Abstract:
Negotiation between two trading agents is as much an information exchange process as it is an offer exchange
process. To avoid the problems of natural language understanding, this information is represented in
predicate logic and organised into lattice structures. The negotiation process aims to reach informed
decisions in eMarket bargaining by integrating the exchange of offers and the acquisition and exchange of
information drawn from the environment. Negotiation proceeds by a loose alternating offers protocol that is
intended to converge when the agents believe that they are fully informed. The eNegotiation framework is a
prototype for developing agents that exploit an information-rich environment in one-to-one negotiation. This
work is part of a program that is investigating deeper issues of market evolution and business network
development in an immersive, virtual worlds eMarket environment.
