Collaborative self-organization by devices providing document services - A multi-agent perspective

In a service oriented environment such as the realm of document services, the conventional notion is that of a multi-function device interacting individually with customer applications and the service-provider's offerings. Counter to this view, the key emerging idea is that of a network of Multi-Function Devices¹ (MFD) providing service as a collaborative system. This idea enables the service provider to define additional services over the collection of devices. By assuming a multi-agent perspective of this service-oriented environment, we propose an autonomic mechanism through which the collection of devices can self-organize. The self-organization is carried out in two steps - firstly, the devices assemble themselves in to a meaningful structure and subsequently configure themselves by assuming suitable roles in the distributed multi-agent system. Upon self-organization, devices may exhibit better immunity to information load and failures, consequently becoming a survivable network of devices.