KR100902478B1 - Agent platform - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an agent platform for managing a plurality of agents, and is formed in one layer, and is formed of an HTTP server for receiving an HTTP-based message transmitted from the plurality of agents and another layer of the HTTP server. And a message manager for transmitting the message received from the HTTP server to the agent platform core managing the message in the agent platform.

Accordingly, in the present invention, an HTTP server is formed at one layer, and a message manager is formed at the other layer, and a compatible module compatible with each OS of the plurality of agents is formed at the HTTP server. There is an effect that can be operated without regard to each operating system used.

Agent, platform, HTTP, operating system, ACL, XML, FIPA

Description

Agent platform. {Agent platform}

1 is a block diagram of an agent platform according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a detailed diagram showing the configuration of the HTTP server according to Figure 1 of the present invention.

3 is a detailed view showing the configuration of a message manager according to FIG. 1 of the present invention;

4 is a structural diagram showing an agent platform according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a structural diagram of a message service system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

6 is a flowchart of a message transmission service according to an embodiment of the present invention.

7 is a structural diagram of a test bed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

8 is a graph illustrating processing time comparison analysis according to the number of sockets according to an embodiment of the present invention.

9 is a graph illustrating a comparative analysis between processors according to continuous message transmission according to an embodiment of the present invention.

10 is a graph illustrating processing time comparison analysis according to message size according to an embodiment of the present invention.

* Description of the main drawing codes *

10, 10a ~ 10n: agent

100, 200, 300: agent platform

110, 320: HTTP server 111: communication module

112: compatible module 120: message manager

121: Message queue module 122: ACL module

123: XML module 124: HTTP client

130, 310: Agent platform core

201: AMS 202: DF

203: ACC 311: main container

311-1: Platform Manager Module 311-2: Service Manager Module

312: agent container 312-1: activity management module

312-2: Information Management Module 313: Hash Table

The present invention relates to an agent platform, and more particularly, an HTTP server for receiving a message transmitted from a plurality of agents on an HTTP basis, and a message manager for managing a message received from the HTTP server. It is about an agent platform for processing.

As a technique related to a conventional TCP / IP socket communication processing method between a plurality of client processes and a plurality of server processes, Patent Publication No. 10-0566238 is used for interprocess communication accommodated in a system distributed on a computer communication network. The present invention relates to a method for efficiently handling communication between a plurality of server processes that perform the same function as a plurality of client processes in TCP / IP socket communication. Instead of a method in which a client process directly establishes a socket connection with a server process, A message routing process between the client process and the server process so that the client process and the server process establish a socket connection to the message routing process, and allow the message routing process to relay communications between the client process and the server process. Between the client process and the server process was a description of a plurality of TCP / IP socket communication method.

However, the conventional technology has a problem that communication between a plurality of agents is difficult when relaying a plurality of agents because the conventional technology is implemented in an independent model focusing on the operating system in use without considering compatibility with each operating system of the plurality of agents. .

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above problems, an object of the present invention is to form an HTTP server in one layer, the message manager is formed in the other layer, the plurality of agents in each of the HTTP server A compatible module that is compatible with an operating system is formed to provide an agent platform capable of operating without regard to the operating system used by each of the plurality of agents.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention relates to an agent platform. In an agent platform for managing a plurality of agents, an HTTP-based message formed from a plurality of layers and transmitted from the plurality of agents is received. A message manager configured to form an HTTP server and another layer of the HTTP server, and transmit a message received from the HTTP server to an agent platform core that transmits a message from the agent platform to an agent platform core managing a message on the agent platform. It is characterized by including.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the HTTP server is characterized in that it comprises a communication module for receiving messages from the plurality of agents and compatible modules compatible with each operating system used in the plurality of agents.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the message manager includes a message queue module for processing a queue of messages transmitted from the HTTP server, an ACL module for converting a message processed by the message queue module into an agent standard message, and the ACL module. It characterized in that it comprises an HTTP client for transmitting the message converted in the agent platform to the agent platform core for managing messages in the agent platform.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the HTTP client may further include an XML module for converting the extension of the message transmitted from the HTTP to the agent platform core.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the HTTP server may perform HTTP-based multitasking depending on an operating system of the agent platform.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the compatible module is compatible with any one of Windows, Linux, Solaris, and BSD.

In a ubiquitous environment, intelligent services can be provided by the collaboration of agents with autonomic capabilities. Existing agent platforms have limited messaging speeds and the number of agents that can be connected. Therefore, the present invention intends to propose an agent platform that transmits a message divided into two layers.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a configuration diagram of an agent platform according to an embodiment of the present invention, in the agent platform 100 for managing a plurality of agents 10a to 10n, which is formed as a single layer, and the plurality of agents 10a. ~ 10n) is formed of the HTTP server 110 and the other layer of the HTTP server 110 to receive the HTTP-based message transmitted from, and the agent platform 100 receives the message received from the HTTP server 110 The message manager 120 transmits the message to the agent platform core 130.

More specifically, the HTTP server 100 is operated depending on the operating system used by each of the plurality of agents 10a to 10n, thereby forming a layer.

In addition, the HTTP server 110 is a communication module 111 for receiving a message from a plurality of agents (10a ~ 10n) and the respective agents used in the plurality of agents (10a ~ 10n) as shown in FIG. It is composed of a compatible module 112 compatible with the operating system.

The communication module 111 includes a receiver (not shown) for receiving messages from the plurality of agents and a transmitter (not shown) for transmitting messages to the plurality of agents 10a to 10n.

The compatibility module 112 is formed to be compatible with each operating system used in the plurality of agents 10a to 10n, and the compatibility module 112 may be any one of Windows, Linux, Solaris, and BSD. It is compatible with the operating system and finally can operate regardless of the operating system used by each of the plurality of agents 10a to 10n.

In addition, the compatibility module 112 performs HTTP-based multitasking depending on the operating system of the agent platform 100.

The multitasking model is a select, poll, / dve / poll, epoll / kqueue, IOCP model is used.

The poll model can be used in operating systems Unix and Windows, and there is an advantage that there are no restrictions on the number of socket handles even when many sockets are connected.

The / dve / poll model is available on Solaris, the operating system, and has a function that calls the poll function when a message arrives.

The epoll model can be used in Unix, an operating system, to provide edge-triggered (ET) and lever-triggered (LT).

The kqueue is applicable to the operating system BS (BSD), and provides ET and LT like the epoll.

The IOCP (I / O completion port) can be used in Windows, which is an operating system, and maintains one active thread per CPU, and asynchronously overlaps I / O calls to speed up processing.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the message manager 120 processes the message queue module 121 that processes the queue of messages transmitted from the HTTP server 110 and the message processed by the message queue module 121 as an agent standard. ACL module 122 for converting the message and the HTTP client 124 for transmitting the message converted in the ACL module 122 to the agent platform core 130 for managing the message in the agent platform 100, It further comprises an XML module 123 for extending the transmission function of the HTTP client 124 by converting the extension of the message transmitted from the HTTP client 124 to the agent platform core 130 to XML.

The message queue module 121 queues the received message after the messages transmitted from the plurality of agents 10a to 10n are received through the communication module 111 of the HTTP server 110. In this way, the queues of messages transmitted from the plurality of agents 10a to 10n are processed to prioritize the messages.

Since the ACL module 122 converts a message processed by the message queue module 121 into an agent communication message (ACL) complying with the HTTP standard, and follows the standard of FIPA (foundation for intelligent physical agent). It supports interoperability with other types of agent platforms such as JADE (java agent development environment).

JADE follows the standard of FIPA as a framework used to implement a multi-agent system.

The HTTP client 124 transmits the message converted by the ACL module 122 to the agent platform core 130 that manages the message on the agent platform 100 to finally complete a series of message processing. .

In addition, an XML module 123 is formed to extend the message transmission function of the HTTP client 124, and the XML module 123 transmits a message to the agent platform core 130 by the HTTP client 124. In this case, the message transmission function of the HTTP client 124 may be extended by converting the extension of the message transmitted to the agent platform core 130 into XML.

The process of transmitting the message received from the plurality of agents 10a to 10n to the agent platform core 130 has been described, and the agent platform core 130 to the plurality of agents 10a to 10n. The method of transmitting a message is a reverse order of the process of transmitting a message received from the plurality of agents 10a to 10n to the agent platform core 130, which will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

4 is a structural diagram illustrating an agent platform according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which communication between a plurality of agents 10 is performed in an agent communication language (ACL), which is an agent standard language, and a directory facilitator (DF). ) Is an agent that provides a yellow page service, and AMS (Agent Management Service: 201) is an agent that provides a white page service and manages a log of registered agents.

The Agent Communication Channel (ACC) 203 controls software components in the message transmission between the intra platform and the internal platform. The agent platform handles the needs of various agents and HTTP messages in various client environments.

5 is a structural diagram of a message service system according to an embodiment of the present invention, the HTTP server 320 can be seen as a layer dependent on the operating system. The agent platform 300 is divided into an agent platform core 310 and a message transmission module 320. The message transmission module 320 is formed of an HTTP server 321 and a message manager 322, and the message manager 322 includes an ACL encoder / decoder, an HTTP server, an HTTP client, and an XML module.

When the agent platform 300 communicates with multiple agents 10, it uses ACL messages, which are agent standard languages that conform to the HTTP standard. This allows for interoperability with other types of agent platforms such as JADE.

The message transmission module 320 supports communication between the agent 10 and the agent platform 300, and shows the sequential relationship between basic modules such as initialization, message transmission, and message reception of the agent platform 300. .

The agent platform core 310 is formed of a main container 311, an agent container 312, and a hash table 313.

The main container 311 is a main module for managing the agent platform 300, the main container 311 is a platform manager module for managing the initialization of the agent platform 300 and the message transmission from the message transmission module 320 ( 311-1) and a service manager module 311-2 that registers and manages additional services such as a reflective module.

The agent container 300 forms and manages a hierarchical group according to functions and roles of the agent 10, and manages and monitors the agent's behavior using threads, ID, address, and role. And an information management module 312-2 for managing agent management information.

The hash table 313 manages the ID of the agent 10 as reference information of each agent information using a hash key.

6 is a flowchart of a message transmission service according to an embodiment of the present invention, and shows a sequential relationship between basic modules such as initialization, message transmission, and message reception of the agent platform 300.

Many agents send an ACL message to agent platform 300 which is a standard agent message. At that time, the agent platform core 310 receives a callback message from the message transfer module (MTP) 320. Check the contents of the HTTP header, and if so, send an ACK response message to the sender. The MTS 320 has a built-in ACL library, which is divided into an ACL encoder and an ACL decoder library.

When the HTTP server class starts, the HTTP server socket is initialized. Then RegisterMethod () is called. When an HTTP client message arrives, the HTTP server decodes the HTTP header message according to the HTTP header structure. After this processing, the contents of the HTTP header are checked for correct messages, and if they are correct, the user callback function is called.

The agent platform core 310 is composed of one main container 311 and a plurality of agent containers. When the agent container 312 manages an agent information group, the agent information includes connection information, agent management information, and agent life cycle life cycle. The agent platform 300 monitors and manages an agent operating as a thread. You can see that a thread takes on a dynamic start, stop, hold, and run behavior based on the agent's current state.

7 is a structural diagram of a test bed according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which a test platform for evaluating performance of the proposed method includes select, poll, epoll, and FreeBSD for a Windows-based PC as a client and one PC for Linux. For comparison, the results are compared and evaluated in kqueue.

FIG. 8 is a graph illustrating processing time comparison and analysis graphs according to the number of sockets according to an embodiment of the present invention, and compares the present invention using poll and select models used in JADE and two layers and using epoll and kqueue. FIG. It is.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 8, the processing speed of the present invention, which is composed of two layers, is faster than that of the conventional JADE, and the difference in processing speed becomes larger when the number of connected agents increases. You can see that together.

FIG. 9 is a graph illustrating processing time comparison analysis for continuous message transmission according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 9 illustrates execution time taken when 1000 new connections transmit or receive a message while 100 connections are maintained. To indicate.

In more detail, as shown in the graph of FIG. 8, the processing speed of the present invention, which is composed of two layers, is faster than that of the conventional JADE, and when the number of connected agents increases, the difference in processing speed becomes larger. Able to know.

FIG. 10 is a graph illustrating processing time comparison analysis according to message size according to an embodiment of the present invention, and shows an average transmission time when the packet size is increased to 512K.

In more detail, results similar to the performance analysis of FIGS. 8 and 9 can be seen. Performance evaluation with large number of connections and large packet size shows that the message transmission module 320, which is divided into two layers, improves the transmission performance when the message is transmitted from the agent platform 300. .

 The present invention has been described in detail so far, but the embodiments mentioned in the process are only illustrative and are not intended to be limiting, and the present invention is provided by the following claims and the technical spirit and field of the present invention. Within the scope not departing from the scope of the present invention, changes in the components that can be coped evenly will fall within the scope of the present invention.

As described above, in the present invention, an HTTP server is formed at one layer and a message manager is formed at the other layer. A compatible module compatible with operating systems of each of a plurality of agents is formed at the HTTP server. It is possible to operate without involving the operating system used by each agent of.

Claims (6)

In an agent platform that manages multiple agents, An HTTP server formed of a layer and receiving an HTTP-based message transmitted from the plurality of agents; And a message manager formed at the other end layer of the HTTP server and transmitting a message received from the HTTP server to an agent platform core managing a message in the agent platform. The method of claim 1, The HTTP server comprises a communication module for receiving messages from the plurality of agents and a compatible module compatible with each operating system used in the plurality of agents. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The message manager includes a message queue module for processing a queue of messages transmitted from the HTTP server; An ACL module for converting the message processed by the message queue module into an agent standard message; And an HTTP client for transmitting the message converted by the ACL module to an agent platform core that manages the message in the agent platform. The method of claim 3, wherein And an XML module for converting the extension of the message transmitted from the HTTP client to the agent platform core into XML. The method of claim 4, wherein The HTTP server is an agent platform, characterized in that for performing HTTP-based multi-tasking depending on the operating system of the agent platform. The method of claim 4, wherein The compatible module is an agent platform, characterized in that compatible with any one of Windows, Linux, Solaris and BSD.

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