System and method of intelligent agent management using an overseer agent for use in vehicle diagnostics

• US 20070265735A1
• Filed: 04/26/2006
• Published: 11/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/26/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Motor Corporation
• Original Assignee: Toyota Motor Corporation
• Inventors: Chigusa, Shunsuke
• Granted Patent: US 8,060,285 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/043 Distributed expert systems; Blackboards

Abstract

A system and method of intelligent agent management within a vehicle intelligent agent system includes a host system, an overseer agent, and an agent that are all in communication via a communications network. The system includes an executable overseer agent management program that uses the identification code of the agent to determine if the agent identification code has been copied and deletes the agent from the intelligent agent system if the agent identification code has been copied. If the agent identification code has not been copied, the agent gathers new information, and the information in the agent knowledge database is updated using the new information and the updated information is transferred from the agent knowledge database to the overseer agent knowledge database. The overseer agent checks the validity of the transmitted information, and agent is deleted and a new agent is generated if the learned information is not valid.

Claims

1. A method of intelligent agent management using an overseer agent within an intelligent agent system for a vehicle, said method including the steps of:

selecting an agent within the intelligent agent system for the vehicle, wherein the agent includes a processor and a memory associated with the processor and an agent knowledge database;

receiving an identification code by the agent, wherein the identification code is encrypted and identifies the agent within the intelligent agent system for the vehicle;

identifying an overseer agent within the intelligent agent system that is operatively in communication with the agent via a communications network, wherein the overseer agent includes a processor and an overseer knowledge database;

using the overseer agent to determine if the agent identification code has been copied and deleting the agent from the intelligent agent system if the agent identification code has been copied, and continuing to check for a non-conforming agent if the agent identification code has not been copied;

providing the agent with information from a host system within the intelligent agent system, wherein the host system includes a processor, a memory associated with the processor, an input/output means, and a knowledge database, and the information includes executable instructions for the agent;

executing the instructions by the agent and updating information in the agent knowledge database with new information generated by executing the instructions;

transferring the updated information from the agent knowledge database to the overseer agent via the communications network, wherein the transferred information is transferred to overseer agent knowledge database;

checking the validity of the transmitted information from the agent, by the overseer agent;

deleting the invalid agent from the intelligent agent system and generating a new agent if the transmitted information from the agent is not valid, by the overseer agent.

2. A method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said step of determining if the agent identification code has been copied further includes the step of checking the agent identification code for an indicator flag indicating that the identification code is copied.

3. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of updating the existing information in the agent knowledge database further includes the step of adaptively updating the information stored in the agent knowledge database with the new information learned by executing the instructions.

4. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the information includes executable program code containing instructions for work to be performed by the agent.

5. A method as set forth in claim 4 further including the step of using the work instructions in vehicle diagnostics.

6. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of checking the validity of the transmitted information further includes the step of comparing the transmitted information to predetermined information stored in the overseer agent database.

7. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of deleting the invalid agent further includes the step of erasing the invalid agent from the memory of the host system.

8. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of generating a new agent further includes the step of copying validated information for the deleted agent stored in the overseer agent knowledge database into a knowledge database of the new agent.

9. A method of managing information stored in an intelligent agent knowledge database for the intelligent agent system, said method including the steps of:

monitoring an agent by an overseer agent within the intelligent agent system, wherein the agent includes a processor and a memory associated with the processor and an agent knowledge database, and the agent executes instructions to obtain information that is stored in the agent knowledge database;

transferring the information from the agent knowledge database to a host system via a communications network, wherein the host system includes a host computer system having a processor, a memory associated with the processor, an input/output means, and a host knowledge database;

comparing the transferred information to predetermined information stored in the host knowledge database, to determine if the transferred information is valid;

updating the predetermined information in the host knowledge database using the validated information, transferring the validated information to the agent for use by the agent, if determined that the learned information is valid; and

deleting the agent from the intelligent agent system and the transferred information from the host knowledge database, if determined that the transferred information is not valid.

10. A method as set forth in claim 9 wherein said agents are distributed in a hierarchical arrangement.

11. A method of transferring information between intelligent agents within an intelligent agent system, said method comprising the steps of:

transferring information from an agent knowledge database for an agent within an intelligent agent system to a memory area of a receiver agent;

requesting, by the receiver agent, that a single task processor having a controller and a database divided into a program area and a data area, reserve a portion of memory in the data area;

forwarding the transferred information from the agent knowledge database to the reserved memory in the single task processor;

storing the transferred information in the reserved memory area until a predetermined condition is met; and

deleting the transferred information from the reserved memory area of the processor when the predetermined condition is met, and releasing the reserved memory for other uses.

12. A system of intelligent agent management using an overseer agent within an intelligent agent system for a vehicle, comprising:

a host system within the intelligent agent system, wherein the host system includes a processor, a memory associated with the processor, an input/output means, and a knowledge database, and the information includes executable instructions;

an agent within the intelligent agent system for the vehicle, wherein the agent includes a processor and a memory associated with the processor and an agent knowledge database;

an overseer agent in communication with the agent via a communications network, wherein the overseer agent includes a processor, a memory associated with the processor and an overseer knowledge database;

an executable overseer agent management program maintained by the overseer agent, wherein the overseer agent management program provides the agent with an identification code that identifies the agent within the intelligent agent system for the vehicle and uses the identification code to determine if the agent identification code has been copied and deletes the agent from the intelligent agent system if the agent identification code has been copied, and if the agent identification code has not been copied provides the agent with information containing executable instructions for the agent, and the instructions are executed and the information in the agent knowledge database is updated with the new information and the updated information is transferred from the agent knowledge database to the overseer agent knowledge database, and the validity of the transmitted information is checked and agent is deleted from the intelligent agent system and a new agent is generated if the transmitted information from the agent is not valid.

13. A system as set forth in claim 12 further comprising:

an executable software program for managing information stored in the knowledge database by transferring the information from the agent to the host system via the communications network, comparing the transferred information to predetermined information stored in the host knowledge database to determine if the transferred information is valid and updating the predetermined information in the host knowledge database using the validated information and transferring the validated information to the agent if the information is valid, and deleting the agent from the intelligent agent system and the transferred information from the host knowledge database, if determined that the information is not valid.

14. A system as set forth in claim 12 further comprising:

a receiver agent having a memory, and information from the agent knowledge database is transferred to the memory area of the receiver agent;

a single task processor having controller and a database divided into a program area and a data area, and the receiver agent reserves a portion of the memory in the data area of the single task processor for the transferred information from the agent knowledge database and stores the transferred information in the reserved memory area until a predetermined condition is met and deletes the transferred information from the reserved memory area of the processor when the predetermined condition is met, so that the reserved memory is available for other uses.