Intelligent agent with negotiation capability and method of negotiation therewith

A method of conducting an electronic transaction with an intelligent agent, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) generating an offer to enter into a transaction;
• (b) waiting for a response from a negotiating party;
• (c) upon receiving a response, determining whether to complete the transaction;
• (d) limiting unproductive negotiations by constraining a characteristic of at least one of the generating, waiting and determining steps based upon at least one of a behavior of the negotiating party and a duration of the transaction;
• and
• (e) disguising a negotiation strategy from the negotiating party by randomizing a characteristic of at least one of the generating, waiting and determining steps.

An apparatus for conducting an electronic transaction, the apparatus including an intelligent agent computer program executed by the apparatus, the intelligent agent including an agent negotiation module configured to perform the method steps of:

• (a) generating an offer to enter into a transaction;
• (b) waiting for a response from a negotiating party;
• (c) upon receiving a response, determining whether to complete the transaction;
• and
• (d) disguising a negotiation strategy for the intelligent agent from the negotiating party by randomizing a characteristic of at least one of the generating, waiting and determining steps.

A program product comprising:

• (a) a program configured to perform a method of conducting an electronic transaction, the method comprising the steps of:
• (1) generating an offer to enter into a transaction;
• (2) waiting for a response from a negotiating party;
• (3) upon receiving a response, determining whether to complete the transaction;
• and
• (4) disguising a negotiation strategy from the negotiating party by randomizing a characteristic of at least one of the generating, waiting and determining steps;
• and
• (b) a signal bearing media bearing the program.

A method of conducting an electronic transaction with an intelligent agent, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) generating an offer to enter into a transaction;
• (b) waiting for a response from a negotiating party;
• (c) upon receiving a response, determining whether to complete the transaction;
• and
• (d) limiting unproductive negotiations by constraining a characteristic of at least one of the generating, waiting and determining steps based upon at least one of a behavior of the negotiating party and a duration of the transaction and a last offer received from the negotiating party, and wherein the constraining step further includes the steps of:
• (i) generating a probability distribution from the wait probability value;
• and
• (ii) selecting a random point in the probability distribution to generate an offer duration for the waiting step.

A method of conducting an electronic transaction with an intelligent agent, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) generating an offer to enter into a transaction;
• (b) waiting for a response from a negotiating party;
• (c) upon receiving a response, determining whether to complete the transaction;
• and
• (d) limiting unproductive negotiations by constraining a characteristic of at least one of the generating, waiting and determining steps based upon at least one of a behavior of the negotiating party and a duration of the transaction and a last offer received from the negotiating party, and wherein the constraining step further includes the steps of:
• (i) determining an accept probability value based upon the duration of the transaction and the proximity of the offer and response, the accept probability value dividing a probability range into accept and reject portions;
• (ii) selecting a random number within the probability range;
• and
• (iii) completing the transaction if the random number falls within the accept portion of the probability range.

A method of conducting an electronic transaction with an intelligent agent, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) generating an offer to enter into a transaction;
• (b) waiting for a response from a negotiating party;
• (c) upon receiving a response, determining whether to complete the transaction;
• (d) limiting unproductive negotiations by constraining a characteristic of at least one of the generating, waiting and determining steps based upon at least one of a behavior of the negotiating party and a duration of the transaction, wherein the constraining step includes the step of calculating a wait probability value based upon the duration of the transaction and a last offer received from the negotiating party, and
• (e) determining whether to make a counteroffer, including the steps of:
• (i) determining a counteroffer probability value based upon the duration of the transaction and the proximity of the offer and response, the counteroffer probability value dividing a probability range into counteroffer and no counteroffer portions;
• (ii) selecting a random number within the probability range;
• and
• (iii) making a counteroffer if the random number falls within the counteroffer portion of the probability range.

An apparatus for conducting an electronic transaction, the apparatus including an intelligent agent computer program executed by the apparatus, the intelligent agent including an agent negotiation module configured to perform the method steps of:

• (a) generating an offer to enter into a transaction;
• (b) waiting for a response from a negotiating party;
• (c) upon receiving a response, determining whether to complete the transaction;
• and
• (d) limiting unproductive negotiations by constraining a characteristic of at least one of the generating, waiting and determining steps based upon at least one of a behavior of the negotiating party and a duration of the transaction;
• wherein the agent negotiation module is further configured to disguise a negotiation strategy from the negotiating party by randomizing a characteristic of at least one of the generating, waiting and determining steps.

An apparatus for conducting an electronic transaction, the apparatus including an intelligent agent computer program executed by the apparatus, the intelligent agent including an agent negotiation module configured to perform the method steps of:

• (a) generating an offer to enter into a transaction;
• (b) waiting for a response from a negotiating party;
• (c) upon receiving a response, determining whether to complete the transaction;
• and
• (d) limiting unproductive negotiations by constraining a characteristic of the generating step based upon a behavior of the negotiating party;
• wherein the intelligent agent further includes a value determination module configured to determine a value for a desired transaction, and wherein the agent negotiation module is further configured to calculate a range of acceptable offer prices from the value.

A program product comprising:

• (a) a program configured to perform a method of conducting an electronic transaction, the method comprising the steps of:
• (1) generating an offer to enter into a transaction;
• (2) waiting for a response from a negotiating party;
• (3) upon receiving a response, determining whether to complete the transaction;
• (4) limiting unproductive negotiations by constraining a characteristic of at least one of the generating, waiting and determining steps based upon at least one of a behavior of the negotiating party and a duration of the transaction;
• and
• (5) disguising a negotiation strategy from the negotiating party by randomizing a characteristic of at least one of the generating, waiting and determining steps;
• and
• (b) a signal bearing media bearing the program.

A method of conducting an electronic transaction with an intelligent agent, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) generating an offer to enter into a transaction, wherein the offer generating steps includes the steps of:
• (1) determining a value for a desired transaction;
• (2) calculating a range of acceptable offer prices from the value;
• (3) storing previous asked and bid prices;
• and
• (4) adjusting the previous asked and bid prices in response to a change in the value of the desired transaction;
• (b) waiting for a response from a negotiating party;
• (c) upon receiving a response, determining whether to complete the transaction;
• and
• (d) disguising a negotiation strategy from the negotiating party by randomizing a characteristic of at least one of the generating, waiting and determining steps, wherein the disguising step includes the step of selecting for the offer a random price within the range of acceptable offer prices.

A method of conducting an electronic transaction with an intelligent agent, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) generating an offer to enter into a transaction, wherein the offer generating step includes the steps of:
• (1) determining a value for a desired transaction;
• (2) calculating a range of acceptable offer prices from the value;
• (3) detecting a real price for a negotiating party;
• and
• (4) constraining the range of acceptable offer prices using the real price.
• (b) waiting for a response from the negotiating party;
• (c) upon receiving a response, determining whether to complete the transaction;
• and
• (d) disguising a negotiation strategy from the negotiating party by randomizing a characteristic of at least one of the generating, waiting and determining steps, wherein the disguising step includes the step of selecting for the offer a random price within the range of acceptable offer prices.