Résumé en anglais

Recent research in the multi-agent systems field has highlighted the relevance of complex interaction models such as multi-party communication and context awareness. Nevertheless, there are no generic interaction model and infrastructure that enable to apply them in a standardized way. Emerging as a first-order abstraction, the environment, in the sense of a common medium for the agents, is a suitable paradigm to support these new interaction models. We present an operational model called Environment as Active Support of Interaction, that enables each agent to actively modify the environment according to its interaction needs. This model provides a suitable framework for the regulation of MAS interactions, and priority policies are given to manage the rules. An algorithm is proposed and assessed with an example stemming from the ambient intelligence domain.