Information agent technology for the Internet: A survey

The vast amount of heterogeneous information sources available on the Internet demands advanced solutions for acquiring, mediating, and maintaining relevant information for the common user. Intelligent information agents are autonomous computational software entities that are especially meant to (1) provide pro-active resource discovery, (2) resolve information impedance of information consumers and providers, and (3) offer value-added information services and products. These agents are supposed to cope with the difficulties associated with the information overload of the user, preferably just in time. Based on a systematic classification of intelligent information agents, this paper presents an overview of the basic key enabling technologies needed to build such agents, and respective examples of information agent systems currently deployed on the Internet. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.