Software agents incorporating message-driven beans for a J2EE computing environment

摘要

Agent server software (11) provides for simple workflow relationships among message-initiated tasks. The agent software runs as a Java J2EE application and supports software agents, each of which incorporates a message-driven bean (B1, B2). A required invoker agent (AGI) accepts Java Messaging Service (JMS, original or as-translated from HTTP) messages requesting a goal to be accomplished. The invoker agent checks an agent-configuration file (15) to identify an agent (AG2) that can accomplish the goal; if the identified agent has prerequisites that are not met by the contents of the request, the invoker agent can invoke intermediate agents to fulfill the requirements. An intermediate agent (AG1) can invoke the goal-fulfilling agent once all its prerequisites are met. Each request and each agent invocation is recorded in an agent-server database (DB1) so that progress is tracked and so that retries and recovery can be achieved in the event of a failure or fault.