Negotiating the semantics of agent communication languages

Chris Reed, Timothy J. Norman, Nicholas R. Jennings

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    26 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    This article presents a formal framework and outlines a method that autonomous agents can use to negotiate the semantics of their communication language at run-time. Such an ability is needed in open multi-agent systems so that agents can ensure they understand the implications of the utterances that are being made and so that they can tailor the meaning of the primitives to best fit their prevailing circumstances. To this end, the semantic space framework provides a systematic means of classifying the primitives along multiple relevant dimensions. This classification can then be used by the agents to structure their negotiation (or semantic fixing) process so that they converge to the mutually agreeable semantics that are necessary for coherent social interactions.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)229-252
    Number of pages24
    JournalComputational Intelligence
    Volume18
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - May 2002

    Keywords

    • Agent communication languages
    • Semantic space
    • Semantic fixing

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