A CPN-Based Protocol for Concurrent Multiple Negotiation

An agent may have to simultaneously perform more than one negotiations which may have different dependence relationships in the real world. Since the Concurrent Multiple Negotiation (CMN) mechanism is necessary for the agent to achieve agreements in multi-negotiation, it has become a very important research topic in multi-agent systems in recent years. However, how to build an appropriate model and how to design an effective CMN protocol become serious challenges in the area of negotiation. The motivation of this paper is to propose a model for defining CMN and a protocol for concurrently handling CMN. Firstly, related CMN definitions are presented. Secondly, a graph-based method for modeling CMN is proposed. Thirdly, a protocol based on Colored Petri Net technique for achieving concurrency of CMN is presented. The proposed approach provides a mechanism for an agent to achieve CMN. The experimental results show that proposed approach is able to handle CMN smoothly and efficiently through prediction and tradeoff.