A new framework for exchange of protocols, called the Virtual Private Community (VPC) enables agents to exchange and install protocols dynamically by accepting policy packages that define protocols for use in sharing the processing of applications among agents. The agent's inner state, state-transition rules, and transitions are separated from each other in the VPC. Protocols are defined as rules for state transitions and the transitions are defined as policy packages. Agents which accept common policy packages form 'communities'. Agents are able to join communities by exchanging policy packages, to dynamically install protocols by evaluating policy packages, and to then communicate with each other through the communities. This paper also gives an example of the definition of protocols as policy packages.
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