Evaluation systems and methods for coordinating software agents

• US 8,607,336 B2
• Filed: 12/15/2006
• Issued: 12/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: MEC Management, LLC (Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota)
• Original Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Jung, Edward K.Y., Cohen, Alexander J., Mangione-Smith, William Henry, Lord, Robert W., Levien, Royce A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Mehedi, Morshed
• Application Number:
  US11/640,532
• Publication Number:
  US 20080072278A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,552 Days
• Field of Search: 726/1, 726/22, 709/202
• US Class Current: 726/22
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

A device, method, computer program product, and network subsystem are described for associating a first mobile agent with a first security policy and a second mobile agent with a second security policy or for providing a first agent with code for responding to situational information about the first agent and about a second agent and for evaluating a received message at least in response to an indication of the first security policy and to an indication of the second security policy or for deploying the first agent.

Claims

1. A network subsystem comprising:

(A) circuitry for providing a first agent with code for responding to situational information about the first agent and about a second agent based at least in part on one or more observations of an environment of the second agent, including at least;

(A1) circuitry for implementing a situation-dependent logic table in the first agent that is responsive to the one or more observations of the environment of the second agent;

(A2) circuitry for obtaining one or more risk indicators in the situational information about the first agent and about the second agent;

(A3) circuitry for associating the second agent with a remote location; and

(A4) circuitry for deploying a mobile software agent as the second agent; and

(B) circuitry for deploying the first agent.

2. The network subsystem of claim 1 in which the circuitry for implementing a situation-dependent logic table in the first agent that is responsive to the one or more observations of the environment of the second agent comprises:

circuitry for implementing a situation-dependent logic table in the first agent that is responsive to resource availability of the environment of the second agent.

3. The network subsystem of claim 1 in which the circuitry for implementing a situation-dependent logic table in the first agent that is responsive to the one or more observations of the environment of the second agent comprises:

circuitry for implementing a situation-dependent logic table in the first agent that is responsive to at least one of a trust indication, gathered data, a module condition, or a linking condition observed from the environment of the second agent.

4. The network subsystem of claim 1 in which the circuitry for providing a first agent with code for responding to situational information about the first agent and about a second agent based at least in part on one or more observations of an environment of the second agent comprises:

circuitry for sending an inquiry to a network location; and

circuitry for receiving data from the network location.

5. The network subsystem of claim 1 in which the circuitry for implementing a situation-dependent logic table in the first agent that is responsive to the one or more observations of the environment of the second agent comprises:

circuitry for implementing a situation-dependent logic table in the first agent that is responsive to a status of the second agent observed from the environment of the second agent.

6. The network subsystem of claim 1 in which the circuitry for providing a first agent with code for responding to situational information about the first agent and about a second agent based at least in part on one or more observations of an environment of the second agent comprises:

circuitry for transmitting the second agent to a processing core.

7. The network subsystem of claim 1 further comprising:

circuitry for generating the situational information at least partly based on an agent output.

8. The network subsystem of claim 1 further comprising:

circuitry for sending a signal to the first agent.

9. The network subsystem of claim 1 further comprising:

circuitry for receiving a security policy update.

10. The network subsystem of claim 1 further comprising:

circuitry for receiving situational data about the second agent via the first agent.

11. The network subsystem of claim 1 further comprising:

circuitry for receiving situational data from the second agent.

12. The network subsystem of claim 1 in which the circuitry for implementing a situation-dependent logic table in the first agent that is responsive to the one or more observations of the environment of the second agent comprises:

circuitry for implementing a situation-dependent logic table in the first agent that is responsive to one or more computing environment attributes relating to a domain including the second agent.

13. The network subsystem of claim 1 in which the circuitry for providing a first agent with code for responding to situational information about the first agent and about a second agent based at least in part on one or more observations of an environment of the second agent comprises:

circuitry for including at least code for receiving a capacity indicator of the situational information.

14. The network subsystem of claim 1 in which the circuitry for providing a first agent with code for responding to situational information about the first agent and about a second agent based at least in part on one or more observations of an environment of the second agent comprises:

circuitry for receiving a mobile software agent as the first agent.

15. The network subsystem of claim 1 in which the circuitry for providing a first agent with code for responding to situational information about the first agent and about a second agent based at least in part on one or more observations of an environment of the second agent comprises:

circuitry for obtaining the code for responding to the situational information about the first agent and about the second agent based at least in part on one or more observations of an environment of the second agent before obtaining the first agent.

16. The network subsystem of claim 1 in which the circuitry for providing a first agent with code for responding to situational information about the first agent and about a second agent based at least in part on one or more observations of an environment of the second agent comprises:

circuitry for configuring the first agent with policy update code.

17. The network subsystem of claim 1 in which the circuitry for deploying the first agent comprises:

circuitry for deploying the first agent to a first core operable to transmit a signal to a location of the second agent directly via a passive medium.

18. The network subsystem of claim 1 in which the circuitry for deploying the first agent comprises:

circuitry for deploying the first agent to a first core able to communicate with the second agent.

19. The network subsystem of claim 1 in which the circuitry for deploying the first agent comprises:

circuitry for deploying the first agent locally.

20. The network subsystem of claim 1 in which the circuitry for deploying the first agent comprises:

circuitry for deploying the first agent to a first location in response to an association between a second location and the second agent.

21. The network subsystem of claim 1 further comprising:

one or more antennas operably coupled with the circuitry for deploying the first agent.

22. The network subsystem of claim 1 further comprising:

one or more data storage devices operably coupled with the circuitry for deploying the first agent.

23. The network subsystem of claim 1 further comprising:

one or more user interfaces operably coupled with the circuitry for deploying the first agent.

24. The network subsystem of claim 1 further comprising:

one or more processor cores operably coupled with the circuitry for deploying the first agent.

25. The network subsystem of claim 1 further comprising:

one or more power supplies operably coupled with the circuitry for deploying the first agent.

28. The network subsystem of claim 1 in which the circuitry for deploying the first agent comprises:

circuitry for deploying the first agent to a first core operable to transmit a signal to a location of the second agent directly via a passive medium;

circuitry for deploying the first agent to a first core able to communicate with the second agent; and

circuitry for deploying the first agent to a first location in response to an association between the remote location and the second agent.

29. The network subsystem of claim 28 in which the circuitry for providing a first agent with code for responding to situational information about the first agent and about a second agent based at least in part on one or more observations of an environment of the second agent comprises:

circuitry for receiving a mobile software agent as the first agent;

circuitry for configuring the first agent with policy update code; and

circuitry for obtaining the code for responding to the situational information about the first agent and about the second agent based at least in part on the one or more observations of the environment of the second agent before obtaining the first agent.

30. The network subsystem of claim 1 in which the circuitry for providing a first agent with code for responding to situational information about the first agent and about a second agent based at least in part on one or more observations of an environment of the second agent comprises:

circuitry for sending an inquiry to a network location;

circuitry for receiving a mobile software agent as the first agent;

circuitry for configuring the first agent with policy update code;

circuitry for including at least code for receiving a capacity indicator of the situational information; and

circuitry for transmitting the second agent to a processing core.

31. The network subsystem of claim 30 further comprising:

one or more antennas operably coupled with the circuitry for deploying the first agent;

one or more data storage devices operably coupled with the circuitry for deploying the first agent;

one or more user interfaces operably coupled with the circuitry for deploying the first agent;

one or more power supplies operably coupled with the circuitry for deploying the first agent;

circuitry for sending a signal to the first agent; and

circuitry for receiving situational data about the second agent via the first agent.

32. The network subsystem of claim 1 further comprising:

one or more antennas operably coupled with the circuitry for deploying the first agent;

one or more data storage devices operably coupled with the circuitry for deploying the first agent;

one or more user interfaces operably coupled with the circuitry for deploying the first agent;

circuitry for sending a signal to the first agent; and

circuitry for receiving a security policy update.

33. The network subsystem of claim 1 in which the circuitry for obtaining one or more risk indicators in the situational information about the first agent and about the second agent comprises:

circuitry for receiving one or more raw vulnerability indicators.

34. The network subsystem of claim 13 in which the circuitry for including at least code for receiving a capacity indicator of the situational information comprises:

circuitry for including at least code for receiving one or more indicators indicative of a quantity of computational, storage, or carrying capacity currently or potentially available.

35. The network subsystem of claim 1 in which the circuitry for providing a first agent with code for responding to situational information about the first agent and about a second agent based at least in part on one or more observations of an environment of the second agent comprises:

circuitry for providing the first agent with code, the code including at least;

code for obtaining the one or more observations of the environment of the second agent;

code for analyzing the situational information about the first agent and about the second agent using at least the one or more observations of the environment of the second agent; and

code for responding to the situational information about the first agent and about the second agent based at least partly on operation of the code for analyzing.

36. The network subsystem of claim 35 in which the circuitry for providing the first agent with code comprises:

circuitry for providing the first agent with code, including at least code for evaluating output of the second agent with expectation logic.

37. The network subsystem of claim 35 in which the circuitry for providing the first agent with code comprises:

circuitry for providing the first agent with code, including at least code for implementing at least one situation-dependent logic table to indicate a status of at least the first agent and the second agent.

38. The network subsystem of claim 35 in which the circuitry for providing the first agent with code comprises:

circuitry for providing the first agent with code, including at least code for receiving at least a portion of the situational information from the second agent.

39. The network subsystem of claim 35 in which the circuitry for providing the first agent with code comprises:

circuitry for providing the first agent with code, including at least code for obtaining one or more raw vulnerability data in the situational information about the first agent and about the second agent.

40. The network subsystem of claim 35 in which the circuitry for providing the first agent with code comprises:

circuitry for providing the first agent with code, including at least code for updating a policy of the second agent based at least partly on operation of the code for the analyzing.

26. A network subsystem comprising:

(A) an agent configuration module operable for providing a first agent with code for responding to situational information about the first agent and about a second agent based at least in part on one or more observations of an environment of the second agent, including at least;

(A1) a module operable for implementing a situation-dependent logic table in the first agent that is responsive to the one or more observations of the environment of the second agent;

(A2) a module operable for obtaining one or more risk indicators in the situational information about the first agent and about the second agent;

(A3) a module operable for associating the second agent with a remote location; and

(A4) a module operable for deploying a mobile software agent as the second agent; and

(B) an agent deployment module operable for deploying the first agent.

27. An article of manufacture including at least a storage medium comprising:

a non-transitory signal-bearing medium bearing at least;

(A) one or more instructions for providing a first agent with code for responding to situational information about the first agent and about a second agent based at least in part on one or more observations of an environment of the second agent, including at least;

(A1) one or more instructions for implementing a situation-dependent logic table in the first agent in response to the one or more observations of the environment of the second agent;

(A2) one or more instructions for obtaining one or more risk indicators in the situational information about the first agent and about the second agent;

(A3) one or more instructions for associating the second agent with a remote location; and

(A4) one or more instructions for deploying a mobile software agent as the second agent; and

(B) one or more instructions for deploying the first agent.

41. A method that is at least partially implemented by at least one device, the method comprising:

(A) providing a first agent with code for responding to situational information about the first agent and about a second agent based at least in part on one or more observations of an environment of the second agent, including at least;

(A1) implementing a situation-dependent logic table in the first agent in response to the one or more observations of the environment of the second agent;

(A2) obtaining one or more risk indicators in the situational information about the first agent and about the second agent;

(A3) associating the second agent with a remote location; and

(A4) deploying a mobile software agent as the second agent; and

B) deploying the first agent.