Using argumentation to manage users' preferences

Argumentation has provided a means to deal with inconsistent knowledge. We explore the potential of argumentation to handle conflicting user preferences. Classical preference handling methods in Artificial Intelligence (AI) lack the ability to handle ambiguity and the evolution of preferences over time. Previous experiments conducted by the authors indicate the usefulness of argumentation systems to handle Ambient Intelligence (AmI) examples with the aforementioned characteristics. This paper explores a generalized framework that can be applied to handle user preferences in AmI. The paper provides an overall preference handling architecture which can be used to extend current argumentation systems. We show how the proposed system can handle multiple users with the introduction of personalised preference functions. We illustrate how user preferences can be handled in realistic ways in AmI environments (such as smart homes), by showing how the system can make decisions based on inhabitants’ preferences on lighting, healthy eating and leisure