A Common Multi-agent Testbed for Diverse Seamless Personal Information Networking Applications

The paper describes the design and implementation of a unique cooperative agents testbed intended for diverse applications in seamless personal information networking. The real-world SPINTM1 testbed is aimed at two applications, namely seamless messaging and intelligent network management. Both are agent-driven and share agent behaviours. The messaging agents rely on the network management device diagnostic agents for input. The first generation of Seamless MessagingTM is described in detail. It is user-centric and assumes heterogeneous communication environments intended to support today's nomadic users. A prototype is introduced for the management of messages across distributed information networks. Its aim is to intercept, filter, interpret, and deliver multi-modal messages be they voice, fax, video and/or e-mail messages. A user's Personal Communication AgentTM (PCA) is charged with delivering messages to the recipient regardless of their target messaging device be it a telephone, a pager, a desktop, a wireless laptop or a wireless phone. PCAs classify and act on incoming messages based on their content. A Secretary AgentTM routes and tailors urgent messages appropriately to the Device Manager AgentTM which delivers the message to a device that the user may be roaming or active on. What makes Seamless Messaging unique is its approach to treating a message in a universal manner, its ability to mediate between different messaging environments and devices, and its capability of tracking and finding users.