Title: Ontology negotiation: goals, requirements and implementation

Authors: Jurriaan Van Diggelen, Robbert-Jan Beun, Frank Dignum, Rogier M. Van Eijk, John-Jules Meyer

Addresses: Institute of Information and Computing Sciences, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. ' Institute of Information and Computing Sciences, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. ' Institute of Information and Computing Sciences, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. ' Institute of Information and Computing Sciences, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. ' Institute of Information and Computing Sciences, Utrecht University, The Netherlands

Abstract: Communication in heterogeneous Multi-Agent Systems (MASs) is hampered by the lack of shared ontologies. Ontology negotiation offers an integrated approach that enables agents to gradually build towards a semantically integrated system by sharing parts of their ontologies. This solution involves a combination of a normal agent communication protocol with an ontology alignment protocol. For such a combination to be successful, it must satisfy several criteria. This paper discusses the goals and requirements that are important for any ontology negotiation protocol. Furthermore, we will propose some implementations that are constructed according to these criteria.

Keywords: multi-agent systems; MAS; semantic interoperability; ontologies; ontology negotiation; description logic; agent-oriented software engineering; agent-based systems; agents.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAOSE.2007.013265

International Journal of Agent-Oriented Software Engineering, 2007 Vol.1 No.1, pp.63 - 90

Published online: 18 Apr 2007 *

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