P. Kropf
Département dèinformatique
et de recherche opérationelle
Université de Montréal
C.P. 6128, succ. Centre-ville
Montreal, H3C 3J7 Canada
kropf@iro.umontreal.ca
Abstract :
Available resources can often be limited with regard to the number
of demands. In this paper we propose an approach for solving this
problem which consists of using the mechanisms of multi-item
auctions for allocating the resources to a set of software agents.
We consider the resource problem as a market in which there are
vendor agents and buyer agents which trade on items representing the
resources. These agents use multi-item auctions which are viewed
here as a process of automatic negotiation, and implemented as a
network of intelligent software agents. In this negotiation,
agents
exhibit different acquisition capabilities which let them act
differently depending on the current context or situation of the
market. For example, the "richer" an agent is, the more items it can
buy, i.e. the more resources it can acquire. We present a model for
this approach based on the English auction, then we discuss
experimental evidence of such a model.