Patent ID: 6886026

Claim:
A method for operating a software agent, comprising steps of: initiating a search procedure; determining whether to query a current directory service agent for a list of other software agents that match at least one search criterion; if it is determined to query the current directory service agent, querying the current directory service agent for the list of other software agents that match at least one search criterion; adding any new matching software agents to a list of matching software agents; determining whether to query the current directory service agent for a list of other directory service agents; if it is determined to query the current directory service agent, querying the current directory service agent for the list of other directory service agents; adding any new directory service agents to a list of directory service agents; and selectively one of terminating the search procedure or selecting from the list of directory service agents another directory service agent as the current directory service agent, and repeating the steps of determining, querying and adding.