Queuing exemption method, queuing place-taking method and auction system

• US 20030074276A1
• Filed: 10/07/2002
• Published: 04/17/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yasuyuki Sato
• Original Assignee: Yasuyuki Sato
• Inventors: Sato, Yasuyuki
• Granted Patent: US 7,451,111 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

In order to exchange waiting time, troublesomeness, and labor incurred in the receiving of goods and services with a monetary value, and acquire a priority with respect to the provision of goods and services, an auction system 1 receives bids for queuing exemption rights from bidder terminals 2, decides upon a successful bidder for the queuing exemption rights, sends an exemption rights password corresponding to the queuing exemption rights to the terminal 2 of the decided upon bidder, and sends the exemption rights password to an exemption rights authentication system 3. When the exemption rights authentication system 3 acquires the exemption rights password from the successful bidder, the exemption rights password acquired from the successful bidder and the exemption rights password acquired from the auction system 1 are collated, and when the result of this collation is a match, a signal indicating that the result of this collation is a match is outputted to exemption notification means 31.

Claims

1. A queuing exemption rights method, comprising bidders terminals, an auction system for queuing exemption rights the bidders enter bids for, and an exemption rights authentication system for confirming that a successful bidder who has bid for the queuing exemption rights is who they say they are, wherein

the bidders terminals

a) execute a step of sending bids for queuing exemption rights to the auction system,

the auction system

b) executes a step of receiving bids for queuing exemption rights from the bidder terminals, deciding upon a successful bidder for the queuing exemption rights, sending an exemption rights password corresponding to the queuing exemption rights to the terminal of the decided upon successful bidder, and sending an exemption rights password to the exemption rights authentication system,

and the exemption rights authentication system

c) executes a step of acquiring the exemption rights password from the successful bidder, collating the exemption rights password acquired from the successful bidder and the exemption rights password acquired from the auction system, and when the result of this collation is a match, outputting a signal indicating that the result of this collation is a match to the exemption notification means in order to permit exemption from the queue.

3. An auction system employing the queuing exemption method of claim 1, wherein

the auction system comprises:

exemption rights storage means for storing a correlation between queuing exemption rights and an exemption rights password;

successful bid conditions storage means for storing bidding conditions for successfully bidding for the queuing exemption rights;

communication means for communicating with external devices; and

information processing means for controlling the operation of each means, and the processing means executes the steps of

a) receiving bids for the queuing exemption rights via the communication means,

b) deciding upon a bidder for which a bid is received satisfying the successful bidder conditions stored in the successful bid conditions storage means as the successful bidder,

c) reading an exemption rights password corresponding to the queuing exemption rights which the decided successful bidder has successfully bid for from the exemption rights storage means,

d) sending the read-out exemption rights password to the terminal of the successful bidder decided in step b, and

e) determining whether or not the successful bidder professing to be the person in question is the same person as the successful bidder decided in step b and sending the exemption rights password read out in step c to the external exemption rights authentication system via the communication means in order to determine the queuing exemption relating to the queuing exemption rights.

4. The auction system of claim 3, wherein

the auction system comprises:

settlement information storage means for correlating and storing bidder identification information and settlement information for settling the bids, and the processing means

receives the correlation between a bid for the queuing exemption rights and the bidder identification information via the communication means, and when a successful bidder fulfilling the successful bidding conditions stored in the successful bid conditions storage means is decided upon in step b, reads settlement information relating to the identification information of the successful bidder that has been decided upon from the settlement information storage means, correlates the read settlement information and the bid instructed by the decided upon successful bidder in order to settle the bid instructed by the successful bidder based on the read out settlement information, and sends this to an external settlement system via the communication means.

5. The auction system of claim 3, wherein

the processing means

receives information to the effect that the successful bidder decided upon in step b relinquishes the decided upon queuing exemption rights via the communication means, registers a new exemption rights password corresponding to these queuing exemption rights in the exemption rights storage means so that the queuing exemption rights that are the same as the relinquished queuing exemption rights can be bid for, and commences receiving bids for the queuing exemption rights.

2. A queuing place-taking method comprising a terminal of a provider waiting in a queue to receive provision of goods/services, a system for auctioning queuing place-taking rights to take the place of the provider in a queue, and terminals of bidders bidding for the queue place-taking rights, wherein

the bidder terminals

a) execute a step of sending bids for queue place-taking rights to the auction system,

the auction system

b) executes a step of receiving bids for the queue place-taking rights from the bidder terminals, decides upon a successful bidder for the queuing place-taking rights, sends a successful bidder side place-taking rights password corresponding to the queuing place-taking rights and provider authentication information for confirming the provider waiting in the queue to the terminal of the decided upon successful bidder, and sends a provider side place-taking rights password corresponding to the queuing place-taking rights and successful bidder authentication information for confirming the successful bidder to the terminal of the provider,

the provider terminal

executes a step of c) when the provider is waiting in the queue, correlating a successful bidder side place-taking rights password instructed by the successful bidder with the queuing place-taking rights based on the successful bidder side place-taking rights password and provider authentication information sent from the terminal of the successful bidder, and sending the correlated information to the auction system,

the terminal of the successful bidder

executes a step of d) when the provider is waiting in the queue, correlating the provider side place-taking rights password instructed by the provider with the queuing place-taking rights based on the provider side place-taking rights password sent from the terminal of the provider and successful bidder authentication information, and sending the corresponding information to the auction system,

and the auction system

executes a step of e) collating the correspondence correlation of the successful bidder side place-taking rights password relating to the queuing place-taking rights received from the provider terminal in step c and the provider side place-taking rights password relating to the queuing place-taking rights received from the terminal of the successful bidder in step d and the correspondence correlation between the successful bidder side place-taking rights password and the provider side place-taking rights password sent in step b, and sending information to the effect that the taking of the place in the queue is permitted to the terminal of the successful bidder and the terminal of the provider when the result of the collation is a match.

6. An auction system employing the queuing place-taking method of claim 2, wherein

the auction system comprises:

authentication information storage means for correlating and storing queuing place-taking rights enabling changing of places with a provider who is queuing in order to receive goods or services and provider authentication information for confirming the provider waiting in the queue;

successful bid conditions storage means for storing successful bid conditions for bidding successfully for queuing place-taking rights;

password storage means for correlating and storing the queue place-taking rights, the provider side place-taking rights password and the successful bidder side place-taking rights password,

communication means for communicating with external devices, and

information processing means for controlling the operation of each means, and the processing means executes the steps of

a) receiving bids for the queuing place-taking rights via the communication means,

b) deciding upon a bidder for which a bid is received satisfying the successful bidder conditions stored in the successful bid conditions storage means as the successful bidder,

c) reading out provider authentication information corresponding to the queuing place-taking rights successfully bid for by the decided upon successful bidder and successful bidder authentication information from the authentication information storage means,

d) reading out a provider side place-taking rights password corresponding to the queuing place-taking rights successfully bid for by the successful bidder decided upon in step b, and a successful bidder side place-taking rights password from the password storage means,

e) sending the provider authentication information read out in step c and the successful bidder side place-taking rights password read out in step d to the terminal of the successful bidder decided upon in step b,

f) sending the successful bidder authentication information read out in step c and the provider side place-taking rights password read out in step d to the terminal of the provider of the queuing place-taking rights successfully bid for by the successful bidder decided upon in step b,

g) when the provider is waiting in the queue, making the successful bidder side place-taking rights password instructed by the successful bidder correspond with the queuing place-taking rights based on the successful bidder side place-taking rights password sent from the terminal of the successful bidder in step e and provider authentication information, and receiving the correlated information from the provider terminal via the communication means,

h) when the provider is waiting in the queue, making the provider side place-taking rights password instructed by the provider correspond with the queuing place-taking rights based on the provider side place-taking rights password sent from the provider terminal in step f and successful bidder authentication information, and receiving this information from the successful bidder terminal via the communication means, and

j) collating the correspondence correlation of the successful bidder side place-taking rights password relating to the queuing place-taking rights received in step g and the provider side place-taking rights password relating to the queuing place-taking rights received in step h and the correspondence correlation between the successful bidder side place-taking rights password sent in step e and the provider side place-taking rights password sent in step f, and sending information to the effect that the taking of the place in the queue is permitted to the terminal of the successful bidder and the terminal of the provider when the result of the collation is a match.

7. The auction system of claim 6, wherein

the auction system comprises:

settlement information storage means for correlating and storing bidder identification information and settlement information for settling the bids,

and the processing means

receives the correlation between a bid for the queuing place-taking rights and the bidder identification information via the communication means, and when a successful bidder fulfilling the successful bidding conditions stored in the successful bid conditions storage means is decided upon in step b, reads settlement information relating to the identification information of the successful bidder that has been decided upon from the settlement information storage means, correlates the read settlement information and the bid instructed by the decided upon successful bidder in order to settle the bid instructed by the successful bidder based on the read out settlement information, and sends this to an external settlement system via the communication means.