A new agent framework with behavior delegation using SOAP

The functional extension of intelligent agents has been a difficult problem because typical software should be edited and recompiled when it needs modifications or replacements in functions after launching. To extend agent's functions dynamically, it is desirable to separate functions from the agent's hard-coded source. In this paper, we propose a new agent framework based on the concept of behavior delegation. We design a new behavior description language, called BDL, for users to assemble agent functions without programming. All behaviors in agent are executed on external server using SOAP. Proposed BDL editor provides users with easy way to assemble agent applications. An example, called Intelligence Price Finder, is implemented to show the use of proposed BDL and the editor.