article

Interoperation among agent-based information systems through a communication acts ontology

Authors:

Jesús Bermúdez,

Arantza Illarramendi,

Miren I. BagüésAuthors Info & Claims

Information Systems, Volume 32, Issue 8

Pages 1121 - 1144

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.is.2007.02.001

Published: 01 December 2007 Publication History

Abstract

Information technology is evolving from focusing on local systems to encompassing a more global interaction among multiple systems in enterprises and communities. On the one hand, new advances in the area of network communications have facilitated in some way the intercommunication among heterogeneous information systems located at different places. However, what is still missing is the possibility of a real and efficient interoperation among those systems in an open environment as the one favoured by Internet. On the other hand, agent technology provides platforms where cooperative work of information systems is concernable because of the software agents working on behalf of these information systems. But, nowadays that cooperation is in general restricted and requires a laborious a priori preparation. In this paper we present the features of a formal ontology that can play a relevant role in the development of a new kind of information systems interoperation frameworks. The ontology includes classes and properties for describing communication acts among agents. We claim that the communication acts ontology provides interoperability support due to the recognition of communication acts from one Agent Communication Language (acl) as instances of communication acts in another acl. Sometimes the comprehension will not be complete, but partial comprehension of the communication may be useful and preferable to the ''not understood'' answer given nowadays. Terms of the ontology are described as classes or properties using the Web Ontology Language owl.

References

[1]

T. Bray, J. Paoli, C.M. Sperberg-McQueen, E. Maler, F. Yergeau, Extensible markup language (XML) 1.0, {http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-xml-20040204/} (January 2007).

[2]

United Nations directories for electronic data interchange for administration, commerce and transport, {http://www.unece.org/trade/untdid/} (January 2007).

[3]

Kimbrough, S.O. and Moore, S.A., On automated message processing in electronic commerce and work support systems: speech act theory and expressive felicity. ACM Trans. Inf. Syst. v15 i4. 321-367.

[4]

Meltzer, B. and Glushko, R.J., Xml and electronic commerce: enabling the network economy. SIGMOD Rec. v27 i4. 21-24.

[5]

Moore, S.A., Categorizing automated messages. Decision Support Syst. v22. 213-241.

[6]

Jennings, N.R., An agent-based approach for building complex software systems. Commun. ACM. v44 i4. 35-41.

[7]

Bagüés, M.I., Bermúdez, J., Illarramendi, A., Tablado, A. and Goñi, A., Semantic interoperation among data systems at a communication level. J. Data Semantics. vV i3870. 1-24.

[8]

Suggested Upper Merged Ontology SUMO, {http://www.ontologyportal.org/} (January 2007).

[9]

Moore, S.A., A foundation for flexible automated electronic communication. Inf. Syst. Res. v12 i1. 34-62.

[10]

Gruber, T.R., A translation approach to portable ontology specifications. Know. Acquis. v5 i2. 199-220.

[11]

Finin, T., Labrou, Y. and Mayfield, J., KQML as an agent communication language. In: Bradshaw, J. (Ed.), Software Agents, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

[12]

Foundation For Intelligent Physical Agents, FIPA communicative act library specification, {http://www.fipa.org/specs/fipa00037/SC00037J.html} (January 2007).

[13]

Searle, J.R., Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language. 1969. Cambridge University Press, New York.

[14]

Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, {http://www.swift.com/} (January 2007).

[15]

Bach, K. and Harnish, R.M., Linguistic Communication and Speech Acts. 1979. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

[16]

S. Bechhofer, F. van Harmelen, J. Hendler, I. Horrocks, D. McGuiness, P. Patel-Schneider, L. Stein, OWL web ontology language reference, World Wide Web Consortium, {http://www.w3.org/TR/owl-ref/} (January 2007).

[17]

Baader, F., Horrocks, I. and Sattler, U., Description logics. In: Staab, S., Studer, R. (Eds.), Handbook on Ontologies, Springer, Berlin. pp. 3-28.

[18]

Labrou, Y., Standardizing agent communication. In: Marik, V., Stepankova, O. (Eds.), Multi-Agent Systems & Applications, Advanced Course on Artificial Intelligence (ACAI-01), Springer, Berlin. pp. 74-97.

[19]

Grosof, B. and Labrou, Y., An approach to using xml and a rule-based content language with an agent communication language. In: Dignum, F., Greaves, M. (Eds.), Issues in Agent Communication, Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, Springer, Berlin. pp. 96-117.

[20]

Berners-Lee, T., Hendler, J. and Lassila, O., The semantic web. Sci. Am. v284 i5. 34-43.

[21]

Wooldridge, M., Semantic issues in the verification of agent communication languages. J. Autonomous Agents Multi-Agent Syst. v3 i1. 9-31.

[22]

P. Bretier, M.D. Sadek, A rational agent as the kernel of a cooperative spoken dialogue system: implementing a logical theory of interaction, in: J. Müller, M. Wooldridge, N. Jennings (Eds.), Intelligent Agents III, vol. 1193, Springer, Berlin, Germany, 1997, pp. 189-204.

Digital Library

[23]

Y. Labrou, T. Finin, Semantics and conversations for an agent communication language, in: Proceedings of the 15th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI-97), Nagoya, Japan, 1997, pp. 584-591.

[24]

Wooldridge, M., Reasoning about Rational Agents. 2000. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

[25]

Singh, M.P., Agent communication languages: rethinking the principles. IEEE Comput. v31 i12. 40-47.

[26]

Reed, C., Norman, T.J. and Jennings, N.R., Negotiating the semantics of agent communication languages. Comput. Intell. v18 i2. 229-252.

[27]

Labrou, Y., Finin, T. and Peng, Y., Agent communication languages: the current landscape. IEEE Intelligent Syst. v14 i2. 45-52.

[28]

M.P. Singh, A social semantics for agent communication languages, in: Issues in Agent Communication, Springer, Berlin, 2000, pp. 31-45.

[29]

F. Manola, E. Miller, RDF primer, World Wide Web Consortium, {http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-primer/} (January 2007).

[30]

Horrocks, I., Patel-Schneider, P.F. and van Harmelen, F., From SHIQ and RDF to OWL: the making of a web ontology language. J. Web Semantics. v1 i1. 7-26.

[31]

F. Baader, D. Calvanese, D. McGuinness, D. Nardi, P. Patel-Schneider (Eds.), The Description Logic Handbook. Theory, Implementation and Applications, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2003.

[32]

P. Patel-Schneider, P. Hayes, I. Horrocks, OWL web ontology language semantics and abstract syntax, World Wide Web Consortium, {http://www.w3.org/TR/owl-semantics/} (January 2007).

[33]

C. Castelfranchi, Commitments: from individual intentions to groups and organizations, in: Proceedings of the First International Conference on Multiagent Systems (ICMAS-95), 12-14 June 1995, San Francisco, CA, USA, 1995, pp. 41-48.

[34]

M. Colombetti, A commitment-based approach to agent speech acts and conversations, in: Proceedings of the Workshop on Agent Languages and Communication Policies, Fourth International Conference on Autonomous Agents (Agents 2000), Barcelona, 2000, pp. 21-29.

[35]

Yolum, P. and Singh, M.P., Reasoning about commitments in the event calculus: an approach for specifying and executing protocols. Ann. Math. Artif. Intell. v42 i1-3. 227-253.

[36]

Shanahan, M., The event calculus explained. Lect. Notes in Comput. Sci. v1600. 409-430.

[37]

Moore, S.A., KQML and FLBC: contrasting agent communication languages. Int. J. Electron. Commer. v5 i1. 109-124.

[38]

Kimbrough, S.O. and Moore, S.A., On automated message processing in electronic commerce and work support systems: speech act theory and expressive felicity. ACM Trans. Inf. Syst. v15 i4. 321-367.

[39]

Tablado, A., Illarramendi, A., Bagüés, M.I., Bermúdez, J. and Goñi, A., Aingeru: an innovating system for tele assistance of elderly people. J. Inf. Technol. Healthcare. v2 i3. 205-214.

[40]

Y. Zou, T. Finin, L. Ding, H. Chen, R. Pan, Taga: trading agent competition in agentcities, in: IJCAI-2003 Workshop on Trading Agent Design and Analysis, 2003.

[41]

M.H. Nodine, A. Unruh, Facilitating open communication in agent systems: the InfoSleuth infrastructure, in: Proceedings of the Fourth International Workshop on Intelligent Agents IV, Agent Theories, Architectures, and Languages, 1997, pp. 281-295.

[42]

ebXML, Enabling a global electronic market, {http://www.ebxml.org/} (January 2007).

[43]

OASIS Universal Business Language 1.0, {http://docs.oasis-open.org/ubl/cd-UBL-1.0/} (January 2007).

[44]

S. Willmott, J. Dale, P. Charlton, Agent communication semantics for open environments, foundation for intelligent physical agents, input document f-in-00066. {http://www.fipa.org/docs/input/f-in-00066/} (January 2007).

[45]

M. Calisti, Abstracting communication in distributed agent-based systems, in: Proceedings of the 16th European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming, Malaga, Spain, 2002.

[46]

S. Willmott, I. Constantinescu, M. Calisti, Multilingual agents: ontologies, languages and abstractions, in: Proceedings of First International Workshop on Ontologies in Agent Systems, Montreal, Canada, 2001.

[47]

T. Payne, R. Singh, K. Sycara, Communicating agents in open multi-agent systems, in: First GSFC/JPL Workshop on Radical Agent Concepts (WRAC), McLean, VA, USA, 2002.

[48]

J.A. Giampapa, M. Paolucci, K. Sycara, Agent interoperation across multiagent system boundaries, in: Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Autonomous Agents, ACM Press, 2000, pp. 179-186.

Digital Library

[49]

Martin, D.L., Cheyer, A.J. and Moran, D.B., The open agent architecture: a framework for building distributed software systems. Appl. Artif. Intell. v13 i1. 91-128.

[50]

J.M. Bradshaw, S. Dutfield, P. Benoit, J.D. Woolley, KAoS: toward an industrial-strength open agent architecture, in: J.M. Bradshaw (Ed.), Software Agents, AAAI Press/The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1997, pp. 375-418.

Digital Library

[51]

Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents: interaction protocols, {http://www.fipa.org/repository/ips.html} (January 2007).

[52]

P. Yolum, M.P. Singh, Commitment-based enhancement of e-commerce protocols, in: WETICE. Workshop: Web-Based Infrastructures and Coordination Architectures for Collaborative Enterprises, 2000, pp. 278-283.

Cited By

Berges IBermúdez JGoñi AIllarramendi A(2011)A mechanism for discovering semantic relationships among agent communication protocolsAutonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems10.1007/s10458-010-9154-123:3(453-485)Online publication date: 1-Nov-2011
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10458-010-9154-1
Berges IBermúdez JGoñi AIllarramendi A(2008)Semantic web technology for agent communication protocolsProceedings of the 5th European semantic web conference on The semantic web: research and applications10.5555/1789394.1789400(5-18)Online publication date: 1-Jun-2008
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/1789394.1789400
Ralyté JJeusfeld MBacklund PKühn HArni-Bloch N(2008)A knowledge-based approach to manage information systems interoperabilityInformation Systems10.1016/j.is.2008.01.00833:7-8(754-784)Online publication date: 1-Nov-2008
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.is.2008.01.008

Index Terms

Interoperation among agent-based information systems through a communication acts ontology

Recommendations

Ontology agent for ensuring semantic interoperability among agents and semantic web

The semantic languages like Ontology Web Language, Web Services Modeling Language and Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agent Semantic Language, differ in syntax and semantic representation, result in mismatches that required mapping and ...
Ontology usage analysis in the ontology lifecycle

The Semantic Web envisions a Web where information is accessible and processable by computers as well as humans. Ontologies are the cornerstones for realizing this vision of the Semantic Web by capturing domain knowledge through the defined terms and ...
The Role of Ontology in Modelling Autonomous Agent-Based Systems
KES '09: Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Knowledge-Based and Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems: Part II

An agent-based system is characterised by an agent's autonomous behaviour, which behaviour is the main difference between the concepts of agent and object. Agent autonomous behaviour is the ability of an agent to cooperate instead of integrate; ...

Comments

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

Copyright © Elsevier B.V. © 2007.

Publisher

Elsevier Science Ltd.

United Kingdom

Publication History

Published: 01 December 2007

Author Tags

Qualifiers

Article

Contributors

Other Metrics

View Article Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

3
Total Citations
View Citations
0
Total Downloads

Downloads (Last 12 months)0
Downloads (Last 6 weeks)0

Reflects downloads up to 03 Oct 2024

Other Metrics

View Author Metrics

Citations

Cited By

Berges IBermúdez JGoñi AIllarramendi A(2011)A mechanism for discovering semantic relationships among agent communication protocolsAutonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems10.1007/s10458-010-9154-123:3(453-485)Online publication date: 1-Nov-2011
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10458-010-9154-1
Berges IBermúdez JGoñi AIllarramendi A(2008)Semantic web technology for agent communication protocolsProceedings of the 5th European semantic web conference on The semantic web: research and applications10.5555/1789394.1789400(5-18)Online publication date: 1-Jun-2008
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/1789394.1789400
Ralyté JJeusfeld MBacklund PKühn HArni-Bloch N(2008)A knowledge-based approach to manage information systems interoperabilityInformation Systems10.1016/j.is.2008.01.00833:7-8(754-784)Online publication date: 1-Nov-2008
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.is.2008.01.008

View Options

View options

Get Access

Login options

Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

Full Access

Get this Publication

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

View Issue’s Table of Contents