A Market Architecture for Multi-Agent Contracting

We present a generalized market architecture that provides support for a variety of types of transactions, from simple buying and selling of goods and services to complex multi-agent contract negotiations. This architecture is organized around three basic components: the exchange, the market, and the session. We also present a negotiation protocol for planning by contracting that takes advantage of the services of the market. We show how the existence of an appropriate market infrastructure can add value to a multi-agent contracting protocol by controlling fraud and discouraging counterspeculation.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1998
• Where: AGENTS
• Authors: John Collins, Ben Youngdahl, Scott Jamison, Bamshad Mobasher, Maria L. Gini
• Keywords: AGENTS 1998, Generalized Market Architecture, Multi-agent Contract Negotiations, Multi-agent Contracting Protocol, Security Privacy