on PInternet TIP, DCE distributed computing platform DPF.

Further, in FIG. 10, A ₁ and B ₁ are parts corresponding to the upper two layers in the terminal system 1 (see FIG. 1), and A ₂ and B ₂ are access / transport layers R.
Is a part corresponding to. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the system configuration of the agent communication experiment system. In this figure, 2 is a wide area agent communication network, 3 is a multimedia terminal such as a workstation, and 3'is a terminal compatible with a telephone service. Also, 4 is a router, 5
Is a transport communication server, and 6 is an agent communication server such as a workstation.

The system shown in FIG. 11 is a terminal system 1.
And the wide area agent communication network 2. The terminal system 1 is, for example, an Ethernet (Et
A multimedia terminal 3 and a terminal 3'are connected on hernet). As shown in FIG. 12, the multimedia terminal 3 is configured with a distributed multimedia environment (X window, X video, audio server, etc.), and
Telephone services, video services, etc. are constructed based on the agent communication mechanism.

In the wide area agent communication network 2, as shown in FIG. 10, the TCP / IP Internet TIP is used as a base, and a distributed computing platform DCE including an industry standard DCE distributed computing environment and a distributed OS is constructed and constructed. And a broker ARB is built on them. By constructing the experimental system in this way, it was confirmed that the multimedia communication service can be flexibly provided.

As described above, according to this embodiment, each service or application is generated in the application layer on the terminal side and communicated with the agent communication amount via the middleware layer on the terminal side. . In this way, by expressing each service with an agent, it is possible to conceal the specifications of multimedia services that differ depending on the terminal.

In the agent communication network, many services, in-network functions, user functions and the like are managed as agents having agent identifiers in a wide area network, so that even one user can use many terminals such as one workstation. Since the agent identifier can be used, various services can be deployed. For example, multimedia communication or the like between unspecified number of users can be realized.

Furthermore, since the communication service is described in the form of an agent, it is possible to take advantage of the distributed object oriented system. For example, it is possible to easily develop software for various services. Furthermore, software assets can be inherited between various services. In addition, the software can be easily maintained. Needless to say, the broker ARB has a function for defining a “class”, a “method server”, and the like, and a regulation regarding an interface between the agent and the broker ARB.

[0074]

As described above, according to the present invention,
A service corresponding to multimedia data transmitted from a multimedia terminal is defined as an agent having attribute data regarding its own attribute, procedure data performed by itself, and knowledge data regarding a communication network. Each agent has a unique agent identifier and
Using the agent identifier of its own and the agent identifier of another agent, a message is sent and received with the other agent to set a common goal for both procedures, and the procedure is performed according to the common goal. Therefore, there is an effect that the multimedia communication service can be flexibly provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing a network hierarchy model of an agent communication network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing an object-oriented mechanism.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing an agent-oriented mechanism.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing a class of telephone service.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing a method server of a telephone service agent.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing message passing between agents that realize a telephone service.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram showing a distributed cooperative agent communication mechanism between agents that realize a telephone service.

FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a function of an agent request broker in an agent communication network.

FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram showing functions of a structure of an agent request broker.

FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a networking software structure in a communication system.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a system configuration of an agent communication experiment system.

FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining a distributed multimedia environment using workstations.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an information generation model of an information source of a multimedia communication service.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 terminal system 3 multimedia terminal AG agent AN agent communication network ARB agent request broker AT attribute CS agent control server KL knowledge NG negotiation PR procedure S ₁ , S ₂ , ... Agent communication server

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A communication system comprising: a plurality of multimedia terminals having addresses uniquely set; and a communication network for providing a service according to multimedia data sent from the terminals, wherein the service comprises It is defined as an agent having attribute data regarding its own attributes, procedure data performed by itself, and knowledge data regarding a communication network, and has an agent identifier unique to each agent, and the agent is its own agent identifier and an agent of another agent An agent communication system characterized by transmitting and receiving a message to and from another agent using an identifier to set a common goal for both procedures and performing the procedure according to the common goal. 2. An agent control server for transmitting a message between the agents is arranged in the communication network, and the agent control server has information about the agent and information about communication. 2. The agent according to the request represented by the message sent from the agent is selected, and if the access right and the request are valid, the message is supplied to the selected agent. The agent communication system according to. 3. An operation that can be executed for each agent,
An agent control server having information about each agent, information about the function of each agent, a class repository in which a message to be passed to the agent is registered, and position information about each agent existing in the communication network is provided in the communication network. The agent control server refers to the class repository to select an agent according to a request from each agent, and when the information is exchanged using the procedure of each agent, And perform the communication service in the order of message sending, server agent selection, name service location management, security management and authentication, process startup, and message allocation. Characterized by The agent communication system according to claim 1.