Method and system for intelligent agent decision making for tactical aerial warfare

• US 6,360,193 B1
• Filed: 03/29/1999
• Issued: 03/19/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: 21st Century Screens Incorporated
• Original Assignee: 21st Century Screens Incorporated
• Inventors: Stoyen, Alexander D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Teska, Kevin J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): PHAN, THAI Q
• Application Number:
  US09/277,776
• Time in Patent Office: 1,086 Days
• Field of Search: 703/17, 703/20, 703/22, 703/2, 703/1, 706/45, 706/31, 706/61, 706/47, 706/51, 706/100
• US Class Current: 703/17
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 9/003 for military purposes and tactics

Abstract

In an intelligent object oriented agent system, a computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making in at least one situation. The method includes the step of configuring at least one tactical agent implemented by at least one tactical agent object that includes a plurality of resources corresponding to immediate certainties, near certainties, and longer-term possibilities characterizing the at least one situation. The method also includes the steps of processing the at least one situation using the at least one tactical agent, and implementing the decision making, by at least one user or independently by at least one intelligent agent responsive to the processing step. A computer readable tangible medium stores instructions for implementing the user assisted or computer implemented method of decision making, which instructions are executable by a computer. In a preferred embodiment, the situation comprises an aerial combat situation, or other situation with moving resources.

Claims

1. In an intelligent agent system, a computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making in at least one aerial combat situation, comprising the steps of:

configuring, using a computer, at least one tactical agent that includes data corresponding to immediate certainties, near certainties, and longer-term possibilities characterizing the at least one aerial combat situation with respect to a user'"'"'s goals and activities based on the user'"'"'s resources, knowledge of environmental constraints and historical combat related information, and irrespective of an enemy'"'"'s specific goals and plans associated with the at least one aerial combat situation;

processing, using the computer, the at least one aerial combat situation using the at least one tactical agent; and

implementing the decision making, by at least one user or independently by at least one intelligent agent, responsive to said processing step,

wherein the at least one intelligent agent comprises a plurality of collaborating intelligent agents for the decision making,

wherein the decision making is implemented or the user assisted by implementing global decisions that affect the plurality of the collaborating intelligent agents and the at least one user on the basis of the plurality of collaborating agents exchanging, debating and discussing the data.

2. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 1, wherein the at least one intelligent agent exhibits autonomous behavior and engages in a human-simulated or human-like decision making process.

3. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 1, wherein the at least one intelligent agent assists the at least one user in the decision making for the at least one aerial combat situation by providing the at least one user advice on coordinating the at least one aerial combat situation.

4. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 1, wherein the at least one intelligent agent is configurable to perform independent decisions in at least one of real-time and non-real time for the at least one aerial combat situation.

5. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of collaborating intelligent agents includes or accesses a portion of the data not shared by another of the plurality of intelligent agents.

6. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 1,

wherein the at least one intelligent agent comprises a plurality of collaborating intelligent agents for the decision making, and

wherein the plurality of collaborating agents collaborate and optionally debate with each other and with the at least one user.

7. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 1,

wherein the at least one intelligent agent comprises a plurality of collaborating intelligent agents for the decision making, and

wherein the plurality of collaborating intelligent agents include at least one of roleplaying agents and adviser agents.

8. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 1,

wherein the at least one intelligent agent comprises a plurality of collaborating intelligent agents,

wherein the at least one user comprises a plurality of users, and

wherein the plurality of collaborating intelligent agents collaborate with the plurality of users to jointly perform the decision making.

9. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 1,

wherein the at least one user comprises a plurality of independent or collaborating users, and

wherein the at least one intelligent agent collaborates with the plurality of independent or collaborating users to jointly perform the decision making.

10. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 1, wherein the at least one intelligent agent assists the at least one user in the decision making for the at least one aerial combat situation by providing the at least one user advice on coordinating the at least one aerial combat situation using a closed loop feedback process between the at least one intelligent agent and the at least one user.

11. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 10, wherein the at least one intelligent agent accepts real-time corrections to the environment as perceived by the at least one intelligent agent from the at least one user in at least one of a non-real time and real-time period.

12. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 1, wherein the at least one intelligent agent assists the at least one user in the decision making for at least one of the at least one aerial combat situation, sea situation, undersea situation, space situation, land situation, railroad situation, automotive situation, underground situation, network situation, tactical situation, and traffic situation, and any combinations thereof.

13. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 1,

wherein the at least one user comprises a plurality of independent or collaborating users, and

wherein the at least one intelligent agent collaborates with the plurality of independent or collaborating users with different sets of environmental information representing each of the users different perceptions of the environment to perform the decision making.

14. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 13, wherein the at least one intelligent agent utilizes the different sets of environmental information to at least one of enhance and correct the at least one intelligent agent'"'"'s view of the environment.

15. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 14, wherein at least one of corrected and enhanced information resulting from the different sets of environmental information is propagated to the plurality of independent or collaborating users for at least one of review, adjusting and updating of the environmental information.

16. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 1,

wherein the at least one user comprises a plurality of independent or collaborating users, and

wherein the at least one intelligent agent comprises a plurality of collaborating intelligent agents representing the plurality of independent or collaborating users having different environmental perceptions.

17. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 1, wherein the at least one intelligent agent learns over time by accumulating knowledge about at least one of user behavior, habits and psychological profiles of the at least one user.

18. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 17, wherein the at least one intelligent agent includes a priority scheme, and wherein a repeated rejection by the at least one user of a particular type of agent recommendation by the at least one intelligent agent causes the at least one intelligent agent to review its priority scheme and optionally reprioritize the priority scheme.

19. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 18, wherein as a result of the at least one intelligent agent reviewing its priority, the at least one intelligent agent does not recommend a specific action or in-action.

20. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 1, wherein the at least one intelligent agent collects and evaluates at least one user performance indicator including mental state, physical condition, fatigue, and stress of the at least one user, responsive to the environment and complexity associated therewith.

21. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 20, wherein the at least one intelligent agent limits at least one of user privileges, user independent behavior and user authorization without authorization being provided by another user, when the at least one user performance indicator negatively reflects user performance.

22. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 20, wherein the at least one intelligent agent provides a recommended course of action responsive to the at least one user performance indicator.

23. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 20,

wherein the at least one intelligent agent comprises a plurality of collaborating intelligent agents,

wherein the at least one user comprises a plurality of users, and

wherein a first recommended course of action is provided for the at least one user responsive to the at least one user performance indicator, and a second recommended course of action is provided for the plurality of users, optionally including the at least one user, responsive to at least one of collaboration between the plurality of agent, users, and a combination thereof.

24. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 1,

wherein the at least one intelligent agent comprises a plurality of collaborating intelligent agents,

wherein the at least one user comprises a plurality of users,

wherein user specific information is collected and evaluated for each of the plurality of users and group specific information is collected and evaluated for the plurality of users as a group, and

wherein a plurality of first recommended courses of action are provided for one or more of the plurality of users responsive to the user specific information, and a plurality of second recommended courses of action are provided for the plurality of users, optionally including the at least one user, responsive to the group specific information.

25. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 1,

wherein said processing step further comprises the step of processing and visually building, using the computer, the at least one aerial combat situation using the at least one tactical agent on a user display, and

wherein said visual building step further comprises the step of generating an object and imbedding the object in real-time in at least one of a working and running object environment, thereby processing the at least one aerial combat situation.

26. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 1,

wherein said method further comprises the step of collecting environment information in real-time from at least one sensing device,

wherein said processing step further comprises the steps of processing, using the computer, the at least one aerial combat situation using the at least one tactical agent on a user display, and automatically generating an object representative thereof as an object model indicative of the environment.

27. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 1,

wherein the data further comprises a plurality of resources,

wherein the at least one tactical agent comprises a plurality of tactical agents monitoring at least one the plurality of resources, each of the plurality of tactical agents capable of perceiving the at least one of the plurality of resources differently,

wherein said processing step further comprises the steps of processing, using the computer, the at least one aerial combat situation using the plurality of tactical agents associated with the plurality of resources.

28. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 1,

wherein the data further comprises information about a plurality of resources,

wherein said method further comprises the step of collecting environment information in real-time, and

wherein at least one of:

at least one of the plurality of resources are known to the at least one tactical agent, and

the at least one tactical agent recognizes objects in real-time from the environment information based on observable characteristics and behavior associated therewith.

29. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 1,

wherein the at least one user comprises a plurality of users including a plurality of weapons directors and at least one senior director,

wherein said method further comprises the sequential or non-sequential steps of:

displaying to at least one of the plurality of weapons directors and the at least one senior director event information about events occurring in said method and actions associated therewith;

enabling the at least one of the plurality of weapons directors and the at least one senior director to issue orders to at least one resource managed by the at least one weapons director;

displaying recommendations generated by the at least one intelligent agent to the weapons director;

enabling the plurality of users to control speed of said method during a simulation including restarting the simulation, checking a state of the simulation, and terminating the simulation;

enabling the at least one user to activate or deactivate the at least one tactical agent associated with the at least one user;

enabling each of the plurality of users to log into the simulation or log out of the simulation; and

enabling the plurality of weapons directors to communicate with each other for resource transfer therebetween.

30. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 1,

wherein the at least one user comprises a plurality of users including a plurality of weapons directors and at least one senior director,

wherein said method further comprises the sequential or non-sequential steps of issuing an order by at least one of the weapons directors to request the at least one senior director to authorize transfer of resources between weapons directors.

31. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 1,

wherein the at least one user comprises a plurality of users including a plurality of weapons directors and at least one senior director,

wherein each of the plurality of weapons directors includes:

at least one level having a value indicative of one of the following;

unknown, novice, journeyman, expert, and master,

an allegiance indicating whether each of the plurality of weapons directors is one of the following;

ours, enemy, and unknown,

a senior reference indicating the at least one senior director which each of the plurality of weapons directors reports thereto,

a list of enemy resources each of the plurality of weapons directors are responsible for managing, and

a human indicator indicating whether each of the plurality of weapons directors represents one of the at least one user and the at least one intelligent agent.

32. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 1,

wherein the data further comprises a plurality of resources,

wherein each of the plurality of resources includes indicators to indicate resource status, including:

a mustBeHandled indicator indicative of at least one of the plurality of resources that must be handled, without determining a time of handling the resource,

a critical indicator indicative of at least one of the plurality of resources that must be handled immediately, and potentially jeopardizing predetermined goals,

a beingHandled indicator indicative of at least one of the plurality of resources currently being handled,

a committed indicator indicative of at least one of the plurality of resources committed to handling,

a pending indicator indicative of at least one of the plurality of resources which is pending commitment, and

a recall indicator indicative of at least one of the plurality of resources no longer needing to be handled.

33. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 1,

wherein said method is implemented in an object-oriented computing environment,

wherein the at least one intelligent agent is implemented by at least one intelligent agent object, the at least one tactical agent is implemented by at least one tactical agent object,

wherein the data further comprises a plurality of resources, each of the plurality of resources is implemented by at least one resource object and comprising at least one moving resource object including moving resources, at least one group object comprising at least one group of the moving resources.

34. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 33, wherein the data further comprises at least one plane object including properties common to a plurality of planes.

35. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 34, herein the at least one moving resource object comprises moving resource indicators including:

destroyed if the at least one moving resource is destroyed, at base if the at least one moving resource has landed at a base, and getting fuel if this moving resource is in process of being refueled.

36. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 33,

wherein the at least one user comprises a plurality of users including a plurality of weapons directors and at least one senior director,

wherein the plurality of weapons director are implemented by a weapons director object, and the at least one senior director to whom at least one of the plurality of weapons directors report is implemented by at least one senior director object including a list of at least one of the plurality of weapons directors reporting thereto.

37. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 36,

wherein the at least one of the plurality of tactical agents pass recommendations to at least one of the plurality of weapons directors and the at least one user, the recommendations being implemented by a recommendation object.

38. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 1,

wherein the data further comprises a plurality of resources,

wherein the at least one user comprises a plurality of users including a plurality of weapons directors and at least one senior director, and

wherein the at least one senior director approves and coordinates transfer of at least one of the plurality of resources from one of the plurality of weapons directors to another of the plurality of weapons directors.

39. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 1,

wherein the plurality of resources includes a plurality of enemy resources and a plurality of available resources,

wherein said method further comprises the steps of:

determining, for each of the plurality of weapons directors, by the at least one tactical agent, at least one of the plurality of enemy resources that must be handled, and for the at least one enemy resource determining strength, speed, and time available for handling;

building, by the at least one tactical agent, a first list of at least one of the available resources to handle the at least one enemy resource, and for the at least one available resource determining strength, speed, pilot fatigue factor, and remaining flight time;

building, by the at least one tactical agent, for each of the plurality of enemy resources requiring handling, a second list of candidates of the plurality of resources capable of being dispatched to handle the at least one of the plurality of enemy resources;

processing, by the at least one tactical agent, the first list of at least one of the available resources and determining at least one available resource to handle the at least one enemy resource, and performing a resource commitment to commit at least one of the plurality of available resources for each of the plurality of weapons directors; and

assigning, by the at least one tactical agent, when no available resource is capable of handling the at least one enemy resource the corresponding enemy resource to a third list of resources to be handled by a team, and processing for the at least one each enemy resource associated therewith without regard to responsibilities and resources associated with specific weapons directors, and performing a team resource commitment to commit at least one team of available resources including transfer of resources between the plurality of weapons directors after authorization by the at least one senior weapons director.

40. A computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making according to claim 1,

wherein the data further comprises a plurality of resources,

wherein the at least one user comprises a plurality of users including a plurality of weapons directors and at least one senior director,

wherein the at least one tactical agent accumulates historical recommendation information for at least one of the plurality of weapons directors including recommendation type, number of accepted recommendations, current resource order of accepted recommendations, accepted resource locations, number of not accepted recommendations, current resource orders of not accepted recommendations, and not accepted resource locations for not accepted recommendations.

41. In an intelligent object oriented agent system, a computer implemented or user assisted method of decision making in at least one situation comprising the steps of:

configuring, using a computer, at least one tactical agent implemented by at least one tactical agent object that includes a plurality of resources corresponding to immediate certainties, near certainties, and longer-term possibilities characterizing the at least one situation with respect to a user'"'"'s goals and activities based on the user'"'"'s resources, knowledge of environmental constraints and historical combat related information, and irrespective of an enemy'"'"'s specific goals and plans associated with the at least one aerial combat situation, each of the plurality of resources being implemented by at least one resource object and comprising at least one moving resource object including moving resources, at least one group object comprising at least one group of the moving resources;

processing, using the computer, the at least one situation using the at least one tactical agent; and

implementing the decision making, by at least one user or independently by at least one intelligent agent implemented by at least one intelligent agent object, responsible to said processing step,

wherein the at least one tactical agent comprises a plurality of collaborating tactical agents for the decision making,

wherein the decision making is implemented or the user assisted by implementing global decisions that affect the plurality of the collaborating tactical agents and the at least one user on the basis of the plurality of collaborating agents exchanging, debating and discussing the data.

42. An intelligent agent computer system, comprising:

means for configuring at least one tactical agent that includes data corresponding to immediate certainties, near certainties, and longer-term possibilities characterizing at least one aerial combat situation with respect to a user'"'"'s goals and activities based on the user'"'"'s resources, knowledge of environmental constraints and historical combat related information, and irrespective of an enemy'"'"'s specific goals and plans associated with the at least one aerial combat situation;

means for processing the at least one aerial combat situation using the at least one tactical agent; and

means for implementing the decision making, by at least one user or independently by at least one intelligent agent, responsive to said processing step,

wherein the at least one tactical agent comprises a plurality of collaborating tactical agents for the decision making,

wherein said means for implementing the decision making implements global decisions that affect the plurality of the collaborating tactical agents and the at least one user on the basis of the plurality of collaborating agents exchanging, debating and discussing the data.

43. A computer readable tangible medium storing instructions for implementing a user assisted method of decision making in at least one aerial combat situation, the instructions executable by a computer, said instructions including the functions of:

configuring, using the computer, at least one tactical agent that includes data corresponding to immediate certainties, near certainties, and longer-term possibilities characterizing the at least one aerial combat situation with respect to a user'"'"'s goals and activities based on the user'"'"'s resources, knowledge of environmental constraints and historical combat related information, and irrespective of an enemy'"'"'s specific goals and plans associated with the at least one aerial combat situation;

processing, using the computer, the at least one aerial combat situation using the at least one tactical agent; and

implementing the decision making, by at least one user or independently by at least one intelligent agent, responsive to said processing step,

wherein the at least one user comprises a plurality of users including a plurality of weapons directors and at least one senior director,

wherein said method further comprises the sequential or non-sequential steps of;

displaying to at least one of the plurality of weapons directors and the at least one senior director event information about events occurring in said method and actions associated therewith;

enabling the at least one of the plurality of weapons directors and the at least one senior director to issue orders to at least one resource managed by the at least one weapons director;

displaying recommendations generated by the at least one intelligent agent to the weapons director;

enabling the plurality of users to control speed of said method during a simulation including restarting the simulation, checking a state of the simulation, and terminating the simulation;

enabling the at least one user to activate or deactivate the at least one tactical agent associated with the at least one user;

enabling each of the plurality of users to log into the simulation or log out of the simulation; and

enabling the plurality of weapons directors to communicate with each other for resource transfer therebetween.