Patterns of agent interaction scenarios as use case maps

A use case map (UCM) presents, in general, an abstract description of a complex system and, as such, is a good candidate for representing scenarios of autonomous agents interacting with other autonomous agents. The "gang of four" design patterns are intended for object-oriented software development but at least eight of the patterns illustrate structure, or architecture, that is appropriate for interacting agents, independent of software development. This study presents these particular patterns in the form of UCMs to describe abstract scenarios of agent interaction. Seven of the patterns attempt to balance the decentralized nature of interacting agents with an organized structure that makes for better, cleaner interactions. An example performance analysis is provided for one of the patterns, illustrating the benefit of an early abstraction of complex agent behavior. The original contribution here is a UCM presentation of the causal paths in agent behavior as suggested by software design patterns.