Contract Net Protocol

The Contract Net Protocol (CNP) is a task-sharing protocol in multi-agent systems, introduced in 1980 by Reid G. Smith.^[1] It is used to allocate tasks among autonomous agents. It is close to sealed auctions protocols. It mainly relies on the Subcontractor: a manager proposes a task to several agents. The latter make a proposal among which the manager chooses to allocate the task. This task can then be divided and subcontracted.

^ Smith (December 1980). "The Contract Net Protocol: High-Level Communication and Control in a Distributed Problem Solver". IEEE Transactions on Computers. C-29 (12): 1104–1113. doi:10.1109/TC.1980.1675516. ISSN 0018-9340. S2CID 15267324.

[1] Smith (December 1980). "The Contract Net Protocol: High-Level Communication and Control in a Distributed Problem Solver". IEEE Transactions on Computers. C-29 (12): 1104–1113. doi:10.1109/TC.1980.1675516. ISSN 0018-9340. S2CID 15267324.

[1]