FOUNDATION FOR INTELLIGENT PHYSICAL AGENTS

 

 

FIPA Query Ref Communicative Act Specification

 

Document title

FIPA Query Ref Communicative Act Specification

Document number

DC00054A

Document source

FIPA TC C

Document status

Deprecated

Date of this status

2000/10/16

Supersedes

None

Contact

fab@fipa.org

Change history

2000/10/16

Deprecated by FIPA00037

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

© 2000 Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents - http://www.fipa.org/

Geneva, Switzerland

Notice

Use of the technologies described in this specification may infringe patents, copyrights or other intellectual property rights of FIPA Members and non-members. Nothing in this specification should be construed as granting permission to use any of the technologies described. Anyone planning to make use of technology covered by the intellectual property rights of others should first obtain permission from the holder(s) of the rights. FIPA strongly encourages anyone implementing  any part of this specification to determine first whether part(s) sought to be implemented are covered by the intellectual property of others, and, if so, to obtain appropriate licenses or other permission from the holder(s) of such intellectual property prior to implementation. This specification is subject to change without notice. Neither FIPA nor any of its Members accept any responsibility whatsoever for damages or liability, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of this specification.

Foreword

The Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA) is an international organization that is dedicated to promoting the industry of intelligent agents by openly developing specifications supporting interoperability among agents and agent-based applications. This occurs through open collaboration among its member organizations, which are companies and universities that are active in the field of agents. FIPA makes the results of its activities available to all interested parties and intends to contribute its results to the appropriate formal standards bodies.

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The FIPA specifications are developed through direct involvement of the FIPA membership. The status of a specification can be either Preliminary, Experimental, Standard, Deprecated or Obsolete. More detail about the process of specification may be found in the FIPA Procedures for Technical Work. A complete overview of the FIPA specifications and their current status may be found in the FIPA List of Specifications. A list of terms and abbreviations used in the FIPA specifications may be found in the FIPA Glossary.

FIPA is a non-profit association registered in Geneva, Switzerland. As of January 2000, the 56 members of FIPA represented 17 countries worldwide. Further information about FIPA as an organization, membership information, FIPA specifications and upcoming meetings may be found at http://www.fipa.org/.

Contents

1     Scope. 1

2     Query Ref 2

3     References. 3

1         Scope

This document specifies the Query Ref communicative act which is compliant to [FIPA00037] requirements.

 

2         Query Ref

Summary

The action of asking another agent for the object referred to by an referential expression.

Content

A descriptor (a referential expression).

Description

Query-ref is the act of asking another agent to inform the requestor of the object identified by a descriptor. The sending agent is requesting the receiver to perform an inform act (see [FIPA00046]), containing the object that corresponds to the descriptor.

 

The agent performing the query-ref act:

 

·         does not know which object or set of objects corresponds to the descriptor, and,

 

·         believes that the other agent does know which object or set of objects corresponds to the descriptor.

Formal Model

<i, query-ref(j, Ref x d(x)) º

  <i, request(j, <j, inform-ref(i, Ref x d(x))>)>

    FP: ØBrefi(Ref x d(x)) Ù ØUrefi(Ref x d(x)) Ù

              ØBi Ij Done(<j, inform-ref(i, Ref x d(x))>)

    RE: Done(<i, Inform(j, Ref x d(x) = r1)>|...|

              <i, Inform(j, Ref x d(x) = rk)>)

 

Note: Ref x d(x) is one of the referential expressions: ix d(x), any x d(x) or all x d(x).

Example

Agent i asks agent j for its available services:

 

(query-ref

  :sender i

  :receiver j

  :content

    (all ?x

      (available-services j ?x))

  …)

 

j replies that it can reserve trains, planes and automobiles:

 

(inform    

  :sender j

  :receiver i

  :content

    (=

      (all ?x

        (available-services j ?x))

      (set (reserve-ticket train)

           (reserve-ticket plane)

           (reserve automobile)))

    …)

                                                            


3         References

[FIPA00037]      FIPA Communicative Act Library Specification. Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents, 2000. http://www.fipa.org/specs/fipa00037/

[FIPA00046]      FIPA Inform Communicative Act Specification. Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents, 2000. http://www.fipa.org/specs/fipa00046/