A Game-Theoretic Operational Semantics for the DALI Communication Architecture

In this paper we present the communication architecture of the DALI Logic Programming Agent-Oriented language and we discuss its semantics. We have designed a meta-level where the user can specify, via the distinguished tell/told primitives, constraints on communication or even a new protocol. Moreover, the user can define meta-rules for filtering and/or understanding messages via applying ontologies and commonsense/case-based reasoning. Declaratively and procedurally, these forms of meta-reasoning are automatically applied by a form of implicit, logical reflection. Operationally, we define a transition system based on a dialog game syntax. Thus, our operational semantics provides a formal link between the dialog locutions and the DALI semantic mechanisms. We embed the DALI/FIPA locutions and protocol within a framework that filters and interprets messages, without resorting to the definition of ”mental states” of the agent. The locutions we consider include the relevant FIPA-compliant primitives, plus others which we believe to be needed in a logic programming setting.