On dynamically generated ontology translators in agent communication

In this paper, we consider communication between agents that employ differe nt vocabularies to represent information. In particular, we develop a commu nication mechanism in which translators between the vocabularies of agents are generated. Instead of being defined in advance, these translators are d ynamically constructed during execution of the system, and are based both o n the information that the agents exchange and on their underpinning ontolo gies. Moreover, these translators are not necessarily defined for the total vocabulary of the agents, but instead, only for the parts that have been i nvolved in communication steps. The framework can for instance be used to s tudy and to analyze experiments as performed in the research on the origins of language, like language games, in which the purpose of communication is to come to a mutual understanding of the agents' vocabularies. (C) 2001 Jo hn Wiley & Sons, Inc.