Applying agents to search goods information based on three-level metadata architectures

With the explosive growth in the number of virtual stores and goods information on the Internet, customers are experiencing difficulties in searching for goods information satisfying their needs. In this work, agent technology was applied to develop a flexible search system enabling users to search goods information based on the attributes of various goods categories. We propose a three-level metadata architecture to make an Internet search for goods information more effective. The metadata is able to facilitate resource discovery and format translation, and to flexibly model the definitions of diverse attributes for describing goods in various goods categories and data resources. With the three-level metadata architecture and the agent technology, an integrated search for goods information can be performed effectively.