OwWwL and Agent- Nation are Java- language computer programs that act together, quickly scanning Internet databases for relevant information, then organizing the infor- mation into a format suited to the user. OwWwL is a search- engine program that, like other such programs, includes a “spider” subprogram that “crawls” the Web, indexing content. AgentNation is a collaborative-computing program that is used by OwWwL to perform its tasks in a collaborative manner; that is, OwWwL and AgentNation can be run simultaneously on multiple computers to perform large-scale searches. The biggest difference between OwWwL and other search-engine programs is that as the OwWwL spider subprogram performs a search on a given topic, it begins to search for related information. OwWwL includes a personal-search-assistant subprogram that with the help of AgentNation, searches other Internet search engines simultaneously.

This program was written by Joseph L. Nieten and Dan Dexter of LinCom for Johnson Space Center.

In accordance with Public Law 96-517, the contractor has elected to retain title to this invention. Inquiries concerning rights for its commercial use should be addressed to

LinCom 1020 Bay Area Blvd. Suite 200 Houston, TX 77058

Refer to MSC-23063, volume and number of this NASA Tech Briefs issue, and the page number.