Innovations in Agent-based Complex Automated Negotiations

by Ito, Takayuki; Zhang, Minjie; Robu, Valentin; Matsuo, Tokuro; Yamaki, Hirofumi

• ISBN13: 9783642156113
• ISBN10: 3642156118
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-10-28
• Publisher: Springer Verlag

Summary

Complex Automated Negotiations have been widely studied and are becoming an important, emerging area in the field of Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems. In general, automated negotiations can be complex, since there are a lot of factors that characterize such negotiations. These factors include the number of issues, dependency between issues, representation of utility, negotiation protocol, negotiation form (bilateral or multi-party), time constraints, etc. Software agents can support automation or simulation of such complex negotiations on the behalf of their owners, and can provide them with adequate bargaining strategies. In many multi-issue bargaining settings, negotiation becomes more than a zero-sum game, so bargaining agents have an incentive to cooperate in order to achieve efficient win-win agreements. Also, in a complex negotiation, there could be multiple issues that are interdependent. Thus, agent's utility will become more complex than simple utility functions. Further, negotiation forms and protocols could be different between bilateral situations and multi-party situations. To realize such a complex automated negotiati on, we have to incorporate advanced Artificial Intelligence technologies includes search, CSP, graphical utility models, Bays nets, auctions, utility graphs, predicting and learning methods. Applications could include e-commerce tools, decisionmaking support tools, negotiation support tools, collaboration tools, etc.These issues are explored by researchers from different communities in Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent systems. They are, for instance, being studied in agent negotiation, multi-issue negotiations, auctions, mechanism design, electronic commerce, voting, secure protocols, matchmaking & brokering, argumentation, and co-operation mechanisms. This book is also edited from some aspects of negotiation researches including theoretical mechanism design of trading based on auctions, allocation mechanism based on negotiation among multi-agent, case-study and analysis of automated negotiations, data engineering issues in negotiations, and so on.

Table of Contents

Simulation of Sequential Auction Markets Using Priced Options to Reduce Bidder Exposure	p. 1
Desire-Based Negotiation in Electronic Marketplaces	p. 27
The Influence of Culture on ABMP Negotiation Parameters	p. 49
Supporting the Design of General Automated Negotiators	p. 69
Common Testbed Generating Tool Based on XML for Multiple Interdependent Issues Negotiation Problems	p. 89
Constraint and Bid Quality Factor for Bidding and Deal Identification in Complex Automated Negotiations	p. 107
Acting While Negotiating in the Convoy Formation Problem	p. 129
Multi-player Multi-issue Negotiation with Complete Information	p. 147
Automated Negotiation through a Cooperative-Competitive Model	p. 161
An Approximation Method for Power Indices for Voting Games	p. 179
Author Index	p. 195
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.