Realization of Cooperative Agents using an Active Object-Oriented Database System

Cooperative, process-oriented environments (CPEs) are systems whose behavior is defined in terms of process models. We show how CPEs are realized through brokers, which are a special form of software agents used to model participating entities in CPEs. A broker can represent a human participant, an existing software tool, or a part of the environment infrastructure. In our approach, we implement brokers on top of the active object-oriented database management system (ADBMS) SAMOS. Particularly, we use the facilities of SAMOS for implementing communication/cooperation between and control of brokers in CPEs. Our approach allows the construction of flexible, extensible systems and the definition of the behavior of participating entities local to brokers, avoiding the need for a centralized process engine.

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