Agents Interacting based on Protocols
Invention Summary:
There is a growing realization in the commercial world that trust among members of a multi-agent systems operating electronically over the Internet is needed. Trust can be accomplished by enforcing (governing) electronically, a contract, policy, or another type of protocol to govern transactions among members.
Rutgers researcher, Dr. Naftaly Minsky, has developed a novel control mechanism (“COP”) that governs interactions among members of multi-agent distributed systems — which can include software processes, physical IoT devices, and people operating via diverse platforms—and can enforce a wide range of protocols over such interactions. Such protocols may represent a contract that binds these actors, or it may be necessary for the actors to collaborate effectively on some common goal, or to compete safely over the use of resources.
The COP mechanism is inherently decentralized, and it satisfies the following important qualities: (a) very low latency; (b) highly scalable; (c) supports interoperability between systems operating subject to different protocols, and can, thus be applied to systems-of-systems; and (d) is considerably secure.
Contrasts with Smart Contracts/Block Chain:
Recently, commercial, financial and healthcare applications implemented using blockchain-based smart contracts have garnered attention. This mechanism is quite secure, but its effective range of applications is limited due to constraints associated with latency, scalability, and limited interoperability. The COP system can be used for similar purposes but overcomes these challenges associated with current smart contract/blockchain technologies.
Advantages:
- Low latency between a transaction and its validation
- Scalable, secure & fault tolerant
- Applicable to most industries/applications
Market Applications:
- Financial Transactions
- Supply chains, and other kind of systems-of-systems
- B2B commerce
- IoT: Control systems, Sensors/Actuators
Academic Publication:
Minsky, Naftaly, and Chen Cong. "Scalable, Secure and Broad-Spectrum Enforcement of Contracts, Without Blockchains." arXiv preprint arXiv:1904.09940 (2019)
Intellectual Property & Development Status:
Patent pending. Available for licensing or collaboration.
