A framework for the integration of cooperative knowledge-based systems

Solving a complex problem often requires the application of knowledge from multiple experts; however, integrating diverse expertise requires that the experts be able to resolve their conflicting goals and beliefs with respect to the salient issues. The authors describe the cooperating experts framework (CEF), a generic framework developed to support cooperative problem solving among sets of knowledge-based systems. The systems solve subproblems relevant to their specific expertise and integrate their efforts through negotiation. CEF provides two complementary styles of negotiation and a set of heuristics based on problem characteristics which are used to choose between them