Observer-Controller Pattern

The Observer-Controller Pattern is a standard architecture for an autonomic manager or autonomous agent. It is an extension of IBM's MAPE (Monitor-Analyze-Plan-Execute) approach in the Autonomic Computing vision, and has been proposed by the Organic Computing initiative. It is basically a perceive-reason-act cycle as it can be found in most autonomous agents.

The observer/controller pattern is characterized by a two-phase process: observing and controlling. In the first perception phase, an observation is made and the managed element is monitored. In the second action phase, a decision is made and the managed element is controlled.

The autonomic managed together with the managed element forms a feedback loop in the the observer/controller pattern.