Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Distributed data processing – Processing agent
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-01
2001-07-10
Homere, Jean R. (Department: 2177)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Distributed data processing
Processing agent
C707S793000, C707S793000, C709S201000, C709S203000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06260059
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a knowledge provider system having a stored database (i.e., knowledge base), which can be accessed to obtain information relating to specific subjects by sending information request messages in accordance with a set of predetermined rules, sometimes referred to as a rule base, and to a corresponding knowledge providing method.
In particular, the invention relates to a knowledge provider system in which the knowledge base is distributed throughout a plurality of separate knowledge provider data processing apparatuses which mutually communicate with one another and with users of the system via a data communication network.
2. Description of Prior Art
In the prior art, there have been various proposals for overcoming the disadvantages of a basic type of knowledge provider system in which a single knowledge provider apparatus (i.e., server) stores a knowledge base whose contents can be accessed by sending to the knowledge provider apparatus information request messages which are in accordance with rules that have been predetermined for that knowledge provider apparatus. With one technique, as described in Japanese patent HEI 10-21264, such a single knowledge provider agent (server) is connected via a data communication network to one or more data processing installations each of which store a knowledge base, with that server being able to obtain requisite information from these other installations, when required for the purpose of responding to information request messages from users. However with such a system, utilizing centralized control based on a single server, the disadvantage remains that any failure of the knowledge server will result in complete breakdown of the system as a whole.
With another prior art proposal which is described in Japanese patent HEI 6-4287, a plurality of knowledge bases, with respective rule bases, are held stored at a knowledge provider apparatus. When a message requesting information is received from a user, then the contents of that message are evaluated by the knowledge provider apparatus, and an appropriate one of the plural knowledge bases is read out from storage, to be searched to obtain the required information. In that way, it becomes possible to achieve increased efficiency and speed of operation, by selecting the knowledge base that is to be searched based upon such factors as the category of the information which is to be searched for, degree of complexity of search conditions which may be specified, etc. However such a knowledge provider system again has the basic disadvantage of centralized control of the overall system, as described above.
A further disadvantage of such prior art types of knowledge provider system is that it is necessary that any message requesting information, sent by a user, must in general be exactly in accordance with the predetermined rules for that particular knowledge provider system, e.g., must use a specific syntax for the message contents. Thus, even if two or more of such knowledge provider systems (for example configured as “expert systems”) are connected to a data communication network, such that they can be freely accessed by users of the network, it is inconvenient for the users to access these knowledge provider systems by generating information request messages which must be strictly in accordance with respectively different sets of rules.
Furthermore, the operation and configuration of such a prior art type of knowledge provider system based on centralized control becomes substantially more complex if system security is important, i.e., if it is necessary that access to certain parts of the knowledge base be restricted in some manner, rather than being freely available to the public.
There is therefore a requirement for a knowledge provider system which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art by enabling:
(a) decentralized control, so-that the failure of a single data processing installation will not result in breakdown of the overall system,
(b) greater flexibility of use, by permitting some degree of variation in the rules concerning request messages which are submitted to the system from users, and
(c) ease of implementing system access security measures.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an objective of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art set out above, by providing a knowledge provider system in which respective knowledge bases, which are stored at each of various knowledge provider apparatuses (basically consisting of respective data servers, and referred to in the following as knowledge provider agents) that are mutually connected via a data communication network, can be utilized collectively as a single knowledge base which can be freely accessed by the data processing apparatuses of users (referred to in the following as user apparatuses), without the need for any form of centralized control of the system, so that the failure of any one of the knowledge provider agents will result in only loss of the contents of the knowledge base which is stored at that agent, but will otherwise have no effect upon the overall system operation.
It is a further objective to provide such a knowledge provider system, having the advantage that messages submitted by users for requesting information may be configured in various different ways rather than having to be in accordance with one specific rule base.
It is a further objective to provide such a knowledge provider system, having the advantage that knowledge base and/or rule base information relating to any particular subject, stored at a knowledge provider agent, can readily be acquired and stored by any other agent of the system.
It is a further objective to provide such a knowledge provider system, having the advantage that respective sets of information relating to a specific subject, which are stored at various different ones of the knowledge provider agents, can be automatically collected from these knowledge provider agents and supplied to a requesting user, in response to a message sent from the user to any of the knowledge provider agents.
It is a further objective to provide such a knowledge provider system, having the advantage that an appropriate one of a plurality of knowledge bases stored at an agent can be selected to be accessed in response to an information request message from a user, with the selection being based upon the contents of that message.
In the following, a combination of a specific knowledge base and rule information, which defines how that knowledge base is to be accessed, will be referred to as a script. As will be made clear from the following descriptions, with the present invention, such a script further includes information for enabling discrimination between different types of message that are received by a knowledge provider agent.
More specifically, the present invention provides an agent knowledge provider system comprising a plurality of knowledge provider agents and plurality of user apparatuses respectively interconnected for exchange of messages via a data communication network, with each of said messages including at least a sender identifier, a destination identifier, and a content portion, each of said knowledge provider agents comprising:
script storage means having stored therein a script containing message processing information and respective identifiers of a plurality of knowledge provider agents which have been assigned as respective propagation destination agents of said agent, said message processing information comprising a Message segment, a Rule segment and a Knowledge segment, said Message segment containing a plurality of message format descriptors respectively corresponding to a format of a user request message that is received from a user apparatus, to a format of a propagation message that is received from another one of said agents, and to a format of a response message which is received from another one of said agents, said Rule segment containing at least one content fo
Hoshida Masaki
Noguchi Yoshihiro
Ueno Tsuyoshi
Yasukawa Hideki
Connolly Bove & Lodge & Hutz LLP
Homere Jean R.
Matsushita Electric - Industrial Co., Ltd.
Robinson Greta L.
LandOfFree
Knowledge provider system and knowledge providing method... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Knowledge provider system and knowledge providing method..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Knowledge provider system and knowledge providing method... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2540998