Patent Document

PRIORITY CLAIM TO FOREIGN APPLICATION 
       [0001]    A claim for priority is hereby made under the provisions of 35 U.S.C. §119 for the present application based upon Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-85972, filed on Mar. 28, 2008, which is incorporated herein by reference. 
       FIELD 
       [0002]    The present invention relates to an apparatus and method that execute an agent. Particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method that execute an agent in a multiagent system. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    Recently, a multiagent technique is receiving attention as the Internet becomes popular (see, for example, Non-patent Document 1). A multiagent is a system in which multiple agents or programs that autonomously behave cooperate with one another to solve a problem. The Non-patent Document 1 proposes a video distribution technique using a multiagent and its organization for efficiently executing multiple types of video distributions to many and unspecified persons. 
         [0004]    [Non-patent Document 1] Atsushi Terauchi, 6 others, “An Efficient Broadband Streaming Architecture based on Self-Adaptive Agent Organization”, [online], Dec. 14, 2004, Japan Society for Software Science and Technology, Internet Technology Workshop, [searched on Mar. 15, 2008], Internet &lt;URL:http://witjssst.or.jp/2004/WIT2004/WIT2004-terauchi.pdf. 
         [0005]    In a business system using such a multiagent technology, in some cases, a plurality of agents cooperate to execute one transaction (hereinafter, a transaction to be executed in such a way is called “cooperative transaction”). However, a transaction processing mechanism in such a system has not been proposed. Without such a mechanism, one transaction needs to be separated into a plurality of transactions. This involves a method of carrying out rollback of transactions based on compensation transaction. This method is complicated, and leads to an increase in the number of development steps. Therefore, a cooperative transaction mechanism which can allow a plurality of agents to execute one transaction is necessary. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0006]    Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a multiagent system which allows a plurality of agents to cooperate to execute one transaction. 
         [0007]    The present invention provides an apparatus for executing an agent in a multiagent system, including a first control section that controls status information indicating a process state of a one-directional message in a transaction, the one-directional message belonging to messages output by any one of a plurality of agents participating in the transaction and not generating a reply message; a second control section that controls a thread corresponding to the transaction and assigned to a running agent in the plurality of agents; and a determining section that, when execution of the running agent in the plurality of agents is completed, assigns the thread to another agent in the plurality of agents, and determines based on the status information whether to continue the transaction or terminate the transaction. 
         [0008]    The apparatus may be configured in such a way that the status information indicates if an unprocessed one-directional message exists, and the determining section determines to continue the transaction when the status information indicates that there is the unprocessed one-directional message upon completion of execution of the running agent in the plurality of agents, and determines to terminate the transaction when the status information indicates that there is no unprocessed one-directional message upon completion of execution of the running agent in the plurality of agents. 
         [0009]    Further, the status information may indicate if an unprocessed one-directional message exists by way of the number of unprocessed one-directional messages, and the first control section may update the status information to indicate a larger number when the running agent in the plurality of agents outputs the one-directional message, and update the status information to indicate a smaller number when the status information indicates that there is an unprocessed one-directional message when execution of the running agent in the plurality of agents is completed. 
         [0010]    The apparatus may be configured in such a way that the first control section further controls agent information including identification information of each of the plurality of agents, and when identification information of a destination agent of the one-directional message is not included in the agent information, the determining section performs a process of allowing the destination agent to participate in the transaction as the other agent. 
         [0011]    The apparatus may further include a first storage section that stores each agent in a pre-execution stage; and a second storage section that stores each agent in an execution stage, wherein when the destination agent is not stored in the second storage section, the determining section may perform a process of reading the destination agent from the first storage section into the second storage section as a process of allowing the destination agent to participate in the transaction. The first control section may control the agent information in association with the thread. 
         [0012]    The apparatus may further include a third control section that controls process information indicating whether each agent is participating in any transaction, wherein when identification information of the destination agent is not included in the agent information, and the process information indicates that the destination agent is participating in any transaction, the determining section may wait without performing a process of allowing the destination agent to participate in the transaction, until the process information no more indicates that the destination agent is participating in any transaction. 
         [0013]    The apparatus may further include a first storage section that stores each agent in a pre-execution stage; a second storage section that stores each agent in an execution stage; a third control section that controls process information indicating whether each agent is participating in any transaction; and a control section that performs control not to delete a specific agent, which has been read from the first storage section and stored in the second storage section, from the second storage section when the process information indicates that the specific agent is participating in any transaction. 
         [0014]    In the apparatus, the first control section may further control agent information including identification information of each of the plurality of agents, and when a running agent in the plurality of agents outputs a request reply message which causes a reply message, the determining section performs a process of allowing a destination agent of the request reply message to participate in the transaction if identification information of the destination agent is not included in the agent information. 
         [0015]    The present invention further provides a method of executing an agent in a multiagent system, including the steps of assigning a thread to a first agent in a plurality of agents participating in a transaction, the thread corresponding to the transaction; controlling status information indicating a process state of a one-directional message in the transaction, the one-directional message belonging to messages output by the first agent; and when execution of the first agent is completed, assigning the thread to a second agent in the plurality of agents, and determining based on the status information whether to continue the transaction or terminate the transaction. 
         [0016]    The present invention further provides a program for causing a computer to function as an apparatus that executes an agent in a multiagent system, the program causing the computer to function as means for controlling status information indicating a process state of a one-directional message in a transaction, the one-directional message belonging to messages output by any one of a plurality of agents participating in a transaction and not generating a reply message; means for controlling a thread corresponding to the transaction and assigned to a running agent in the plurality of agents; and means for, when execution of the running agent in the plurality of agents is completed, assigning the thread to another agent in the plurality of agents, and determining based on the status information whether to continue the transaction or terminate the transaction. 
         [0017]    According to the present invention, a multiagent system can allow a plurality of agents to cooperate to execute one transaction. 
         [0018]    In embodiments, systems for executing a number of agents in a multiagent system are presented including: an agent executing apparatus for managing a number of active agents and for controlling activities associated with the number of active agents such that the number of active agents are cooperatively processed, where the agent executing apparatus is configured to provide an intra-transaction message mechanism and an out-of-transaction message mechanism; a cache for temporarily storing the number of active agents, where the number of active agents include a first active agent in a committed transaction and a second active agent in an uncommitted transaction; a permanent storage device for storing the number of agents before the number of agents enter a running state. In some embodiments, the agent executing apparatus further includes: an agent transaction context control section for generating a number of agent transaction contexts, where each of the plurality of agent transaction contexts is associated with a thread for processing, where each of the number of agent transaction contexts includes an agent list and an intra-transaction message queue, where the agent list includes at least some of the number of active agents required for executing the thread, and where the intra-transaction message queue is configured to store a number of one-directional messages, where each of the number of one-directional messages are associated with a transaction. In some embodiments, the agent executing apparatus further includes: an agent control section for managing a status of the number of active agents; a thread control section for managing a number of unassigned threads, the number of unassigned threads configured to associate with the number of active agents; and a scheduler for assigning a previously assigned thread to another of the number of active agents after the previously assigned thread is executed, for determining whether to continue processing based on the status of the number of active agents, and for terminating the transaction. In some embodiments, the agent executing apparatus further includes: a messaging queue for temporarily storing a message transmitted to one of the number of agents; a messaging section for adding an external message to the message queue in accordance with a type of message; a memory control section for reading data from the permanent storage device to the cache; and a communication section for communicating with an external execution environment. 
         [0019]    In other embodiments, methods of executing a number of active agents in a multiagent system using a computing device are presented including: causing the computing device to receive an instruction to initiate a transaction; if an agent transaction context (ATC) for the transaction is not present, causing the computing device to create the ATC for the transaction, where the ATC comprises an agent list and an intra-transaction message queue, where the agent list includes at least some of the number of active agents required for executing a number of threads, and where the intra-transaction message queue is configured to store a number of one-directional messages, where the number of one-directional messages are associated with the transaction; causing the computing device to instruct the number of threads to start the transaction; causing the computing device to assign each of the number of threads to the number of active agents; and causing the computing device to process the transaction by each of the number of active agents. In some embodiments, methods further include: if the ATC for the transaction is present and if the intra-transaction queue is not empty, causing the computing device to acquire a message from the intra-transaction message queue; and causing the computing device to process the message by the ATC. In some embodiments, methods further include: if the ATC for the transaction is present and if the intra-transaction queue is empty, causing the computing device to commit the transaction; causing the computing device to update a status of the ATC; and causing the computing device to delete the ATC. In some embodiments, methods further include: causing the computing device to receive an indication of transmission a one-directional message; causing the computing device to determine whether a destination agent for the one-directional message is present in the agent list; if the destination agent is present in the agent list, causing the computing device to temporarily store the one-directional message in the intra-transaction message queue. In some embodiments, methods further include: if the destination agent is not present in the agent list, causing the computing device to temporarily store the destination agent selected from a number of agents from a permanent storage device into a cache; causing the computing device to update a status of the destination agent; causing the computing device to add the destination agent to the agent list; and causing the computing device to temporarily store the one-directional message in the intra-transaction message queue. 
         [0020]    In other embodiments, computing device program products for executing a number of active agents in a multiagent system are presented including: a computer readable medium; programmatic instructions for receiving an instruction to initiate a transaction; if an agent transaction context (ATC) for the transaction is not present, programmatic instructions for creating the ATC for the transaction, where the ATC comprises an agent list and an intra-transaction message queue, where the agent list includes at least some of the number of active agents required for executing a number of threads, and where the intra-transaction message queue is configured to store a number of one-directional messages, where the number of one-directional messages are associated with the transaction; programmatic instructions for instructing the number of threads to start the transaction; programmatic instructions for assigning each of the number of threads to the number of active agents; and programmatic instructions for processing the transaction by each of the number of active agents. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0021]      FIG. 1  is a diagram showing a first example of a cooperative transaction which is used to explain a problem to be solved by an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0022]      FIG. 2  is a diagram showing a second example of a cooperative transaction which is used to explain a problem to be solved by an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0023]      FIG. 3  is a diagram showing the outline of the embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0024]      FIG. 4  is a block diagram showing an example of a functional structure of a computer system according to the embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0025]      FIG. 5  is a flowchart illustrating an operational example of a scheduler when receiving information indicating transmission of a one-directional message according to the embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0026]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart illustrating an operational example of the scheduler when receiving information indicating initiation of a transaction or indicating that an agent will terminate a process according to the embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0027]      FIG. 7  is a flowchart illustrating an operational example of an initial agent selecting process according to the embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0028]      FIG. 8  is a flowchart illustrating an operational example of the scheduler when receiving information indicating transmission of a request reply message according to the embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0029]      FIG. 9  is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of a computer to which the embodiment of the present invention is adaptable. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0030]    A best mode for carrying out the present invention (hereinafter, “embodiment”) will be described below by way of examples referring to the accompanying drawings. 
         [0031]    First, a massively multiagent system (MMAS) on which the embodiment is premised will be described. The MMAS is a programming model in which multiple agents cooperate to execute tasks. Under the MMAS execution environment several hundred thousand agents perform message processes. Accordingly, an agent starts a process upon reception of a message (message driven). A message is transmitted from an external system or an agent and is stored in a message queue in an agent execution environment. In the agent execution environment, a thread in a thread pool is assigned to an agent at a proper timing and caused to execute a message process. Then, the message process of the agent is completed in a short period of time. The MMAS is an asynchronous messaging model in which an agent cannot wait for a message from another agent. Each agent is independent and does not depend on the behaviors of the other agents. 
         [0032]    Normally, a transaction corresponds only to a message process of a single agent. That is, a message process corresponds in one to one to a transaction. In the MMAS, however, a plurality of agents which behave in the same agent execution environment may cooperate to execute one transaction. When a user agent and a shop agent execute a purchase process in an electronic commerce application, for example, the user agent transmits a purchase request for a commodity in a cart the user agent has to the shop agent. In this process, deletion of an entry from the cart by the user agent and recording of the purchase request by the shop agent need to be executed in one transaction. The transaction model in which the aforementioned message process and transaction correspond in one to one to each other cannot achieve such a process. 
         [0033]    In case where the cooperative process by agents is a transaction, the following problems arise. 
         [0034]    The first problem is a “transaction completion problem”. Because each agent autonomously executes processes, the agent calls another agent independently. Therefore, participating agents cannot know completion of the general cooperative process or completion of the transaction. 
         [0035]    The second problem is a “thread problem”. Message processes by agents which participate in a transaction process need to be processed in the same thread. 
         [0036]    The first problem will be described in detail. A cooperative process by agents is carried by messaging. The types of messaging are a request reply message and a one-directional message. The former type is the messaging which receives a reply message as a return value of an API for transmitting a request reply message. In this case, the reply message is received when a destination agent completes a transmission message process. The latter type is the messaging in which there is no return value for the API for transmitting a one-directional message. In this case, a transmitted message is temporarily stored in a message queue, so that the API may return to the original process before the destination agent processes the message. 
         [0037]    Because an agent autonomously executes processes, agents who participate in a cooperative transaction are determined dynamically. Suppose that, for example, an agent A has started a cooperative transaction and transmitted a request reply message to an agent B. Then, suppose that the agent B has transmitted the request reply message to an agent C and has returned a reply message to the agent A in the message process, and the agent C has transmitted a one-directional message to an agent D. In such a case, while the cooperative transaction is carried out by the agents A, B, C and D, the agent A cannot know the participation of the agents C and D. The agent B cannot know the participation of the agent D. The agent C cannot know the participation of the agent A. Further, the agent D cannot know the participation of the agents A and B. 
         [0038]    Next, the second problem will be described in detail. Normally, in the MMAS, when the agent execution environment carries out a message process of an agent, a thread in a thread pool is assigned to the agent, and when the message process is completed, the thread is freed from the agent. Accordingly, when a plurality of agents executes a cooperative transaction, different threads are assigned to the individual agents. If it is not a transaction process, a problem does not arise in such thread assignment. In case of a transaction process, however, since many commercial database management systems associate threads with transactions in one to one base, a single transaction cannot extend over a plurality of threads. 
         [0039]    The problems to the solved will be described specifically referring to the accompanying drawings. 
         [0040]      FIG. 1  schematically shows problems to be solved. As has been described already, one problem to be solved is that while a plurality of agents cooperatively executes a single process, the process cannot be executed as a single transaction. 
         [0041]    As the first problem, as described above, a plurality of agents cannot process in the same thread.  FIG. 1  shows an example where an agent # 1  which has started a transaction transmits a message to an agent # 2 , the agent # 2  transmits a message to an agent # 3 , and the agent # 3  returns a message to the agent # 1 . In this example, the thread assigned to the agent # 1  when the transaction has started is freed from the agent # 1  when a message is transmitted to the agent # 2  and the process is terminated. The threads respectively assigned to the agents # 2 , # 3  are freed when the message process is completed. As a message process is terminated, the thread is returned to the system, thus arising the foregoing problem. 
         [0042]    As the second problem, as mentioned above, the agent which has started a transaction does not know when the transaction is completed. In  FIG. 1 , after the agent # 1  processes a message received from the agent # 3 , the agent # 1  is to complete the transaction; however, actually, the agent # 1  does not know whether it should complete the transaction here. This is because the agent # 3  might have not only returned a message to the agent # 1  but also have transmitted a message to another agent. 
         [0043]      FIG. 2  shows another example of the cooperative transaction. In this example, the agent # 1  transmits a request reply message to the agent # 2 , receives a reply message from the agent # 2 , and then transmits a one-directional message to the agent # 3 . Then, the agent # 3  transmits a one-directional message to the agent # 4 , and then transmits a one-directional message to an agent # 5  too. In this case, after sending a message to the agent # 3 , the agent # 1  does not receive a reply message, and cannot thus know to which agent the agent # 3  has transmitted a message. This example therefore is a typical example where it is unknown when a transaction is to be completed. An agent in a cooperative transaction may transmit a message to an agent in another transaction, so that  FIG. 2  shows transmission of a message from the agent # 1  to an agent # 6  in another transaction. 
         [0044]    To overcome the problem, a message mechanism is provided with an intra-transaction message mechanism and an out-of-transaction message mechanism according to the embodiment, and the following three mechanisms are provided as the intra-transaction message mechanism. 
         [0045]    The first mechanism is an agent transaction context (hereinafter referred to as “ATC”) which has a mechanism of making a list of information specifying agents to participate in a transaction and a counter mechanism of counting one-directional messages in a transaction. 
         [0046]    The second mechanism is a mechanism of processing a message process in an intra-transaction message in the same thread. 
         [0047]    The third mechanism is a mechanism of terminating a transaction when the counter mechanism in the ATC determines that there is no unprocessed message. 
         [0048]    In the MMAS, not every agent is placed in a cache, so that some agents may be cast out from the cache. In a cooperative transaction, however, an agent which is participating in an uncommitted transaction cannot be cast out from the cache. In the embodiment, therefore, the status of the agent that has participated in a transaction is set to “processing” to prevent the agent from being cast out from the cache. When the transaction is terminated, the status of the agent, “processing”, is deleted. 
         [0049]    The outline of the embodiment will be described referring to the accompanying drawings. 
         [0050]      FIG. 3  schematically shows the outline of the embodiment.  FIG. 3 , like  FIG. 1 , shows an example where an agent # 1  which has started a transaction transmits a message to an agent # 2 , the agent # 2  transmits a message to an agent # 3 , and the agent # 3  returns a message to the agent # 1 . In this example, those processes are executed in one thread using the aforementioned mechanisms. An ATC  41  is generated for the thread. It is illustrated that the ATC  41  has an agent list  42  to list agent IDs as one example of the mechanism that makes a list of information specifying agents which participate in a transaction. It is also illustrated that the ATC  41  has an intra-transaction message queue  43  which temporarily stores one-directional messages in a transaction as one example of the counter mechanism that counts one-directional messages in a transaction.  FIG. 3  further shows agent status information  33   a  indicating whether the status of an agent is “processing”. 
         [0051]    A computer system which realizes the embodiment will be described in detail. 
         [0052]      FIG. 4  is a block diagram showing an example of the functional structure of the computer system according to the embodiment. The computer system includes a database  10 , a cache  20  and an agent executing apparatus  30 . 
         [0053]    Of the components, the database  10  is one example of a permanent storage device that stores agents before becoming a running state, and, specifically, it may be a relational database, an object oriented database, a file system or the like. When a relational database is used as the database  10 , an object/relational mapping function is needed. The database  10  may be realized by, for example, a magnetic disc device. In the embodiment, the database  10  is provided as one example of the first storage section to store individual agent at a pre-execution stage. 
         [0054]    The cache  20  can be considered as work space for agents, and is a memory to store active agents  21   a,    21   b,    21   c,  and soon. The cache  20  may be realized by, for example, a semiconductor memory. When the agents  21   a,    21   b,    21   c,  etc. are not to be distinguished in the following description, they are simply denoted as “agents  21 ”. in the embodiment, the cache  20  is provided as one example of the second storage section which stores individual agents at an execution stage. 
         [0055]    The agent executing apparatus  30  is a computer in which the agent execution environment is constructed. The agent executing apparatus  30  manages a plurality of agents  21 , and controls the activities thereof. The agent executing apparatus  30  performs message exchange with an external unit, and provides functions of generating and deleting the agents  21 . The agent executing apparatus  30  may be realized by a general-purpose server computer, for example. 
         [0056]    The functions of the agent executing apparatus  30  will further be described in detail. 
         [0057]    The agent executing apparatus  30  has a messaging section  31 , a message queue  32 , an agent control section  33 , a memory control section  34 , a scheduler  35 , a thread control section  36 , and a communication section  37 . The agent executing apparatus  30  further has an ATC control section  40 , which manages the ATC  41 . The ATC  41  includes the agent list  42  and the intra-transaction message queue  43 . 
         [0058]    The messaging section  31  adds an external message to the message queue  32  according to the type of the message. Message types include, for example, a destination specified message and a destination unspecified message in addition to the aforementioned request reply message and one-directional message. The destination specified message is a message whose message sender has specified an agent  21  to be a destination agent. The destination unspecified message is a message whose message sender has not specified an agent  21  to be a destination agent, in which case the application performs a process of specifying a destination agent using components registered in the messaging section  31 . 
         [0059]    The message queue  32  is a memory area to temporarily hold a message transmitted to an agent. The message queue  32  also has a function of managing the messaging type of each message. Further, the message queue  32  temporarily stores a message transmitted by an agent  21  outside a transaction. 
         [0060]    The agent control section  33  manages the statuses of agents  21 . The statuses of the agents  21 , though not shown in  FIG. 4 , are managed as agent status information  33   a  (see  FIG. 3 ) indicating by means of a flag “processing” that a thread is assigned to an agent and is processed. In the embodiment, the flag “processing” is used as one example of process information, and the agent control section  33  is provided as one example of the third control section that controls the process information. 
         [0061]    The memory control section  34  reads data on an agent  21  from the database  10  into the cache  20 . When data on all the agents  21  cannot be stored in the cache  20 , an “agent swap process” of writing data on some agents  21  into the database  10  and reading the data therefrom as needed is carried out. At this time, it is necessary to determine which agents  21  are to be placed in the cache  20  and which agents  21  are to be placed in the database  10 . While the determination may be made based on an LRU (Least Recently Used) system, for example, agents  21  whose status is “processing” are left in the cache  20  and not written out in the database  10  in the embodiment. According to the embodiment, the memory control section  34  is provided as one example of the control section that controls a specific agent so that it is not deleted from the second storage section. 
         [0062]    When receiving information indicating transmission of a one-directional message from a thread, the scheduler  35  inquires the ATC control section  40  if the agent ID of a destination agent for the message is registered in the agent list  42 . When the agent ID is not registered, the scheduler  35  causes the destination agent to participate in a transaction, and instructs the thread to store the message in the intra-transaction message queue  43 . When receiving information indicating termination of a message process from a thread, the scheduler  35  determines an agent  21  to be processed next, acquires a corresponding message from the intra-transaction message queue  43 , and transfers the message to the thread. In the embodiment, the scheduler  35  is provided as one example of the determining section that determines whether to continue or terminate a transaction. 
         [0063]    The thread control section  36  has a plurality of threads to be used for a message process on an agent  21 . Each thread acquires an agent  21  and a message to be processed next from the scheduler  35 , and calls a message process logic (message handler) of the agent  21 . When the process is completed, the thread acquires a next agent  21  and message from the scheduler  35 . This thread control system is generally called “thread pool”. In the embodiment, the thread control section  36  is provided as one example of the second control section that controls threads. 
         [0064]    The communication section  37  performs message exchange with an external component. When the entire environments of the agent  21  is constructed by a plurality of execution environment clusters, the communication section  37  is used for message exchange with other execution environments. 
         [0065]    The ATC control section  40  controls ATCs generated by the number of threads or the number of transactions. The ATC  41  is generated for each thread, and includes an agent list  42  and an intra-transaction message queue  43 . The ATC  41  is realized by, for example, an object in Java®, and is generated as follows. First, an ATC class is defined. At this time, the ATC class is made to have an agent list  42  and an intra-transaction message queue  43 . Then, when an agent  21  starts a cooperative transaction during a message process, an ATC instance is generated. This ATC instance has an agent list  42  and an intra-transaction message queue  43  corresponding to the cooperative transaction. Then, the agent  21  adds itself to the agent list  42 . When the ATC  41  already exists, on the other hand, it becomes an error. As mentioned earlier, the agent list  42  stores a list of agent IDs, and the intra-transaction message queue  43  is a queue to temporarily store one-directional messages in a transaction. 
         [0066]    In the embodiment, the agent list  42  is used as one example of agent information, the intra-transaction message queue  43  is used as one example of status information, and the ATC control section  40  is provided as one example of the first control section that controls the agent information and status information. 
         [0067]    Next, the operation of the agent executing apparatus  30  according to the embodiment will be described. Because the scheduler  35  controls the individual functions of the agent executing apparatus  30  to realize the general operation, the following description will be focused on the operation of the scheduler  35 . As mentioned above, types of messages to be transmitted by agents  21  are either one-directional message or request reply message. Therefore, the following description will be given on a process relating to a one-directional message and a process relating to a request reply message separately. 
         [0068]    [Process Relating to One-Directional Message] 
         [0069]    First, the scheduler  35  receives information indicating initiation of a transaction from a thread. Then, the scheduler  35  determines an agent  21  to be processed first (hereinafter referred to as “initial agent”), transfers a corresponding message to the thread, and instructs the thread to call a message handler for the initial agent. As a result, the thread is assigned to the initial agent, which starts a transaction. The operation of the scheduler  35  when a transaction starts will be described in detail later. 
         [0070]    Suppose that thereafter, an agent  21  currently running (regardless of whether it is an initial agent or an agent which has directly or indirectly received a message transmitted from the initial agent) is caused to transmit a one-directional message. Then, the thread assigned to the agent  21  transmits information indicating the transmission of the one-directional message to the scheduler  35 . 
         [0071]      FIG. 5  is a flowchart illustrating an operational example of the scheduler  35  when receiving this information. It is to be noted that identification information of a thread is transmitted therefrom. In this example, a “thread ID” is used as thread identification information. 
         [0072]    When receiving information indicating transmission of a one-directional message, the scheduler  35  inquires the ATC control section  40  to determine whether the agent ID of a destination agent designated as the destination for the one-directional message is present in the agent list  42  (step  301 ). 
         [0073]    When it is determined that the agent ID of the destination agent is present in the agent list  42 , the flow goes to step  305 . When it is determined that the agent ID of the destination agent is not present in the agent list  42 , the scheduler  35  performs a process of causing the destination agent to participate in a transaction. 
         [0074]    First, the scheduler  35  inquires the memory control section  34  to check if the destination agent is present in the cache  20 , and, if not present, reads the destination agent from the database  10  and adds the destination agent to the cache  20  (step  302 ). Accordingly, the memory control section  34  performs the instructed operation to place the destination agent in the cache  20 . 
         [0075]    Next, the scheduler  35  instructs the agent control section  33  to set the agent status information  33   a  of the destination agent to “processing” (step  303 ). As a result, the agent control section  33  updates the agent status information  33   a  of the destination agent to “processing”. If the agent status information  33   a  is already “processing” when concurrent parallel processing of an agent  21  is not permitted, it is considered that the agent  21  is participating in another transaction. Therefore, the scheduler  35  waits until the status is released. 
         [0076]    Then, the scheduler  35  instructs the ATC control section  40  to add the agent ID of the destination agent to the agent list  42  (step  304 ). Accordingly, the ATC control section  40  registers the agent ID of the destination agent in the agent list  42 . 
         [0077]    When the destination agent participates in the transaction through those processes, the scheduler  35  instructs the thread to store a one-directional message to be transmitted into the intra-transaction message queue  43  (step  305 ). As a result, the thread stores the one-directional message in the intra-transaction message queue  43 . 
         [0078]    Suppose that the agent  21  currently running has terminated a message process. Then, the thread assigned to the agent  21  informs the scheduler  35  of information indicating that the agent  21  will terminate the process. 
         [0079]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart illustrating an operational example of the scheduler  35  when receiving this information. While this operation determines an agent  21  to be processed next when the processing of one agent  21  is terminated, it is common to the operation of determining an initial agent at the time of starting a transaction. In this respect,  FIG. 6  also shows an operational example when the scheduler  35  receives information indicating initiation of a transaction. It is assumed that a thread transmits thread identification information at this time. A “thread ID” is also used as thread identification information. 
         [0080]    When receiving, from a thread, information indicating initiation of a transaction or information indicating that an agent  21  will terminate a process, the scheduler  35  first inquires the ATC control section  40  to determine whether there is an ATC corresponding to the thread ID (step  321 ). When it is determined that the ATC is not present, which is a case where information indicating initiation of a transaction is received, the scheduler  35  performs a process of starting a transaction. 
         [0081]    First, the scheduler  35  performs an initial agent selecting process to be described later (step  322 ). Next, the scheduler  35  instructs the ATC control section  40  to create an ATC in association with the thread ID (step  323 ). Accordingly, the ATC control section  40  creates an ATC in association with the thread D. At this time, the ATC control section  40  registers the agent ID of the agent  21  which attempts to start the transaction in the agent list  42 . 
         [0082]    Then, the scheduler  35  instructs the thread to start the transaction (step  324 ). The scheduler  35  transfers a message to be processed by the agent  21  selected in step  322  to the thread, and instructs the thread to call a message handler for the agent  21  (step  325 ). Accordingly, the thread is assigned to the agent  21 , the transaction is started, and the agent  21  processes a message. 
         [0083]    When it is determined in step  321  that the ATC is present, on the other hand, in which case information indicating that the agent  21  will terminate the process is received, the scheduler  35  performs a process of determining an agent  21  to be processed next. 
         [0084]    First, the scheduler  35  inquires the ATC control section  40  to determine whether the intra-transaction message queue  43  is empty (whether it is in a state of having no message) (step  326 ). 
         [0085]    When it is determined that the intra-transaction message queue  43  is not empty, the scheduler  35  instructs the ATC control section  40  to acquire a message from the intra-transaction message queue  43  (step  327 ). As a result, the ATC control section  40  acquires a message from the intra-transaction message queue  43 , and transfers the message to the scheduler  35 . 
         [0086]    The scheduler  35  then transfers the message to the thread and instructs the thread to call a message handler for the agent  21  (step  325 ). Accordingly, the thread is assigned to the agent  21 , which processes the message. 
         [0087]    When it is determined in step  326  that the intra-transaction message queue  43  is empty, it is a case where although one agent  21  tends to terminate the process and, thus a thread requests selection of an agent  21  to be processed next, a message to be processed is not present in the intra-transaction message queue  43 . What is more, the thread does not concurrently execute a plurality of agents  21  in parallel, so that there is no agent  21  in operation at this point of time. Therefore, it is understood that processing of all the agents  21  is complete and the transaction can be terminated. 
         [0088]    In this case, the scheduler  35  first instructs the thread to commit the transaction (step  328 ). As a result, the thread commits the transaction. The committing process is realized by calling the committing process of the transaction processing mechanism in the agent execution environment. 
         [0089]    Next, the scheduler  35  instructs the agent control section  33  to delete “processing” in the agent status information  33   a  (step  329 ). As a result, the agent control section  33  deletes “processing” from the agent status information  33   a.    
         [0090]    Finally, the scheduler  35  instructs the ATC control section  40  to delete the ATC associated with the thread ID (step  330 ). As a result, the ATC control section  40  deletes the ATC associated with the thread ID. 
         [0091]    The initial agent selecting process of step  322  in  FIG. 6  will be described below. 
         [0092]      FIG. 7  is a flowchart illustrating an operational example of the initial agent selecting process. 
         [0093]    First, the scheduler  35  determines whether an agent  21  having the top priority message is present (step  341 ). When an agent  21  having the top priority message is present, the scheduler  35  inquires the agent control section  33  to determine whether the agent status information  33   a  of the agent  21  is “processing” (step  342 ). When the agent status information  33   a  of the agent  21  is not “processing”, the scheduler  35  selects the agent  21  as an initial agent (step  343 ). 
         [0094]    When it is determined in step  341  that there is no agent  21  having the top priority message and when it is determined in step  342  that the agent status information  33   a  is “processing”, the flow goes to a next selection process. 
         [0095]    That is, the scheduler  35  determines whether there is a message in the message queue  32  of the agent  21  which has been processing previously (step  344 ). When there is a message in the message queue  32  of the agent  21  which has been processing previously, the scheduler  35  determines whether the number of successive processes of the agent  21  is equal to or less than a given value (step  345 ). When the number of successive processes of the agent  21  is equal to or less than the given value, the scheduler  35  selects the agent  21  as an initial agent (step  346 ). When it is determined in step  344  that there is no message in the message queue  32  of the agent  21  which has been processing previously, and when it is determined in step  345  that the number of successive processes of the agent  21  is not equal to or less than the given value, the flow goes to a next selection process. 
         [0096]    The scheduler  35  determines whether there is an agent  21  having an unprocessed message (step  347 ). When there is an agent  21  having an unprocessed message, if there is an agent  21  placed in the cache  20 , the scheduler  35  selects the agent  21  by priority, whereas if there is no agent  21  placed in the cache  20 , the scheduler  35  selects an agent  21  placed in the database  10  (step  348 ). 
         [0097]    When it is determined in step  347  that there is no agent  21  having an unprocessed message, the flow returns to step  341  to repeat the sequence of processes until a selectable agent  21  appears. 
         [0098]    In the operational example, in steps  302  to  304  in  FIG. 5 , i.e., before a thread stores a one-directional message in the intra-transaction message queue  43 , it is checked if the destination agent is participating in a transaction, and, if not, a process of causing the destination agent to participate is performed. However, the timing of executing the process is not limited to this particular timing. For example, the process may be executed directly after step  326  in  FIG. 6 , i.e., when a message is acquired from the intra-transaction message queue  43 . 
         [0099]    [Process Relating to Request Reply Message] 
         [0100]    First, the scheduler  35  receives information indicating initiation of a transaction from a thread. Then, the scheduler  35  determines an initial agent, transfers a corresponding message to the thread, and instructs the thread to call a message handler for the initial agent. As a result, the thread is assigned to the initial agent, which starts a transaction. Since the operation of the scheduler  35  when a transaction starts is the same as steps  322  to  325  in  FIG. 6 , the detailed description will not be given. 
         [0101]    Suppose that thereafter, an agent  21  currently running (regardless of whether it is an initial agent or an agent which has directly or indirectly received a message transmitted from the initial agent) is caused to transmit a request reply message. Then, the thread assigned to the agent  21  transmits information indicating the transmission of the request reply message to the scheduler  35 . 
         [0102]      FIG. 8  is a flowchart illustrating an operational example of the scheduler  35  when receiving this information. It is to be noted that identification information of a thread is transmitted therefrom. In this example, a “thread ID” is used as thread identification information. 
         [0103]    When receiving information indicating transmission of a request reply message, the scheduler  35  inquires the ATC control section  40  to determine whether the agent ID of a destination agent designated as the destination for the request reply message is present in the agent list  42  (step  361 ). 
         [0104]    When it is determined that the agent ID of the destination agent is present in the agent list  42 , the flow goes to step  365 . When it is determined that the agent ID of the destination agent is not present in the agent list  42 , the scheduler  35  performs a process of causing the destination agent to participate in a transaction. 
         [0105]    First, the scheduler  35  inquires the memory control section  34  to check if the destination agent is present in the cache  20 , and, if not present, reads the destination agent from the database  10  and adds the destination agent to the cache  20  (step  362 ). Accordingly, the memory control section  34  performs the instructed operation to place the destination agent in the cache  20 . 
         [0106]    Next, the scheduler  35  instructs the agent control section  33  to set the agent status information  33   a  of the destination agent to “processing” (step  363 ). As a result, the agent control section  33  updates the agent status information  33   a  of the destination agent to “processing”. If the agent status information  33   a  is already “processing” when concurrent parallel processing of an agent  21  is not permitted, it is considered that the agent  21  is participating in another transaction. Therefore, the scheduler  35  waits until the status is released. 
         [0107]    Then, the scheduler  35  instructs the ATC control section  40  to add the agent ID of the destination agent to the agent list  42  (step  364 ). Accordingly, the ATC control section  40  registers the agent ID of the destination agent in the agent list  42 . 
         [0108]    When the destination agent participates in the transaction through those processes, the scheduler  35  instructs the thread to call a message handler of the destination agent (step  365 ). As a result, the thread transmits the request reply message to the destination agent. 
         [0109]    The detailed description of the embodiment has been given above. In the foregoing description, the agent list  42  which is a list of agent IDs is used as a mechanism of making a list of information specifying agents  21  merely as one example. For example, an agent list which is a list of reference information such as addresses of agents  21  may be used. In addition, while the intra-transaction message queue  43  is used as the counter mechanism of counting one-directional messages in a transaction, a counter which merely stores the number of messages may be used. Alternatively, information indicating if an unprocessed one-directional message is present in a transaction, or information indicating the process status of a one-directional message in a transaction may be used. 
         [0110]    According to the embodiment, as apparent from the above, agents  21  which participate in a cooperative transaction are processed in order by a single thread. This overcomes the above-described “thread problem”. 
         [0111]    In the embodiment, when the counter value for one-directional messages in a transaction becomes zero, it is determined that a transaction is completed, and, if not, it is determined that a transaction is not completed. This overcomes the above-described “transaction completion problem”. 
         [0112]    The use of the foregoing configuration can allow a single transaction process by a plurality of agents to be described easily. This makes the program simpler and reduces the number of development steps. In addition, the maintainability is improved. 
         [0113]    Finally, the hardware configuration of a suitable computer to which the embodiment is adapted will be described.  FIG. 9  is a diagram showing one example of the hardware configuration of such a computer. As illustrated, the computer includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit)  90   a  which is arithmetic operation means, a main memory  90   c  connected to the CPU  90   a  via an M/B (Mother Board) chip set  90   b,  and a display mechanism  90   d  also connected to the CPU  90   a  via the M/B chip set  90   b.  The M/B chip set  90   b  is connected with a network interface  90   f,  a magnetic disc device (HDD)  90   g,  an audio mechanism  90   h,  a keyboard/mouse  90   i  and a flexible disc drive  90   j  via a bridge circuit  90   e.    
         [0114]    In  FIG. 9 , the individual components are connected together by buses. For example, the CPU  90   a  and the M/B chip set  90   b  are connected together, and the M/B chip set  90   b  and the main memory  90   c  are connected together, by a CPU bus. While the M/B chip set  90   b  may be connected to the display mechanism  90   d  by an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port), when the display mechanism  90   d  includes a video card compatible with PCI Express, the M/B chip set  90   b  and the video card are connected together by a PCI Express (PCIe) bus. For connection to the bridge circuit  90   e,  PCI Express, for example, can be used for the network interface  90   f.  With regard to the magnetic disc device  90   g,  for example, serial ATA (AT Attachment), parallel transfer ATA, or PCI (Peripheral Components Interconnect) can be used. Further, USB (Universal Serial Bus) can be used for the keyboard/mouse  90   i  and the flexible disc drive  90   j.    
         [0115]    The present invention may be realized entirely by hardware, or entirely by software. The present invention may also be realized by both hardware and software. The present invention can be realized as a computer, a data processing system, or a computer program. The computer program can be provided in the form of a computer readable medium where it is stored. Possible media are electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared and semiconductor systems (equipment or device), or a transmittable medium. Examples of the computer readable media include a semiconductor, solid state memory device, magnetic tape, detachable computer diskette, random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), rigid magnetic disc, and optical disc. Examples of optical discs at present include a compact disc-read only memory (CD-ROM), compact disc-read/write (CD-R/W) and DVD. 
         [0116]    While the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the technical scope of the invention is not limited to the scope of the above-described embodiment. It should be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and improvements can be made to the embodiment without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

Technology Category: 3