Distributing Knowledge-Based Systems Using Mobile Agents

The objective of our work is to study various distribution methods for knowledge-based systems (KBS) allowing access to (several) remote knowledge bases as well as remote auxiliary programs or inference engines. In particular, we are interested in knowledge-based systems for a task named program supervision, with an application to medical imagery. Program supervision KBSs allow to automation the use of complex programs, independently of any particular application domain. They offer original techniques to plan and control program processing activities. The distribution of such systems becomes essential because real applications imply more and more participants on various sites. Given distributed data, programs and knowledge, our aim is to propose convenient and efficient models of distributed program supervision systems. Our current application relates to medical assistance in the use of medical imagery programs for osteoporosis detection in bone radiographies. A distributed approach will allow to execute distant physician requests using an existing system and will favor collaborative work and sharing of knowledge to build new knowledge-based systems. In this paper, we propose a distributed architecture based on mobile agents for program supervision KBS and we show why and how to use mobile agents for such systems. Some scenarios are given to illustrate the functioning of the distributed system, in particular when solving a user-request in medical imagery domain so that its management remains transparent to physicians. Key-Words: Distributed Knowledge-Based Systems, Program Supervision, Mobile Agents, Medical Imagery, Osteoporosis detection.