Information processing system and method for same
First Claim
1. A mobile agent which migrates among a plurality of processing units that form a distributed system, comprising:
- storage means for storing cooperation problem solving knowledge that represents how said plurality of processing units cooperate with each other to perform said problem solving;
communication means for communicating with said plurality of processing units to receive information from each processing unit and to transmit information generated from one or both of said cooperation problem solving knowledge and the received information to each processing unit; and
processing means for generating the information to be transmitted to each processing unit by making use of said cooperation problem solving knowledge when said plurality of processing units are required to cooperate with each other, and for mediating cooperation among said processing units by causing said communication means to transmit the generated information to each processing unit.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A mobile agent mediates cooperation among schedulers by executing a cooperation protocol. For heuristics such as strategies and the order in which variables are decided, which are used as criteria of selecting the value of a variable from candidates, when the heuristics are to be built into a solving method of a constraint satisfaction problem, processes with regard to these heuristics are so substantially localized as to be capable of parallel execution. These processes capable of parallel execution, as autonomous operations of different mobile agents, can be under modeling in natural form, resulting in easy installation. This facilitates software construction for reflecting the heuristics in a solving method of a constraint satisfaction problem, as well as improves the maintainability and extendibility of software.
-
Citations
19 Claims
-
1. A mobile agent which migrates among a plurality of processing units that form a distributed system, comprising:
-
storage means for storing cooperation problem solving knowledge that represents how said plurality of processing units cooperate with each other to perform said problem solving;
communication means for communicating with said plurality of processing units to receive information from each processing unit and to transmit information generated from one or both of said cooperation problem solving knowledge and the received information to each processing unit; and
processing means for generating the information to be transmitted to each processing unit by making use of said cooperation problem solving knowledge when said plurality of processing units are required to cooperate with each other, and for mediating cooperation among said processing units by causing said communication means to transmit the generated information to each processing unit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. An information processing system which has a plurality of nodes connected with one another through a network and performs information processing in a distributed manner by allowing a mediation agent to migrate among said nodes and to operate on each node, each of said the plurality of nodes comprising:
-
a constituent element which performs information processing on the node; and
an agent wrapper which has an access section for allowing said constituent element to operate according to processing procedures intrinsic thereto and a communication section performing a communication function with the mediation agent which migrates among said nodes through the network, wherein each constituent element located on each of said nodes performs the processing procedures based on an interaction protocol which expresses a mutual action process between constituent elements on the basis of a message exchange rule between the constituent elements, the interaction protocol unique to each constituent element being described in the access section of said agent wrapper, wherein each of said nodes has sections, which are implemented on the node by said mediation agent, including a communication section that exchanges messages with the communication section of the agent wrapper located on each node, a migration section that migrates among said nodes according to a message from each node, a storage section that stores an interaction protocol common to constituent elements for allowing the whole information processing system to operate in a coherent manner, and a load section that reads out an interaction protocol from said storage section based on a message from each node. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
-
-
15. An information processing method which uses a plurality of nodes connected with one another through a network and performs information processing in a distributed manner by allowing a mediation agent to migrate among said nodes and to operate on each node, said method using an information processing system, the system comprising:
-
a constituent element which is located on each node and performs information processing on the node; and
an agent wrapper which is located on each node and has an access section for allowing said constituent element to operate according to processing procedures intrinsic thereto and a communication section performing a communication function with the mediation agent which migrates among said nodes through the network, wherein each constituent element located on each of said nodes performs the processing procedures based on an interaction protocol which expresses a mutual action process between constituent elements on the basis of a message exchange rule between the constituent elements, said method comprising the steps of. describing the interaction protocol unique to each constituent element in the access section of said agent wrapper;
causing said mediation agent to implement sections on the node, the sections including a communication section that exchanges messages with the communication section of the agent wrapper located on each node, a migration section that migrates among said nodes according to a message from each node, a storage section that stores an interaction protocol common to constituent elements for allowing the whole information processing system to operate in a coherent manner, and a load section that reads out an interaction protocol from said storage section based on a message from each node;
performing processing with regard to problem solving procedures common to constituent elements, based on an interaction protocol read out from said storage section implemented by said mediation agent; and
performing a local processing unique to each constituent element, based on an interaction protocol described in the access section located on the node on which the constituent element located. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
-
-
19. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program for performing information processing, using a plurality of nodes connected with one another through a network and performs information processing in a distributed manner by allowing a mediation agent to migrate among said nodes and to operate on each node, said program comprising:
-
means for implementing an information processing system, the system comprising;
a constituent element which is located on each node and performs information processing on the node; and
an agent wrapper which is located on each node and has an access section for allowing said constituent element to operate according to processing procedures intrinsic thereto and a communication section performing a communication function with the mediation agent which migrates among said nodes through the network, wherein each constituent element located on each of said nodes performs the processing procedures based on an interaction protocol which expresses a mutual action process between constituent elements on the basis of a message exchange rule between the constituent elements, said program further comprising;
means for describing the interaction protocol unique to each constituent element in the access section of said agent wrapper;
means for causing said mediation agent to implement sections on the node, the sections including a communication section that exchanges messages with the communication section of the agent wrapper located on each node, a migration section that migrates among said nodes according to a message from each node, a storage section that stores an interaction protocol common to constituent elements for allowing the whole information processing system to operate in a coherent manner, and a load section that reads out an interaction protocol from said storage section based on a message from each node;
means for performing processing with regard to problem solving procedures common to constituent elements, based on an interaction protocol read out from said storage section implemented by said mediation agent; and
means for performing a local processing unique to each constituent element, based on an interaction protocol described in the access section located on the node on which the constituent element located.
-
Specification