Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
528 Advanced Artificial Intelligence
The other three components execute their tasks according to local knowledge
base. The communicator is in charge of communicating with other nodes. The
node can only connect the network through the communicator. Especially, the
communicator should understand the message send and receive.
Task
processor
Network
local
database
Communicator
Contract
processor
Figure 14.10. architecture of node in contract net protocol
The contract processor judges the tasks, send the application and finish the
contract. It can also analyze the reached information. Finally, the contract
processor executes the coordination for whole nodes. The task of task processor
is dealing with the tasks. It receives the tasks from the contract processor and
applies the local database for solution and return the result to contract processor.
Manager
Node
Accept bid
Sub problem
Solving
Application
Solving
Contract
Complete
contract
Confirmation
null
Solution for
subproblem
Sub solution
Result
Sub solution
Figure 14.11. the negotiation process in contract net protocol
Contract net protocol partitions the task into sub tasks. It designates a node as
the manager node. The manger node is familiar with the sub tasks (Figure 14.11).
