JUCS - Journal of Universal Computer Science 1(12): 762-789, doi: 10.3217/jucs-001-12-0762
Constraint Agents for the Information Age
expand article infoJean-Marc Andreoli‡, Uwe M. Borghoff‡, Remo Pareschi‡, Johann H. Schlichter§
‡ Rank Xerox Research Centre, Meylan, France§ Institut fuer Informatik, Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Muenchen, Germany

Corresponding author: Jean-Marc Andreoli ( andreoli@xerox.fr )

© Jean-Marc Andreoli, Uwe Borghoff, Remo Pareschi, Johann Schlichter.
This article is freely available under the J.UCS Open Content License.
Citation: Andreoli J-M, Borghoff UM, Pareschi R, Schlichter JH (1995) Constraint Agents for the Information Age. JUCS - Journal of Universal Computer Science 1(12): 762-789. https://doi.org/10.3217/jucs-001-12-0762
Open Access
Abstract
We propose constraints as the appropriate computational constructs for the design of agents with the task of selecting, merging and managing electronic information coming from such services as Internet access, digital libraries, E-mail, or on-line information repositories. Specifically, we introduce the framework of Constraint-Based Knowledge Brokers, which are concurrent agents that use so-called signed feature constraints to represent partially specified information and can flexibly cooperate in the management of distributed knowledge. We illustrate our approach by several examples, and we define application scenarios based on related technology such as Telescript and workflow management systems.
Keywords
multiagent coordination, agent-interaction, distributed problem solving, signed feature constraints, negotiation, cooperation strategies.