Smart Catalogs and Virtual Catalogs

We present an architecture for electronic catalogs, called Smart Catalogs and Virtual Catalogs. Smart catalogs are searchable, annotated combinations of machine-readable and machine-sensible product data. Virtual catalogs dynamically retrieve information from multiple smart catalogs and present this product data in a unified manner with its own look and feel, not that of the source smart catalogs. These virtual catalogs do not store product data from smart catalogs directly (except when caching for performance); instead virtual catalogs obtain current product data from smart catalogs to satisfy specific customer queries. Customers interact with smart catalogs and virtual catalogs through WWW or other interfaces. Product data is disseminated through the architecture using ACL (Agent Communication Language). In particular, ACL is used to communicate queries and answers among smart catalogs and virtual catalogs.