Using Colored Petri Nets for Conversation Modeling
R. Scott Cost, Ye Chen, Tim Finin, Yannis Labrou, Yun Peng
Laboratory for Advanced Information Technology
Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
University of Maryland Baltimore County
Baltimore, Maryland 21250
cost@acm.org, {yechen,finin,jklabrou,ypeng}@cs.umbc.edu

Contact: R. Scott Cost, (410) 455-3082, FAX (410) 455-1048

Abstract:

Conversations are a useful means of structuring communicative interactions
among agents.  The value of a conversation-based approach is largely
determined by the conversational model it uses.  Finite State Machines, used
heavily to date for this purpose, are not sufficient for complex agent
interactions requiring a notion of concurrency.  We propose the use of
Colored Petri Nets as a model underlying a language for conversation
specification.  This carries the relative simplicity and graphical
representation of the former approach, along with greater expressive power
and support for concurrency.  The construction of such a language,
Protolingua, is currently being investigated within the framework of the
Jackal agent development environment.