Common Testbed Generating Tool Based on XML for Multiple Interdependent Issues Negotiation Problems

Abstract

Multiple interdependent issues negotiations have been widely studied since most real-world negotiation involves multiple interdependent issues. Our work focuses on negotiation with multiple interdependent issues in which agent utility functions are nonlinear. In the field of multiple issue negotiations, there are no established common testbeds for evaluating protocols. In this paper, we propose a common testbed creating tool based on XML that mainly covers the utility functions based on cube-constraints and cone-constraints. First, we propose a testbed generating tool that inputs configuration data and outputs XML formatted files that represent agent utility spaces. The current tool can produce four types of utility spaces: Random, A Single Hill, Two-Hills, and Several Hills. These types are observed in real negotiation settings. Also we define the agent’s utility space information based on XML tags. By defining the testbed data as XMLs, users can easily read the files and change the data structure. Finally, we demonstrate experimental results when the existing protocols employ our proposed testbed. Moreover, we introduce some example search programs using our testbeds to evaluate their effectiveness.