Abstract: An assignment system for allocating service providers to required services, comprising: a data processing unit; a data store storing a plurality of allocation processing routines each defining a respective algorithm for determining in respect of a service which of a series of potential providers of that service is/are preferred to provide the service; and an allocation mode selector configured to access a data store storing a list of required services and attributes of each required service, to select in dependence on the attributes of one of those services one of the allocation processing routines and to cause that allocation processing routine to be executed in respect of that one of the services by means of the data processing unit so determine which of a series of potential providers of the service is/are preferred to provide that service.

Abstract: An anomaly management method is provided for a multi-agent system (MAS) in which a plurality of application agents are arranged to be capable of interacting with each other over a communications network. The MAS has a plurality of anomaly management agents arranged to receive reports from a referring agent regarding a referred agent when a referring agent has determined an interaction anomaly has occurred which was potentially caused by one or more conditions associated with a referred agent. The anomaly management agent is arranged to determine one or more conditions associated with the referred agent which have caused the interaction anomaly. The anomaly management agent is also arranged to remedy the condition. The method comprises at least one of said plurality of anomaly management agents receiving a message containing information related to the interaction with the referred agent from the referring agent.

Abstract: A system for processing context data comprising means for receiving context data from a plurality of sources; means for producing context information from the received context data according to a predetermined rule-set including a plurality of rules; and means for communicating the context information to at least one application, wherein the system includes means for permitting at least one protocol-source to specify instructions and/or rules related to a communication protocol for communication between the protocol-source and the system, thereby updating the means for receiving and/or the means for communicating. The system further includes means for permitting at least one rule-source to specify at least one rule thereby updating the rule-set, wherein the rule-source specifies rules for filtering and/or formatting the context data and rules for producing context information from context data. The system is used in a network (FIG. 4) for processing context data.

Abstract: A method for allocating service providers to a set of required services, each service provider being associated with a respective bidding entity and the method comprising repeatedly performing the following steps: receiving at least one bid from each of some or all of the bidding entities, each bid specifying one or more of the required services and indicating a bid value; accepting bids that specify no services that are specified in any other bids; for any sets of bids that specify one or more of the same services, selecting one of those bids in dependence on the bid values specified in each bid of the set, and accepting the selected bid; and removing the services specified in accepted bids from the list of required services.

Abstract: An assignment system for allocating service providers to required services, comprising: a data processing unit; a data store storing a plurality of allocation processing routines each defining a respective algorithm for determining in respect of a service which of a series of potential providers of that service is/are preferred to provide the service; and an allocation mode selector configured to access a data store storing a list of required services and attributes of each required service, to select in dependence on the attributes of one of those services one of the allocation processing routines and to cause that allocation processing routine to be executed in respect of that one of the services by means of the data processing unit so determine which of a series of potential providers of the service is/are preferred to provide that service.

Abstract: An anomaly management method is provided for a multi-agent system (MAS) in which a plurality of application agents are arranged to be capable of interacting with each other over a communications network. The MAS has a plurality of anomaly management agents arranged to receive reports from a referring agent regarding a referred agent when a referring agent has determined an interaction anomaly has occurred which was potentially caused by one or more conditions associated with a referred agent. The anomaly management agent is arranged to determine one or more conditions associated with the referred agent which have caused the interaction anomaly. The anomaly management agent is also arranged to remedy the condition. The method comprises at least one of said plurality of anomaly management agents receiving a message containing information related to the interaction with the referred agent from the referring agent.

Abstract: A method is provided for communicating between software agents in a multi-agent system. Communication between agents is defined by means of a conversation model comprising a sequence of defined tasks which, when executed by a software agent, implement one or more roles in an inter-agent conversation. A software agent is provided which, when executed on a computer, is arranged to implement the method, in particular to receive a conversation model, for example one not previously known to the agent, to identify the ontology items used in the conversation model with respect to a defined role to be implemented by the software agent, to determine whether the agent is capable of providing or processing each of the identified ontology items, and if capable, to execute the tasks defined in the conversation model to implement the role.

Abstract: A method of recovering the status of a collaboration between a plurality of component agents in a multi-agent systems architecture, the method comprising: processing collaboration information forwarded by a mediator agent for each component agent; maintaining a collaboration processing status information record derived from the collaboration information provided by each collaborating agent to the mediator agent; and in the event that a device which affects the collaboration suffers an event which causes one or more component agents to lose its collaboration status, recovering the collaboration status using one or more of said collaboration processing status information records.

Abstract: A service component enables client/server interactions even when information on the content language and/or interaction protocol required for the service the client agent has requested from the service agent is not known a priori. The service component has a generic structure comprising a plurality of role components which perform the service interaction between the client agent and the server agent and which provide sufficient information on the interaction requirements to enable the requested service to be provided.