A distributed multi-agent meeting scheduler

Electronic calendars are important tools that are used by consumers on a daily basis. However, scheduling a meeting that involves persons with different commitments and preferences remains a difficult task. Meeting scheduling is difficult because current calendaring applications cannot handle the responsibility of automatically and autonomously managing time slots. This paper presents a distributed multi-agent system architecture in which each person is represented by an agent. These agents automatically and autonomously work together to assist different users to book meetings on their behalf. Each agent has the capability to manage, negotiate and schedule tasks, meetings, events, appointments for its assigned user. In this multi-agent system, the agents coordinate their activities and negotiate on behalf of their associated users to find a solution that satisfies the users' meeting requirements and preferences. A prototype of this system is implemented to demonstrate how the agents can automatically book meetings. (c) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.