Olga RatsimorVladimir Korolev

Anupam Joshi Timothy Finin

Department of Computer Science

and Electrical Engineering University of Maryland

Baltimore CountyUMBC

oratsi2@cs.umbc.edu http://research.ebiquity.org

Agents2GoAgents2Go: An Infrastructure for

Location-Dependent Service Discovery in

The Mobile Electronic Commerce Environment

Overview

MobilityMobilityAgentsAgents

ElectronicElectronic Commerce Commerce

automation,personalization,

adaptation, “intelligence”

localization,convenience,anywhere, anytime

dynamic ad hoc networks, service discovery,

negotiation

www.ebiquity.org & research.ebiquity.org

Motivation

• Location dependent services discovery

• Distributed infrastructure

• Service provider representation

• Dynamic

• Changing information

• Location detection

• Use already existing infrastructure

The Agents2Go Platform

• Location dependent services discovery– Location dependent information retrieval– The search results contain information about restaurants

that are local to the requesting user.

• Distributed services– Distributed Information – Service information is distributed and grouped by regions.– Information about the restaurant is stored locally.

• Automatic location detection– Cell tower ids are mapped to the geographical region

name.

• Service provider representation– Service Agents reside at the service provider locations.– Restaurant Agents reside at the restaurant locations.

The Agents2Go Infrastructure

CDPD

LocatorA2GServer

Service Provider

Service Provider

Service Provider

Service Provider

Service Provider

Service Provider

Service Provider

Data

Local Broker A

Data

Local Broker B

Data

Local Broker C

Restaurant Agent #2

Restaurant Agent #3

Restaurant Agent #4

Restaurant Agent #5

Restaurant Agent #6

Restaurant Agent #7

Restaurant Agent #1

CDPD

LocatorA2GServer

Bluetooth

The Flow

Restaurant Agent #1

Restaurant Agent #2

Restaurant Agent #3

Restaurant Agent #4

Restaurant Agent #5

Restaurant Agent #6

Restaurant Agent #7

CDPD

Data

Local Broker A

Data

Local Broker B

Data

Local Broker C

A2GServer

Locator

CentaurusComm Transport Protocol

• Two level message-based transport protocol

• Higher level (Level II) implemented by every component in the system– provides reliability, segmentation, reassembly

– reliability via SACKs

• Replaceable low-level modules (Level I) to support different wireless media

• Modules for Infrared, CDPD and Bluetooth implemented

The PalmApp

• The PalmAppPalmApp is a generic form visualizer, independent of the system functionality.

• XML dynamically rendered by the PalmAppPalmApp

• The PalmApp PalmApp provides a graphical interface to the user.

• Users can submit an information request to the system via The PalmApp PalmApp.

Some Screen Shots

The A2G Server and The Locator

• The A2G ServerA2G Server receives user requests from a PalmAppPalmApp, maps its cell tower id to the geographical region and forwards this request including region name to the LocatorLocator.

• The LocatorLocator maps BrokersBrokers to regions. It delegates requests from the A2G ServerA2G Server to the designated BrokersBrokers.

• The A2G Server A2G Server and the LocatorLocator could be replaced when using Bluetooth technology

• Collection of cell tower ids.

• Cell Overlaps

The Broker

• The BrokerBroker manages information for all participating restaurants in it’s designated geographical region.

• The BrokerBroker manages:• Static information Static information – rarely changing information (address, phone

number)

• Dynamic information Dynamic information – frequently changing information (waiting times, promotions). The BrokerBroker timestamps Dynamic informationDynamic information.

• “freshfresh” age group,

• “agedaged” age group,

• “trashedtrashed” age group

• The BrokerBroker receives user requests and generates appropriate responses, which it sends it back to the requesting user.

The Restaurant Agent

Agents2Go Demo

Conclusion & Future Work

• The Agents2Go System is a dynamic, location aware, distributed system.

• The BrokerBroker holds auctions to find the best deals for the user.

• The BrokerBroker maintains reputation information about service providers.

• The BrokerBroker forwards a request that yields no matches to its neighboring BrokersBrokers.

• The Agents2Go System anticipates the future geographical location of the user.

• Disconnected operations or operations in regions with poor wireless connectivity.

www.ebiquity.org & research.ebiquity.org

The Restaurant Agent

• The Restaurant AgentRestaurant Agent provides a graphical interface to a restaurant host.

• The Restaurant AgentRestaurant Agent is used to send dynamic information like updates and promotions to the BrokerBroker that manages that restaurant’s geographical region.