A multi-agent system for e-commerce automation

E-commerce is becoming more and more prevalent in modem business because of its capability in automatic transaction and low cost. A reliable e-commerce system must have the capability in handling a large quantity of heterogeneous information without a centralized control. Normally, agents are required in this type of e-commerce system. This paper presents a Java-based dynamic multi-agent infrastructure for e-commerce automation. The independent agents, who can switch roles, participate in multiple problem solving domains and form dynamic partnerships, cooperate with each other by exchanging data with particular protocol in the domain ontology. The key issues in this system include the communication protocol, the mechanisms for agents to exchange ontologies and interpret the messages. XML is used as the protocol in the proposed system due to it flexibility and compatibility. This work focuses on providing a multi-agent cooperation infrastructure to achieve e-commerce automation. It satisfies the requirement of the system by employing J2EE and NetDDE multi-thread technologies.