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International Workshop on Cooperative Information Agents

CIA 1997: Cooperative Information Agents pp 195–209Cite as

Cooperative Information Agents and communication

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 1202))

Abstract

Research in Information Systems has switched its focus from data to communication. Communication between different autonomous ISs requires a certain amount of intelligence of each system. The system should be able to know which queries it can/may handle and also be able to negotiate about the information that it will give. In short, these systems evolve into what is called Cooperative Information Agents (CIA). We describe an architecture for these CIAs in which the relations of a CIA with other CIAs are handled on two levels. The messages themselves are handled by the communication manager. The communication manager can also negotiate a contract with other CIAs. The contracts (which may include communication or transaction protocols) between agents are handled by the contract manager of the CIA responsible for the contract. The messages between the agents are modeled using speech act theory which provides for a rich and flexible communication. In addition, we describe a lexicon in which the conceptual meaning of the terms of communication can be defined. Together, these levels provide an integrated and rich semantics for the communication between CIAs. These can be interorganizational, as in EDI applications, or intraorganizational, as in Workflow Management.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Infolab, Tilburg University, POBox 90153, 5000, LE Tilburg, The Netherlands

    E. Verharen

  2. Faculty of Mathematics & Computer Science, Eindhoven University of Technology, POBox 513, 5600, MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    F. Dignum

Authors
  1. E. Verharen
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  2. F. Dignum
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Editor information

Peter Kandzia Matthias Klusch

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© 1997 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Verharen, E., Dignum, F. (1997). Cooperative Information Agents and communication. In: Kandzia, P., Klusch, M. (eds) Cooperative Information Agents. CIA 1997. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1202. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-62591-7_34

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-62591-7_34

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-62591-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-68321-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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