1993-11-30|CANARIE TD2

01 | Title

• Personal Information Bank and HyperAgent Service
  • A Proposal

  • DUE 1993-12-01

02 | Executive Summary Relating the Project to CANARIE Objectives

• Research and Development on Personal Information Management Service enabled by the high-speed communication network infrastructure. Primary focus is the development of methodology using intelligent agent based on Artificial Intelligence and Knowledge-Base Management System. The project involves the definition of Object-Oriented Knowledge Packets and the creation of the packet transaction protocol.

• The following user services will be developed.
  • secure personal information storage service

  • automated transaction processing service by intelligent agent

03 | Description of the Applicants

• Lead contractor
  • HyperInfo Canada Inc.

• Other participants
  • N/A

• Financial background on applicants
  • attached

• Other R&D activities of applicants
  • attached

03.01 | Corporate Profile

• Corporate Profile

03.02 | Annual Reports

• 1992
• 1991
• 1990

04 | Technical/Scientific Description of the Project

04.01 | The Vision

• High-speed communications infrastructure, coupled with low-cost mass storage and greater CPU power, will open up an unprecedented opportunity for each individual citizen to be cost-effectively on the network to handle his/her own personal affairs, starting with a unique E-mail address. This in turn may lead to a whole new industry of secure personal information management service to store and automatically process personal record, electronic diploma, certificate, licenses, tax return, etc.

• The first component of this industry is the secure communication and storage of personal information to guard one's privacy, while the second component is the automated intelligent agent. This is analogous to banks that provide secure storage of money in vaults and safety deposit boxes, and financial institutions that manage customer's finances.

• Major incentive for society to support such an industry is ever-increasing complexity of personal life, evident in the number of messages (electronic, paper, voice) as well as unsolicited junk mail. Invasion of individual privacy by credit agencies and mailing lists will be countered by granting the ultimate authority to one's own agent rather than third parties. Personal information management will be simplified by a single point of entry with one uncrackable password rather than multiple easy-to-remember crackable passwords.

• Human intervention of any kind in any transaction by filling out numerous forms (electronic, paper) with basically the same redundant information, will be minimised, contributing to increased productivity and the quality of life through absolute simplicity and consistency.

• Such a service will not be economically feasible until a standard protocol is firmly established, and the majority of providers including government agencies are equipped with EDI/E-mail capability.

04.02 | Secure Communication and Storage of Personal Information

• The main philosophy of this proposal is that the computing be distributed, while information storage be centralised in a secure place with limited access (physical and electronic), protected by UPS, regular backup service, etc.

• Secure communication will be achieved by EDI/E-mail based on OSI X.400/X.500 standards integrated with RSA encryption and digital signature using public and private keys to provide secure-channel communication.

• Secure storage of personal information will be provided by Telco, whose Central Offices have much empty space due to the evolution from bulky analogue switches to more efficient digital switches. Thus, Stentor alliance members such as Bell Canada will be an ideal business partner in this service. Also, banks with their expertise in security are potential partners.

• The secure storage can be considered as a "file server", while the intelligent agent can be considered as a "compute server". The file server acts as a source for personal knowledge base, down-loaded to the compute server that can be a desktop or portable computer, or a PDA or a smart card.

04.03 | Intelligent Agent Service

• Agents are preprogrammed queries that run autonomously to monitor EDI/E-mail feed. The starting point is the Internet "listserv" facility, which is a background daemon process to automatically respond to a query sent by E-mail with specific keywords on the Subject line or the first line of the message text.

• The intelligent agent can be considered as an "intelligent listserv" based on Artificial Intelligence and Knowledge-Base Management System. The on-line knowledge processing does automatic interpretation of EDI/E-mail message, processed by the rule-based inference engine. Thus, it concentrates on procedural content in the knowledge packet rather than on simple data. In effect, it is not message filtering but knowledge extraction.

• The agent can be a service provided by the computer placed next to the file server. The arrangement options are analogous to a telephone answering machine versus Telco's Call Answer TeleMessage service.

04.04 | Protocol

• The protocol for Object-Oriented Knowledge Packet will use human/machine-readable 5W1H (to/from/subject) knowledge coding scheme. Object paradigm consideration will be given to class hierarchy, encapsulation, inheritance, behaviour (methods), etc., in the form of Object-Oriented extensions to an EDI standard such as EDIFACT.

• The agent action will be event-driven by a trigger, and at any time, activity report such as snap-shot financial statement will be generated dynamically in the form of a virtual hypertext document from the Knowledge-Base Management System using SGML/HyTime ISO standard, Z39.50 Information Retrieval Service and Protocol, DDE/OLE/OpenDoc dynamic document.

04.05 | Knowledge-Base Management System

• Knowledge-Base Management System will use a language-independent conceptionary (concept class library) schema format so that the information will be presented to the user in the language of his/her choice from a single source.

• The user interface (data entry) will be through form/table-based human interface. If the record has to be sent, a controlled virus can be embedded so that the file will self-destruct after being read once.

04.06 | Personal Profile

• Personal Profile will consist of personal information (list of financial institutions, doctors, governments, subscriptions and memberships, etc.) and master records structured in an Object-Oriented Knowledge Base. Each entry must have an authority flag so that the name and telephone number are visible to all, but financial records are accessible by financial institutions only, while medical records are disclosed to medical institutions only, for example.

04.07 | Examples

• Here is an example of what the agent will do depending on the EDI/E-mail input. If so desired, the user may respond "YES/NO" or a multiple-answer question in each case, and the agent will take care of the action, notification, and verification of the feedback when the transaction is complete.

  what	who (from)	when	agent action
  utility bill	Hydro-Quebec	monthly	transfer from chequing
  bank statement	Scotiabank	monthly	update financial report
  T4 slip	employer	March	generate EFILE tax return
  credit statement	VISA	monthly	transfer from chequing
  subscription	magazine	yearly	renew, charge to VISA
  membership	IEEE	yearly	renew, charge to VISA
  bill	ambulance	one-time	charge to insurance
  medical record	hospital	one-time	authorise release
  dental record	coroner	one-time	authorise release
  pension plan	CANADA	one-time	request when age 65
  prescription	doctor	one-time	forward to pharmacy, insurance
  degree	university	one-time	forward to employer

• The agent will process change of address and phone number, coming from each originator, and automatically update the Object-Oriented Knowledge Base. Thus, an area-code change from 416 to 905 will be made globally by an Object-Oriented Knowledge Packet from Bell Canada to the agent.

• One of the rules can be to always pay off VISA card unless the chequing account drops to below $1 000 CAD. When the user will receive a request "send me your resume" on his E-mail panel, he/she simply pushes the authorise button so that the agent can automatically send the exact information to the party.

• An example of object grouping is a list of plastic cards in one's wallet. In case the wallet is lost, the owner will instruct the agent to have all the plastic cards canceled and new ones ordered.

04.08 | Future Extensions

• Potential services to be added include an automated personal scheduling, where agents will arrange a meeting based on all potential participants's schedules, and update their calendars. This will be possible only if the schedules are made visible to other agents.

• High-speed communication VAN with ATM/SONET and low-cost DRAM will cause a major paradigm shift and enable application software to reside in a community file server at a Telco Central Office, then have it down-loaded directly into the personal computer's DRAM. This way, software distribution cost will be minimal, replaced by pay-per-use cost. The intelligent agent will order a license key to enable the software. The local storage devices will be used only for data cache for the permanent file server. On the file server, the agent software will always be up to date, version synchronised with schema and file formats.

• Eventually, the service can expand to contain one's entire medical and dental records (including X-ray images) for the individual, so that the hospital will access each patient's record in a secure personal digital library, rather than different hospitals and doctor's offices maintaining separate records in scattered locations. This way, a smart card can be populated with one's medical/dental record by a push-button transfer operation from a single source.

• Other applications to emerge are digital cash, digital credentials, and E-coupon for individual merchants who have access to the customer's HyperAgent service.

• The agent will easily be able to compile the census return since most data are permanent. The output can be sent off anonymously.

• The private personal information service can be tied together with the virtual digital library, where public multimedia data will be stored for interactive access.

04.09 | List of Abbreviations

• ATM ............ Asynchronous Transfer Mode
• CPU ............ Central Processing Unit
• DDE ............ Dynamic Data Exchange
• DRAM ........... Dynamic Random Access Memory
• E-coupon ....... Electronic Coupon
• E-mail ......... Electronic Mail
• EDI ............ Electronic Data Interchange
• EDIFACT ........ Electronic Data Interchange For Administration, Commerce and Transport
• ISO ............ International Standards Organisation
• OLE ............ Object Linking and Embedding
• OSI ............ Open Systems Interconnection
• PDA ............ Personal Digital Assistant
• RSA ............ Rivest-Shjamir-Adleman
• SGML ........... Standard Generalised Markup Language
• SONET .......... Synchronous Optical Network
• UPS ............ Uninterruptible Power Supply
• VAN ............ Virtual Area Network

05 | Marketing/Financial Description of the Project

05.01 | Statement of Work

• There are 3 components for this Systems Engineering project.

• technology and economic/social feasibility study:
  • justify the concept.

  • investigate method, process and procedures.

  • pick Open Systems Environment.

• concept demonstration with prototype:
  • create Personal Profile.

  • choose inference engine for Knowledge Base Management System.

  • demonstrate with simulated packets.

• protocol development:
  • publish draft standard proposal for Object-Oriented Knowledge Packet.

05.02 | Schedule and Milestones

• 1994-03-01
  • start of the CANARIE project

• 1994-04-30
  • finish hardware and software purchases

• 1994-06-30
  • finalise the concept justification, finish report

• 1994-09-30
  • finish proposal to Telcos

• 1994-12-31
  • finish proposal to billing information providers

• 1995-01-31
  • finish proposal to government agencies

• 1995-02-28
  • prepare NRC IRAP application to continue R & D

• 1995-03-31
  • finish final report with knowledge packet processing

• 1995-03-31
  • end of the CANARIE project

• 1995-04-01
  • possible start of NRC IRAP funding

05.03 | Deliverables

• a document describing the concept of Personal Information Bank and HyperAgent service.

• a draft proposal of EDI protocol for ISO/ANSI.

• a series of proposals to Telcos, banks, service providers, government agencies.

• HyperAgent demonstration with simulated knowledge packets.

05.04 | Key Project Personnel for Project Management

• Sunatori, Go Simon

05.05 | Market Assessment and Marketing Plan

• The personal information bank and HyperAgent service represents revolutionary opportunity in terms of creating a whole new industry. However, it will not be feasible until personal EDI/E-mail addresses are made easily and cost-effectively available to the general public, and both government agencies and information providers are on-line.

• Once the threshold is reached in terms of network accessibility and high-speed communication infrastructure, personal information bank and HyperAgent service will gain momentum. For example, once the smart card takes off, there will be a defined need for the source of medical record. Once the majority of financial institutions and billing information providers are capable of sending records through EDI/E-mail, personal information management service will become feasible, together with automatic tax preparation.

• Until then, the strategy is to firm up the standards required for the service, and form alliances with government agencies and information providers.

• Initial target segment of the market for personal information bank and HyperAgent service is professionals with busy life. The rough estimate of the size of revenue at the time of introduction is
  • ($120 CAD per customer * 1 000 customers) = $120 000 CAD per year.

• Eventually, the Canadian market would grow to
  • ($120 CAD per customer * 1 000 000 customers) = $120 000 000 CAD per year.

05.06 | Assessment of Technical and Financial Risks

• Once the service concept is proven and demonstrated, data security and scalability will be the major source of technical risks.

• The risks in terms of intellectual property is not significant because of the open nature of the project. The work will be disclosed in the form of open proposals and draft for standards.

• This kind of service will eventually be offered by somebody. However, there are considerable risks in the timing of service introduction due to the necessity of cultural paradigm shift by potential customers.

05.07 | Project Budget and Financial Forecast

• Salaries .................................................. $60 000 CAD
  • scientific/engineering/technical .... $50 000 CAD
  • management/administrative overhead .. $10 000 CAD

• Special-purpose equipment ................................. $10 000 CAD
  • Computer and peripherals ($30 000 CAD per 3 years depreciation)

• Software .................................................. $20 000 CAD
  • Development tools (e.g. C, C++) ...... $2 000 CAD
  • SGML tool (e.g. FrameBuilder) ........ $1 000 CAD
  • Agent daemon (e.g. AppleScript) ...... $2 000 CAD
  • Object-Oriented database system ...... $4 000 CAD
  • Knowledge-Based inference engine ..... $7 000 CAD
  • On-line Transaction Processing ....... $3 000 CAD
  • Other ................................ $1 000 CAD

• Communications ............................................ $10 000 CAD
  • Telephone (Bell Canada) ................ $100 CAD per month
  • THE NET (WorldLinx) .................... $200 CAD per month
  • ISDN service (Bell Canada) ............. $200 CAD per month
  • ISDN equipment rental .................. $100 CAD per month

• TOTAL .................................................... $100 000 CAD

05.08 | Sources of Project Funding

• Requested CANARIE assistance .............................. $50 000 CAD
  • Salaries and Overhead (1/2 cost) ..... $2 000 CAD per month
    • payment schedule

• Other sources of financing ................................ $50 000 CAD
  • Long-term Loans

• TOTAL .................................................... $100 000 CAD

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"Sunatori, Go Simon" <GS.Sunatori@HyperInfo.CA>

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Copyright/Droit d'auteur © 1995-2025 by/par HyperInfo Canada Inc.

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ISBN 978-0-929105-04-8

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