Affiliations: Department of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
Note: [] Corresponding author. Kalliopi Kravari, Department of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR-54124 Thessaloniki, Greece. Tel.: +30 2310998231; Fax: +30 2310998433; E-mails: kkravari@csd.auth.gr, nbassili@csd.auth.gr (Nick Bassiliades), cpapavas@csd.auth.gr (Christos Papavasileiou).
Abstract: In order for automated agent-based e-Commerce transactions to blossom, well-defined, analyzable and easily customizable interaction protocols or choreographies of involved parties need to be developed. Although, several domain-depended protocols have already been developed, efficient methodologies and technologies for facilitating the definition, deployment, reuse and maintenance of interaction protocols should be developed. This paper proposes a rule-based, reusable, analyzable and easily comprehensible by the user choreography definition methodology, called K-SWAN. Ôhe proposed choreography scheme separates the definition of the agent shared interaction protocol from the private agent interaction strategy and enables agents to choose the appropriate protocol for the transaction, from a library of re-usable interaction protocols, and automatically combine it with their personal strategy, from a private library, by using SW technologies for both. Complying with K-SWAN methodology will let agents participate seamlessly in different interaction processes and/or modify their behavior with a minimal programming effort. Finally, this paper presents the integration of the K-SWAN methodology into EMERALD, a multi-agent knowledge-based framework based on SW standards, which maximizes reusability and interoperability of behavior between agents.
