Mr. André R. Gouin, P.Eng. M.Sc.(EE), principal of EXIMEX Associates has agreed to support this project.
Resources that could be applied to this effort include the fields:
Systems Engineering
Telecommunications Networking
Software Engineering
Multimedia Imaging and Graphics
Artificial Intelligence
Collaborator Agents(1)
Machine Translation
Scientific and Technical Bilingual Terminology Acquisition and Creation
Small Business Accounting
Executive Assistance
03 | Description of the Proposed Project
The information superhighway era is moving away from the competitive (materialistic-industrial) to a cooperative (collaboration-renaissance). The "Collaboragent" project explores business opportunities on the Internet by taking customer's request on-line and generate value-added customised information off-line with an intelligent system at the information service centre using "official" up-to-date information as opposed to a duplicate copy of potentially obsolete data on the customer's computer.
Specific examples of Collaboragent services are as follows.
HyperMap Service (generation of abstract location map and democracy map)
HyperWill Service (generation of will derived from a personal profile)
Collaborative Scheduling Service (public schedule maintenance)
Collaborative Match-Finding Service (match contract with contractor)
...
The philosophy behind such Collaboragent services is to provide low-cost pay-per-use or subscription service on the network instead of each customer having to purchase and install expensive software or a CD-ROM on his/her computer just to do one-time simple tasks. The merit of this approach is demonstrated by the success of Bell Canada's pay-per-use custom calling features. Common sense will judge the perceived value of such services.
The Collaboragent project will commercialise "HyperMap Service" and "Collaborative Scheduling Service" for Canada's Capital Region.
The "HyperMap Service" will combine GIS technology and the Internet. A customer fills out a WWW browser form or sends a formatted E-mail message with his/her location data. The request triggers an intelligent agent at the information processing centre where an inference engine with a knowledge base will automatically generate an abstract map of the area around the coordinate as well as a democracy map with federal, provincial and municipal representative's names and hyperlinks, if applicable. The personalised information will be delivered through electronic mail attachment or FAX with an electronic invoice. The billing will be "pay-per-use" through emerging DigiCash (for anonymity) or CyberCash (for traceability) as well as encrypted credit card information.
The "Collaborative Scheduling Service" will maintain the subscriber's public schedule at the WWW site. The person who wishes to modify the subscriber's schedule fills out a WWW browser form. The request triggers an intelligent agent at the information processing centre where an inference engine with a knowledge base will automatically check the request and modify the schedule. Secure authentication mechanism on the WWW browser allows the subscriber to optionally limit read/write access to whom he/she authorises. The modified schedule will be accessible in the WWW as soon as the automated processing is completed. The billing will be "subscription" through encrypted credit card information.
Figure 01
04 | Contribution to CANARIE's Objectives
Area of Special Focus | Business
Although the access methods in today's business applications on the network are mostly based on dynamic hypertext links, they have static information content with limited search and retrieval capability, as seen in electronic publishing of catalogs, books and magazines through "Home Page" on the World-Wide Web site on the Internet, among others.
This pioneering project exploits the full potential of the information superhighway and focus on the use of artificial intelligence, knowledge base system and intelligent agent. The development of such network application will contribute to the Canadian economy through innovative service concept and uniquely broad social benefits. The commercialised services are ideal to be operated by small-sized enterprises.
05 | Target Market Description
The "HyperMap Service" will be used, for example, by a couple who are holding a party and want to invite guests with a direction. Instead of making a photocopy of a paper map and sending it out by Snail Mail, they can access the "HyperMap Service" on the Internet and E-mail or FAX the abstract map to the potential guests. Or better yet, they can place the abstract map on their own Home Page in a WWW site and let the guests access it directly, eventually from a mobile device in a wireless communication network.
A prototype example of the abstract map is attached (Figure 2). Informal market research suggests a maximum price of $5.00 CAD per map. The traffic light information will not be available in digitised format until early 1996, according to the regional government. The difficulty of address-to-coordinate mapping would be relieved by the increasing popularity of low-cost GPS receiver to pin-point the exact location.
Here are assumptions for a commercial venture.
Population base of 1 000 000
Penetration ratio of 0,5 % (general public)
Price of $5 CAD per abstract map
Total income of $25 000 CAD per year
The "Collaborative Scheduling Service" will be used, for example, by a doctor who publishes the schedule on the Internet and allows his/her patients to make non-conflicting appointment themselves.
The system can be configured so that a reminder E-mail will be sent to the people or an automatic reminder telephone call can be placed.
Here are assumptions for a commercial venture.
Population base of 1 000 000
Penetration ratio of 0,005 % (mainly doctors and dentists)
Subscription of $50 CAD per month
Total income of $25 000 CAD per year
Potential annual total income from the 2 services at commercialisation would be $50 000 CAD for Canada's Capital Region alone. The technology would be expandable, and the algorithms would be patentable.
As for competitors, the use of WWW on the Internet is so far limited to information publishing, searching, order taking and some encyclopedia access. Primitive services with intelligent systems are appearing in academia in the form of free Valentine message composition, electronic postcard service, match-making service, etc.
06 | Schedule
1995-10-01
start of the project
1995-12-01
finalise the service concept
1996-01-01
make hardware and software purchases
1996-02-01
establish network connection
1996-04-01
develop map abstraction and schedule coordination algorithms
1996-06-01
develop inference rule bases
1996-08-01
acquire an official map from National Capital Commission and official traffic lights information from regional governments
1996-09-01
integrate data base with inference rule base
1996-10-01
start of commercialised "HyperMap Service" and "Collaborative Scheduling Service"
1997-03-31
end of the project
07 | Budget
Cost of the project
Labour .............................. $60 000 CAD
Direct Materials .................... $20 000 CAD
Special Purpose Equipment ........... $20 000 CAD (25 % maximum)