Integrating Interaction Protocols and Internet Protocols for Agent-Mediated E-Commerce

Abstract

Conversations involving three or more agents often occur in multi-agent systems, for example in brokering and auction protocols typically used in e-commerce. For developing agents in open systems, it is important that the interactions in such conversations have a precise and unambiguous meaning. We address this issue by generalising a protocol- based semantic framework for expressing the semantics of Agent Communication Languages. The generalisations involve exploiting mechanistic aspects of the interaction (conversation identifiers), greater flexibility in the space of possible replies, and a richer representation of protocol states. We define intentional specifications for some brokerage and auction protocols, including event-based clocks to determine the ordering of events. We then discuss how these agent interaction protocols can be integrated with internet protocols, using the Agent Communication Transfer Protocol (ACTP), an application layer protocol designed to generalize communication between heterogeneous agents. We conclude that this approach to specifying multi-party protocols and the implementation platform of ACTP leads to clearer interfaces for open systems and easier re-use, with a potentially significant impact on e-commerce systems deployment and standardisation efforts.