Improving E-Trade Auction Volume by Consortium - Distributed Artificial Intelligence, Agent Technology, and Collaborative Applications - page 94

4. A seller agent is aware of other seller agents and the quantities offered by each seller agent.

The decisions to buy or sell, and the trading actions to implement the decision, must proceed in this
environment. The objective is still to minimize trading costs and to achieve a best match with the trading
requirements. The community knowledge, on the part of buyers and sellers respectively, is what enables
the formation of consortiums that help to match trading offers that would otherwise not be resolved.
The end result of the decision is to buy, or to sell, involving a decision to accept, or reject, an existing
offer. This result may also be achieved by modifying an existing offer by partnering with other agents.
The seller agent's offered quantity may exceed the quantity requested by a buyer agent, or the quantity
required by a buyer agent may exceed the quantity offered by a seller agent. There are four possible
decisions or actions as listed below:

1. Seller agent offers quantity larger than the requirement of a single buyer
 Buyer agent proposes part sale that is accepted or rejected by seller agent.
 Buyer agent looks for (and finds) partner buyer agents to complete the quantity.
2. Seller agent offers quantity smaller than the requirement of a single buyer
 Seller agent looks for a partner seller agent to match the required quantity
 Buyer agent rejects the offer and waits for a better match
 Buyer agent accepts the offer and waits for a part offer from another seller agent to complete
the quantity
3. Buyer agent requests quantity larger than the offer of a single seller
 Seller agent looks for a partner seller agent to match the required quantity
 Buyer agent rejects the offer and waits for a better match
 Buyer agent accepts the offer and waits for a part offer from another seller agent to complete
the quantity
4. Buyer agent requests quantity smaller than the offer of a single seller


Buyer agent proposes part sale that is accepted or rejected by seller agent.



Buyer agent looks for (and finds) partner buyer agents to complete the quantity.

Figure 1. Information flows in an agent

Message Handler

Input Output

Priority

Domain Control

Domain
Knowledge

Local
Knowledge