New mobile services based on agent technology

Abstract

A system based on agent technology is proposed to prepare, develop, and maintain new services for mobile users. The proposed agent server is a software for safely executing program agents working as assistants for mobile phone users. Two new groups of agent services are proposed - personal information services and groupware communication services. A personal agent is created for each user of a mobile phone. This agent resides at a server. The agent is working all the time for its user (owner) even when he/she is disconnected from the mobile network. The behavior (i.e., the code) of an agent is set individually for each user. This code is interpreted rather than compiled, thus careful inspection may be performed at run-time. Access rights granted to agents ensure the agents behave in the proper way. To improve system performance, inspected pieces of code - called plugins - are compiled and are accessible by agents after careful checking of access rights. Thus, the system is both secure and fast.