Ontology exchange and integration via product-brokering agents

Sheng Uei Guan, Fangming Zhu

Research output: Chapter in Book or Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

Agent-based e-commerce has been booming with the development of the Internet and agent technologies. However, little effort has been devoted to exploring the learning and evolving capabilities of software agents. This chapter addresses the issues of evolving software agents in e-commerce applications. An agent structure with evolutionary features is proposed with a focus on internal hierarchical knowledge. We argue that the knowledge base of an intelligent agent should be the cornerstone for its evolution capabilities, and the agent can enhance its knowledge base by exchanging knowledge with other agents. In this chapter, product ontology is chosen as an instance of knowledge base. We propose a new approach to facilitate ontology exchange among e-commerce agents. The ontology exchange model and its formalities are elaborated. Product-brokering agents have been designed and implemented, which accomplish the ontology exchange process from request to integration.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationSemantic Web Technologies and E-Business
Subtitle of host publicationToward the Integrated Virtual Organization and Business Process Automation
PublisherIGI Global
Pages169-184
Number of pages16
ISBN (Print)9781599041926
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2006
Externally publishedYes

Cite this