Patent ID: 7908225

Claim:
A method of identifying an unknown party interacting with an intelligent agent, the method comprising, in a computer that includes at least one processor, executing a program to perform the steps of: determining a plurality of attributes related to the unknown party, wherein the unknown party is a party other than a client that has delegated at least one task to the intelligent agent; comparing the plurality of attributes for the unknown party with attributes related to a plurality of known parties; and identifying the unknown party as the known party having attributes that most closely match those of the unknown party; wherein the unknown party is an intelligent agent configured to conduct electronic transactions, wherein the plurality of attributes is selected from the group consisting of an agent name, a client name, a bank name, a bank account number, a credit card number, a homebase location, an agent program name, or a location or name of a source with which the unknown party communicates, wherein each of the plurality of attributes has a weighting factor associated therewith, wherein the comparing step calculates an accumulated weighting factor for each known party by summing the weighting factors of the attributes of the known party which match those of the unknown party, and wherein the identifying step identifies the unknown party as the known party with the largest accumulated weighting factor.