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environment
agent A
agent B
m
0
A
(m
0
A
)
B
s
A
q
A
q
B
m
1
A
(m
1
A
)
B
yes / no!
Fig. 3.8
Schema illustrating the process of negotiation
In the above example, the process of planning is realized by one particular agent.
When a plan of activity is created by a group of agents, it is necessary to consider
the process of exchanging information between them, i.e. the process of negotiation.
An example of the process of negotiation may be described with the use of the
M-agent architecture. The simple process of negotiation between two agents (the
agent
A
and the agent
B
) is shown in Fig.
3.8
.
Let us accept that the agent
A
considers the application of the strategy
s
A
which
transforms the model
m
0
into the model
m
1
as advantageous to itself. The agent,
possessing the knowledge of the existence of another agent (e.g. an agent cooperating
with the agent
A
) in the environment, referred to as the agent
B
, informs that agent
about its intentions.
It is possible that
B
is a different kind of agent from the agent
A
and it is not familiar
with the strategy
s
A
(information about the strategy
s
A
does not say anything to it in
the slightest), however, it can receive and understand (in its own way) changes in the
environment which are to be realized by the agent
A
(i.e. the models
m
0
and
m
1
)
due to the fact that the agent
A
sends information about the models
m
0
and
m
1
to
the agent
B
. The agent B receives the information and builds two models in its mind
(with certain modifications in the way it understands): the initial model
m
0
)
B
and
(
B
.
Afterwards, it compares these two models with the use of their objective function
q
B
. If the comparison result is positive for it (which means that changes in the
environment proposed by the agent
A
are advantageous to it), it agrees that the agent
A
will realize the chosen strategy
s
A
. However, if these changes are disadvantageous,
it sends information that it does not agree with the activity proposed by the agent
A
(Fig.
3.8
).
It is possible to conduct negotiation on fixing the common plan. Such a case is
shown in Fig.
3.9
. Here, similarly, the agent
A
determines whether the strategy
s
A
m
1
)
the destination (target) model
(
it
chooses is advantageous to it and informs the agent
B
about it.
