System and method for conducting a two-sided auction

• US 20030041007A1
• Filed: 08/22/2001
• Published: 02/27/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kumar, Manoj, Wu, Frederick Yung-Fung, Grey, William, Shi, Dailun H., Eck, Brian T., Dietrich, Brenda L., Feldman, Stuart I.
• Application Number:
  US09/934,616
• Publication Number:
  US 20030041007A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A system, method, apparatus, and computer program code for conducting a two-sided auction include defining a plurality of transformation functions available for use in the auction. A bid for an item offered in the auction is received, and at least one transformation function is identified, based at least in part on the bid or the buyer or the seller. The selected transformation function is applied to the bid to produce a transformed bid, and a state of the auction is updated based on the transformed bid. An offer for an item offered in the auction is received, and at least one transformation function is identified, based at least in part on the offer or the seller. The selected transformation function is applied to the offer to produce a transformed offer, and a state of the auction is updated based on the transformed offer.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating transactions in an auction involving a plurality of buyers and a plurality of sellers, comprising:

defining a plurality of transformation functions available for use in said auction;

identifying a bid and an offer for said item, said bid made by one of said plurality of buyers and said offer made by one of said plurality of sellers;

selecting, based at least in part on at least one of said bid, said offer, said buyer, and said seller, at least one of said plurality of transformation functions;

applying said selected transformation function to at least one of said bid and said offer to produce a transformed submission; and

updating a state of said auction based on said transformed submission.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting, based at least in part on at least one of said bid, said offer, said buyer, and said seller, at least a second one of said plurality of transformation functions;

applying said at least second transformation function to at least one of said bid and said offer to produce a second transformed submission; and

updating said state of said auction based on said second transformed submission.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

clearing at least one transaction involving said transformed submission.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

clearing at least one transaction involving said second transformed submission.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a status request;

selecting, based at least in part on said status request, at least a second one of said plurality of transformation function; and

applying said at least second transformation function to said status data to produce a transformed status.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said second transformation function is at least one of:

a function which is the inverse of said transformation function over some range of said transformation function;

a function which is dependent on said transformation function; and

a function which is independent of said transformation function.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein said status request is received from one of said plurality of buyers or sellers.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said transformation function is comprised of a plurality of intermediate transformations.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said plurality of intermediate transformations are based on at least one of:

said bid, said offer, said buyer, said seller, said item, an identity of said seller, an identity of said buyer, a relationship between said buyer and said seller, information about said buyer, information about said seller, information about said item, information about the state of said auction, information about prices for items comparable to said item in other markets, information about the status of a supply chain, information about economy conditions, information about demand and supply balance, a bid history in said auction, an offer history in said auction, a bid history in a second auction, an offer history in a second auction, information about commercial transactions conducted by said buyer, information about commercial transactions conducted by said seller, information about sales or purchase behaviors of said buyer, information about sales or purchase behaviors of said seller, rules about the composition or interaction of transformation functions, rules about the conduct of said auction, a characteristic of said bid, and a characteristic of said offer.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein each of said intermediate transformations are applied in a sequence.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said defining, identifying, selecting, applying, and updating are performed by at least one of a service provider computing device, an auction administrator computing device, a buyer computing device, and a seller computing device.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving at least a second bid for said item from a buyer; and

clearing at least one transaction involving said second bid and said transformed submission.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said bid includes at least one of a bid price;

a bid quantity; and

a desired configuration, and wherein said offer includes at least one of an offer price, an offer quantity and an offered item configuration.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said transformation function modifies at least one of said bid price, said bid quantity, said desired configuration, said offer price, said offer quantity, and said offered item configuration.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

selecting, based at least in part on said offer or said seller, at least one of said transformation functions; and

applying said selected transformation function to said offer to produce a transformed offer;

wherein said selected transformation function transforms at least one of said offer price, said offer quantity, and said item configuration.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said plurality of transformation functions includes at least one parameter whose value is determined based on data extrinsic to said auction.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said at least one parameter includes at least one of:

a foreign exchange rate;

a shipping rate;

an interest rate;

an amount about the auction;

a number about the supply chain status; and

a market price of a component of said item.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein said auction is at least one of:

an English auction, a Dutch auction, a Japanese auction, a sealed-offer auction, a double auction, a multiple-unit auction, a time interval auction, a call auction, a first price auction, a uniform second price auction, a combinatorial auction, and a multi-attribute auction.

19. A method for conducting an auction involving a plurality of buyers competing to purchase items offered by a plurality of sellers, comprising:

defining a plurality of transformation functions available for use in said auction;

receiving a request for a status of said auction from one of said buyers and sellers;

selecting, based at least in part on said request for status, at least a first one of said plurality of transformation functions;

applying said at least first transformation function to said status to generate a transformed status; and

presenting said transformed status to said requestor.

20. A method for facilitating the sale of an item to a buyer in a two-sided auction involving a plurality of sellers, comprising:

establishing a plurality of transformation functions available for application in said two-sided auction;

receiving, from a first buyer, a bid on said item;

selecting, based at least in part on said bid, a first transformation function from said plurality of transformation functions;

applying said first transformation function to said bid to generate a transformed bid;

updating a status of said two-sided auction to reflect said transformed bid;

receiving, from a second buyer, a request for a status of said two-sided auction;

selecting, based at least in part on said request, at least a second transformation function from said plurality of transformation functions;

applying said at least second transformation function to said request to generate a transformed status of said two-sided auction; and

presenting said transformed status to said second buyer.

21. A method for participating in an auction involving a plurality of buyers competing to purchase items offered by a plurality of sellers, comprising:

registering to participate as a participant in said auction; and

establishing at least a first transformation function for use in said auction.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

submitting a bid on said item, said bid operated on by said at least first transformation function to create a transformed bid; and

receiving a status of said auction, said status reflecting said transformed bid.

23. An auction registration method, comprising:

receiving information identifying a buyer;

receiving information identifying a seller; and

establishing, based at least in part on said information identifying said buyer, at least one transformation function for said buyer, said at least one transformation function for use in transforming bids made by said buyer in at least one two-sided auction.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

communicating said at least one transformation function for said buyer to an administrator of said at least one two-sided auction.

25. A method for conducting a two-sided auction having a plurality of buyers competitively submitting bids for items offered by a plurality of sellers, the method comprising:

receiving, from a first buyer, a first bid on an item, said item posted by a first seller based on a first offer;

identifying a transformation function associated with said first bid;

applying said transformation function to said first bid to produce a first transformed bid;

receiving, from a second buyer, a second bid for said item;

identifying a second transformation function associated with said second bid;

applying said second transformation function to said second bid to produce a second transformed bid; and

comparing said first and second transformed bids with said first offer and accepting one of said offers.

26. A method for conducting an auction having a plurality of sellers competitively submitting offers for items, the method comprising:

receiving, from a first seller, a first transformed offer for said item, said first transformed offer produced by a first transformation function;

receiving, from a second seller, a second transformed offer for said item, said second transformed offer produced by a second transformation function; and

comparing said first and said second transformed offers to at least one received bid and binding said bid with at least one of said first and said second transformed offers.

27. A method for selling an item in a two-sided auction, comprising:

generating an offer for said item;

identifying at least a first transformation function for said offer;

applying said at least first transformation function to said offer to generate a transformed offer; and

forwarding said transformed offer to an auction administrator.

28. A personalized dynamic pricing method, comprising:

identifying a first bid for an item in a two-sided auction;

applying a first transformation function to said first bid to generate a transformed first bid; and

updating a status of said auction to reflect said transformed first bid.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

generating a transformed status of said auction.

30. A device for facilitating transactions in an auction involving a plurality of buyers and a plurality of sellers, comprising:

means for defining a plurality of transformation functions available for use in said auction;

means for identifying a bid and an offer for said item, said bid made by one of said plurality of buyers and said offer made by one of said plurality of sellers;

means for selecting, based at least in part on at least one of said bid, said offer, said buyer, and said seller, at least one of said plurality of transformation functions;

means for applying said selected transformation function to at least one of said bid and said offer to produce a transformed submission; and

means for updating a state of said auction based on said transformed submission.

31. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing steps comprising:

defining a plurality of transformation functions available for use in said auction;

identifying a bid and an offer for said item, said bid made by one of said plurality of buyers and said offer made by one of said plurality of sellers;

selecting, based at least in part on at least one of said bid, said offer, said buyer, and said seller, at least one of said plurality of transformation functions;

applying said selected transformation function to at least one of said bid and said offer to produce a transformed submission; and

updating a state of said auction based on said transformed submission.

32. A system for facilitating transactions in an auction involving a plurality of buyers and a plurality of sellers, comprising:

a processor;

a communications device, in communication with said processor, receiving a bid and an offer for an item in said auction, said bid made by one of said plurality of buyers and said offer made by one of said plurality of sellers; and

a memory unit in communication with said processor and storing a program, wherein said processor is operative with said program to

define a plurality of transformation functions available for use in said auction;

select, based at least in part on at least one of said bid, said offer, said buyer, and said seller, at least one of said plurality of transformation functions;

apply said selected transformation function to at least one of said bid and said offer to produce a transformed submission; and

update a state of said auction based on said transformed submission.