A Utility based, Multi-Attribute Negotiation Approach for Semantic Web Services

Apart from some other important Semantic Web service related processes such as discovery, selection, composition etc., the process of negotiation is also generally required in the semantic web based systems. Before taking the services of a service provider, the service requester may need to negotiate with it on various issues. A utility-based, multi-attribute negotiation approach capable of providing negotiation between participating semantic web services has been presented in this paper. The approach is based upon the use of utility functions in the negotiation process and uses multiple attributes as the basis of negotiation. A communication model describing the negotiation process has been presented. The paper also presents the algorithms for various activities involved in the negotiation process. The work also proposes a novel concept of negotiation-feedback using a novel data-structure, Agreement Table. This concept can be helpful in expediting the negotiation process by decreasing the number of negotiation steps in which the agreement is reached. An evaluation of the work has been presented and a prototype system providing negotiation between semantic web services has been implemented. Key-Words: semantic web; utility; semantic web service, negotiation.