Verifying the contract net protocol: a case study in interaction protocol and agent communication semantics
Verifying the contract net protocol: a case study in interaction protocol and agent communication semantics
Multi-agent conversations are built upon two components: agent communication languages (ACLs) that specify the individual messages that can be exchanged and interaction protocols (IPs) that specify the sequences in which these message can be arranged. Although informative, the semantic definition proposed for the most standard ACL (FIPA 1997) is complicated and contentious, while published IPs tend to be ambiguous, incomplete, and unverified with respect to message semantics. As a case study to clarify and help rectify these problems, we have investigated verification of the contract net protocol when its messages are presumed to be expressed in FIPA ACL. In order to help both informal comprehension and formal verification we separate several concerns. We suggest a revised and simpler core semantics for many of the FIPA ACL speech acts, using the same belief-intention style of logic, although the underlying ideas are not dependent on this detail. An extended form of propositional dynamic logic and statecharts is used to express IPs. States are interpreted using mutual beliefs and intention, and properties such as termination and consistency of joint beliefs are shown.
98-117
Paurobally, S.
93a6fea7-9403-4c14-86bc-947907b7df48
Cunningham, J.
fd894379-e9f8-4eea-8ce7-084157de060d
Jennings, N. R.
ab3d94cc-247c-4545-9d1e-65873d6cdb30
2004
Paurobally, S.
93a6fea7-9403-4c14-86bc-947907b7df48
Cunningham, J.
fd894379-e9f8-4eea-8ce7-084157de060d
Jennings, N. R.
ab3d94cc-247c-4545-9d1e-65873d6cdb30
Paurobally, S., Cunningham, J. and Jennings, N. R.
(2004)
Verifying the contract net protocol: a case study in interaction protocol and agent communication semantics.
2nd International Workshop on Logic and Communication in Multi-Agent Systems, Nancy, France.
.
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Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
Multi-agent conversations are built upon two components: agent communication languages (ACLs) that specify the individual messages that can be exchanged and interaction protocols (IPs) that specify the sequences in which these message can be arranged. Although informative, the semantic definition proposed for the most standard ACL (FIPA 1997) is complicated and contentious, while published IPs tend to be ambiguous, incomplete, and unverified with respect to message semantics. As a case study to clarify and help rectify these problems, we have investigated verification of the contract net protocol when its messages are presumed to be expressed in FIPA ACL. In order to help both informal comprehension and formal verification we separate several concerns. We suggest a revised and simpler core semantics for many of the FIPA ACL speech acts, using the same belief-intention style of logic, although the underlying ideas are not dependent on this detail. An extended form of propositional dynamic logic and statecharts is used to express IPs. States are interpreted using mutual beliefs and intention, and properties such as termination and consistency of joint beliefs are shown.
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Published date: 2004
Additional Information:
Event Dates: 2004
Venue - Dates:
2nd International Workshop on Logic and Communication in Multi-Agent Systems, Nancy, France, 2004-01-01
Organisations:
Agents, Interactions & Complexity
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 259563
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/259563
PURE UUID: 81a6ef33-ab58-48c3-a90f-2b17271b9d75
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Date deposited: 06 Sep 2004
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 06:26
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Contributors
Author:
S. Paurobally
Author:
J. Cunningham
Author:
N. R. Jennings
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