Abstract: An intelligent agent and method of negotiating therewith incorporate a number of features, used alone or in combination, to enhance the productivity, security, efficiency and responsiveness of the agent in negotiations with other parties. One feature incorporates randomization of one or more aspects of an agent's behavior to disguise its negotiation strategy from other negotiating parties and thereby prevent such parties from gaining a negotiating advantage at the expense of the agent. Another features incorporates limiting unproductive negotiations by constraining one or more aspects of an agent's behavior based upon the behavior of a negotiating party and/or the duration of the transaction, and thereby making it more likely that unproductive negotiations will be terminated. An additional feature incorporates dynamic value determination to determine the desired value of a desired transaction by weighting and normalizing estimated values retrieved from a plurality of information sources.

Abstract: The performance of a given task is optimized by utilizing an intelligent agent having a plurality of program modules suited to perform the computer task but having varied degrees of domain knowledge. Based upon an objective criteria that may be determined for a given situation, one or more of the program modules in the intelligent agent may be selected to perform the task, thereby optimizing the performance of the computer task for a wide variety of situations.

Abstract: An intelligent agent and method of negotiating herewith incorporate a number of features, used alone or in combination, to enhance the productivity, security, efficiency and responsiveness of the agent in negotiations with other parties. One feature incorporates randomization of one or more aspects of an agent's behavior to disguise its negotiation strategy from other negotiating parties and thereby prevent such parties from gaining a negotiating advantage at the expense of the agent. Another features incorporates limiting unproductive negotiations by constraining one or more aspects of an agent's behavior based upon the behavior of a negotiating party and/or the duration of the transaction, and thereby making it more likely that unproductive negotiations will be terminated. An additional feature incorporates dynamic value determination to determine the desired value of a desired transaction by weighting and normalizing estimated values retrieved from a plurality of information sources.

Abstract: The performance of a given computer task is optimized by utilizing a plurality of intelligent agents suited to perform the computer task but having varied degrees of domain knowledge. Based upon an objective criteria that may be determined for a given situation, one of the plurality of intelligent agents may be selected and dispatched to perform the task, thereby optimizing the performance of the computer task for a wide variety of situations.

Abstract: An intelligent agent and its client communicate using a selector known by both parties to generate and interpret messages and thereby effectively disguise confidential information transmitted in the messages from third parties. Moreover, a neural network is used to implement the decision logic and/or the message disguising functions of an agent such that the logic employed in such functions is not readily reverse compiled or scanned by third parties.

Abstract: A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided for building an image index and for searching and querying by image colors from a plurality of images including images from the internet or other network environment. First an index is built for each of the plurality of images. A selected number of levels is identified for image processing, and an upper resolution and a lower resolution are identified for each of the selected number of levels for image processing. An image is filtered at each selected level. A sample of pixels is acquired and stored at each selected level in the index. At query time, an image color is selected. A entry of the index is acquired. The acquired entry is compared with the selected image color. A match is identified responsive to the acquired entry being near the selected image color.

Abstract: A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided for querying by image colors using a JPEG format for images from the internet. First an image color is selected. A DCT coefficient is acquired from a JPEG image. The acquired DCT coefficient is compared with the selected image color. A match within the JPEG image is identified responsive to the acquired DCT coefficient being near the selected image color. An average color can be used for querying JPEG formatted images from the internet.