Commitment-based enhancement of e-commerce protocols

Protocols represent the allowed interactions among communicating components. Protocols are essential in electronic commerce to constrain the behaviors of autonomous entities. Traditional representations of protocols include actions, but not their content, which limits their applicability in settings where autonomous entities must flexibly interact to handle exceptions and exploit opportunities. We develop a commitment-based representation, which provides a content to the protocols, enabling flexible execution. We show how an existing protocol can be systematically enhanced to yield a protocol that allows the given actions as well as other legal moves.