A Cooperative Game Theoretic Model of a Multi-Agent Information Network Based on the Myerson Value

This article presents a game theoretic model of a communications network. The goal is to maximize the total profit obtained from the network and divide the profits between the network providers. The characteristic function of such a cooperative game is derived by considering how coalitions of various players can maximize their profit given that they are competing against a coalition made up of the remaining players. In many practical cases, the relationships between the providers result from their geographical position in the network. One natural case is when local or national networks are linked by ”bridges”. The commonly used Shapley value of a cooperative game does not take into account the nature of the relationships between the players. For this reason, we define the Myerson value of such a cooperative game based on an induced graph describing the relationship between the players based on the overall structure of the network.