Context-dependent semantic values for E-negotiation

E-negotiation, where multiple parties are involved, needs to exchange information for negotiation decision-making. However, the difficulties during the exchange communication are the inconsistency in the represented value and how to make the data interchange meaningful. This paper presents the use of semantic value as the unit of exchange and a context-agent to facilitate the exchange during e-negotiation. An XML framework is used to declare the values of the properties of the semantic values. Rule-based representation is also provided to give context information for the semantic value. An ontology server specifies the concepts or terminology mapping. The explicit representation of semantic value reduces errors and frees applications from being concerned with conversions. It also makes it possible to understand the impact of semantic changes to the data among different heterogeneous information systems.