Internet agents for telemedicine services

Telemedicine can be defined as telematic support of collaboration between d istant medical professionals, co-operating on shared resources of various k inds. Attention should be paid to telematics and informatics concepts, espe cially those oriented towards collaboration. In particular, the recent agen t paradigm seems suitable for the analysis, design and development of telem edicine services because of its commitment to intercommunication and sharin g of resources. The present paper is an introduction to the agent paradigm from its theoretical basis to the technological issues, and describes an ag ent-based approach to telemedicine, specifically applied to telepathology a pplications. The system is based on an agent-based model and template (JAME S) using Java, which has been used to implement a prototype multipurpose te lepathology application based on a federated agency architecture.