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Annotation and matching of first-class agent interaction protocols

Published: 12 May 2008 Publication History

Abstract

Many practitioners view agent interaction protocols as rigid specifications that are defined a priori, and hard-code their agents with a set of protocols known at design time --- an unnecessary restriction for intelligent and adaptive agents. To achieve the full potential of multi-agent systems, we believe that it is important that multi-agent interaction protocols are treated as first-class computational entities in systems. That is, they exist at runtime in systems as entities that can be referenced, inspected, composed, invoked and shared, rather than as abstractions that emerge from the behaviour of the participants. Using first-class protocols, a goal-directed agent can assess a library of protocols at runtime to determine which protocols best achieve a particular goal. In this paper, we present three methods for annotating protocols with their outcomes, and matching protocols using these annotations so that an agent can quickly and correctly find the protocols in its library that achieve a given goal. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each of these methods.

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Cited By

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  • (2015)Global Protocols as First Class Entities for Self-Adaptive AgentsProceedings of the 2015 International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems10.5555/2772879.2773282(1019-1029)Online publication date: 4-May-2015
  • (2013)Constitutive and regulative specifications of commitment protocolsACM Transactions on Intelligent Systems and Technology10.1145/2438653.24386574:2(1-25)Online publication date: 3-Apr-2013
  • (2010)Characterising and matching iterative and recursive agent interaction protocolsProceedings of the 9th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems: volume 1 - Volume 110.5555/1838206.1838363(1207-1214)Online publication date: 10-May-2010
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  1. Annotation and matching of first-class agent interaction protocols

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    Published In

    cover image ACM Conferences
    AAMAS '08: Proceedings of the 7th international joint conference on Autonomous agents and multiagent systems - Volume 2
    May 2008
    673 pages
    ISBN:9780981738116

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    In-Cooperation

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    International Foundation for Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems

    Richland, SC

    Publication History

    Published: 12 May 2008

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    Author Tags

    1. agent interaction
    2. annotation
    3. communication protocols
    4. first-class protocols
    5. matching
    6. multi-agent interaction
    7. multi-agent systems

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    Overall Acceptance Rate 1,155 of 5,036 submissions, 23%

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    View all
    • (2015)Global Protocols as First Class Entities for Self-Adaptive AgentsProceedings of the 2015 International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems10.5555/2772879.2773282(1019-1029)Online publication date: 4-May-2015
    • (2013)Constitutive and regulative specifications of commitment protocolsACM Transactions on Intelligent Systems and Technology10.1145/2438653.24386574:2(1-25)Online publication date: 3-Apr-2013
    • (2010)Characterising and matching iterative and recursive agent interaction protocolsProceedings of the 9th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems: volume 1 - Volume 110.5555/1838206.1838363(1207-1214)Online publication date: 10-May-2010
    • (2009)Choice, interoperability, and conformance in interaction protocols and service choreographiesProceedings of The 8th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems - Volume 210.5555/1558109.1558129(843-850)Online publication date: 10-May-2009

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