System for and method of expressive sequential auctions in a dynamic environment on a network

• US 20060224496A1
• Filed: 03/31/2006
• Published: 10/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Combinenet Incorporated (Jaggaer LLC)
• Original Assignee: Combinenet Incorporated (Jaggaer LLC)
• Inventors: Sandholm, Tuomas, Parkes, David C., Boutilier, Craig E.
• Application Number:
  US11/396,410
• Publication Number:
  US 20060224496A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

In an on-line ad auction, bids for the right to display at least one advert on a display of a computer of a computer network in response to the bid being allocated a query received from the computer are received via a computer network. At a time t, at least one rule or decision variable for allocating queries to bids is determined based on the bids received before time t and an estimate of at least one of: an estimate of queries to be received after time t; an estimate of events to occur in response to the display of adverts after time t; and/or an estimate of bids to be received after time t. After time t, a query received from the computer is allocated to at least one of the received bids based on the at least one rule or decision variable.

Claims

1. A method of conducting an ad auction comprising:

(a) receiving a plurality of bids via a computer network, wherein;

each bid is for the right to display at least one advert associated with the bid on at least one display of the computer network in response to the bid being allocated at least one query;

each bid includes at least one word, term, phrase or string of characters that is used as a basis for allocating at least one query to the bid; and

each bid further includes at least one constraint on a sequential allocation of queries to the bid;

(b) determining at time t at least one rule or decision variable for allocating queries to bids, wherein the at least one rule or decision variable is determined based on the bids received before time t and at least one of the following;

an estimate of queries to be received after time t;

an estimate of events to occur in response to the display of adverts after time t; and

/or an estimate of bids to be received after time t;

(c) receiving a query via the computer network after time t; and

(d) allocating the query received in step (c) to at least one of the bids based on the at least one rule or decision variable and the at least one word, term, phrase or string of characters.

2. The method of claim 1, further including:

(e) in response to allocating the query in step (d) and in response to the satisfaction of the at least one constraint, causing an advert associated with the bid allocated the query to be displayed on the display.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein:

step (d) includes allocating the query to a plurality of bids; and

step (e) includes displaying an advert associated with each bid allocated the query on the display.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein at least one advert is displayed at a position on the display based on a position constraint associated with the bid that is associated with the advert.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the query includes at least one of the following properties;

at least one word, term, phrase or string of characters;

time of day;

date; and

demographic data regarding a submitter of the query; and

the allocation in step (d) is further based on at least one of the properties of the query.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein:

step (c) further includes sequentially receiving at least one query via each of a plurality of different displays of the computer network during a time period p;

step (d) further includes allocating each sequentially received query to at least one of the bids during the time period p;

step (e) further includes causing an advert associated with each bid allocated at least one sequentially received query to be displayed on the display of the computer from which the query was received; and

the method further includes;

(f) repeating step (b) at least once during the time period p to determine at least one new rule or decision variable that is utilized for allocating a query received after said at least one new rule or decision variable has been determined.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein in step (d) each sequentially received query is allocated substantially in real-time.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein each bid has associated therewith:

at least one word, term, phrase or string of characters that is used as a basis for allocating a query to the bid; and

at least one of the following;

at least one constraint on the bid; and

a value for at least one of the following;

for causing at least one advert associated with the bid to be displayed;

or

for receiving a click-through on at least one advert associated with the bid that was caused to be displayed in response to the allocation of a query to the bid.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the at least one constraint includes at least one of the following:

an aggregate volume constraint on the total volume of queries that can be allocated to the bid;

a temporal constraint on the bid or on one or more constraints associated with the bid;

a demographic constraint on the demographic(s) of a user of the computer that must be valid for a query received from the computer to be allocated to the bid;

a budget constraint on the payment of a total value associated with the bid;

a frequency constraint on the frequency that queries are allocated to the bid;

a joint allocation constraint on the allocation of one or more queries to the bid based on the allocation of said one or more queries to at least one other bid;

a user volume constraint that has at least one prerequisite that must be satisfied as a condition to payment of the value;

a query volume constraint that has at least one prerequisite that must be satisfied as a condition to payment of the value; and

a value-adjustment constraint that has at least one prerequisite that must be satisfied as a condition to adjusting the value.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein:

a payment associated with a bid is determined based on the value associated with the bid, and a least one of the following;

(a) a number of queries allocated to the bid;

(b) a value associated with at least one other bid;

(c) at least one constraint associated with the bid; and

the payment associated with the bid includes at least one of the following;

a fixed payment, a payment that changes incrementally with each allocation, and a payment that changes in response to satisfaction of the at least one constraint.

11. The method of claim 9, further including at least one seller determining at least one of the following on the sequential allocation of queries to at least one bid:

at least one constraint on at least one attribute of at least one bidder;

at least one constraint on at least one property of a query;

at least one temporal constraint;

at least one volume constraint;

at least one frequency constraint; and

a value for satisfying at least one constraint on the sequence of allocations of queries, wherein each seller is an entity that receives payment in response to allocating queries to bids.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the user volume constraint includes the prerequisite that a user of the computer submit a predetermined number of queries, each of which includes at least one word, term, phrase and/or string of characters of a predetermined set of word(s), term(s), phrase(s) and/or string(s) of characters, as a condition of payment of the value.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the query volume constraint includes the prerequisite that the bid be allocated a number of queries that is greater than, less than and/or equal to a predetermined number of queries or a predetermined percentage of queries received from computers of the computer network as a condition of payment of the value.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the predetermined percentage of queries are queries in a particular class.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the query volume constraint is used in combination with the temporal constraint that prerequisites that the bid be allocated queries during a predetermined period of time.

16. The method of claim 8, wherein the at least one word, term, phrase or string of characters includes at least one of the following:

a first set of word(s), term(s), phrase(s) and/or string(s) of characters that a query must contain for it to be allocated to the bid;

a second set of word(s), term(s), phrase(s) and/or string(s) of characters that the query may contain for it to be allocated to the bid; and

a third set of word(s), term(s), phrase(s) and/or string(s) of characters that disqualify the query from being allocated to the bid.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the string(s) of characters of at least one of the first, second and third sets includes a URL.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the one or more constraints include a bonus value constraint that prerequisites the payment of a bonus value included in the bid on at least one query allocated to the bid having at least one word, term, phrase and/or string of characters that is also in the second set of word(s), term(s), phrase(s) and/or string(s) of characters.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the at least one rule or decision variable includes at least one of the following parameters;

a budget target for a total payment associated with at least one bid;

a query volume target associated with a predetermined number of queries to be allocated to at least one bid;

a virtual price associated with at least one bid; and

at least one weight associated with at least one bid to adjust a priority assigned to the bid for making an allocation of a query to the bid; and

the allocation is step (d) is made based on an auction for the query that is based on at least one of the parameters.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the at least one rule or decision variable includes at least one rule for allocating a first percentage of the queries to at least one bid of a first set of bids and a second percentage of the queries to at least one bid of a second set of bids;

each bid of the first set of bids requires plural allocations of queries to satisfy its constraint(s);

each bid of the second set of bids requires a single query allocation to satisfy its constraint(s);

step (d) includes allocating the query to either a bid of the first set of bids or a bid of the second set of bids based on the at least one rule for allocating; and

when the query is allocated to a bid of the second set of bids, said allocation is made based on an auction among bids of the second set of bids.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the at least one rule or decision variable includes a plurality of rules for allocating a first percentage of the queries to at least one bid of a first set of bids and a second percentage of the queries to at least one bid of a second set of bids;

each bid of the first set of bids requires plural allocations of queries to satisfy its constraint(s);

each bid of the second set of bids requires a single query allocation to satisfy its constraint(s);

step (d) includes allocating the query to either a bid of the first set of bids or a bid of the second set of bids based on at least one of the plurality of rules, the selection of which is contingent on events caused by allocation(s) occurring after time t and before allocation of the query; and

when the query is allocated to a bid of the second set of bids, said allocation is made based on an auction among bids of the second set of bids.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the at least one rule or decision variable includes at least one of the following;

a value schedule to be associated with a bid that conditions the total value of the bid on the fractional allocation of the total supply of queries, over some period of time;

a value schedule to be associated with a bid that conditions the total value of the bid on the uniform fractional allocation of the total supply of queries, over some period of time; and

/or

a value schedule that is contingent on events caused by allocation; and

the allocation is step (d) is made based on at least one of the value schedules.

23. A method of conducting an ad auction comprising:

(a) receiving via a computer network a bid for the right to display at least one advert associated with the bid on a display of a computer of the computer network in response to the bid being allocated a query received from the computer, wherein said bid includes a value and a constraint that prerequisites payment of the value based on satisfaction of a condition associated with the constraint;

(b) receiving queries from computers of the computer network;

(c) allocating a subset of the received queries to the bid; and

(d) making or withholding payment of the value based on the condition being satisfied or dissatisfied, respectively.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the condition requires the bid be allocated some number of queries that is greater than, less than and/or equal to a predetermined number of queries or a predetermined percentage of a total number of queries received from computers of the computer network.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the bid further includes at least one of:

a constraint that queries be allocated to the bid only during a predetermined period of time; and

a constraint that only queries in a predetermined query class be allocated to the bid.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein step (c) includes allocating the subset of queries to the bid based on at least one rule or decision variable, wherein the at least one rule or decision variable is determined based on:

bids received before the queries in step (b); and

at least one of the following;

an estimate of queries to be received after the at least one rule or decision variable is determined;

an estimate of click-throughs on adverts to be displayed after the at least one rule or decision variable is determined; and

/or

an estimate of the bids to be received after the at least one rule or decision variable is determined.

27. A system of conducting an ad auction comprising:

means for electronically receiving a plurality of bids via a computer network, wherein each bid is for the right to display at least one advert associated with the bid on at least one display of the computer network in response to the bid being allocated at least one query;

each bid includes at least one word, term, phrase or string of characters that is used as a basis for allocating at least one query to the bid; and

each bid further includes at least one constraint on a sequential allocation of queries to the bid;

means for electronically determining at a time t at least one rule or decision variable for allocating queries to bids, wherein the at least one rule or decision variable is determined based on the bids received before time t and at least one of the following;

an estimate of queries to be received after time t;

an estimate of events to occur in response to the display of adverts after time t; and

/or an estimate of bids to be received after time t;

means for electronically receiving one or more queries via the computer network after time t; and

means for electronically allocating each query received after time t to at least one of the bids based on the at least one rule or decision variable and the at least one word, term, phrase or string of characters.

28. The system of claim 27, further including means responsive to the allocation of at least one query to at least one bid and to the satisfaction of the at least one constraint associated with the bid for electronically causing an advert associated with the bid to be displayed on the display.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the means for electronically allocating allocates at least one query to a plurality of bids.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the means for electronically causing an advert to be displayed causes at least one advert to be displayed at a position on the display based on a position constraint included in the bid associated with the advert.

31. The system of claim 27, wherein:

each query includes at least one of the following properties;

at least one word, term, phrase or string of characters;

time of day;

date; and

demographic information regarding a user of the computer; and

the means for electronically allocating allocates each query based on at least one of the properties of the query.

32. The system of claim 28, wherein:

the means for electronically receiving queries sequentially receives at least one query via each of a plurality of different displays of the computer network during a time period p;

the means for electronically allocating allocates each sequentially received query to at least one of the bids during the time period p; and

the means for electronically determining determines at least one new rule or new decision variable during the time period p that the means for electronically allocating utilizes for allocating at least one query received after said at least one new rule or new decision variable has been determined.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the means for electronically allocating allocates each sequentially received query substantially in real-time.

34. The system of claim 27, wherein each bid has the following associated therewith that the means for electronically allocating utilizes for allocating each query:

at least one word, term, phrase or string of characters that is used as a basis for allocating a query to the bid; and

at least one of the following;

at least one constraint on the bid; and

a value for at least one of the following;

for causing at least one advert associated with the bid to be displayed;

or

for receiving a click-through on at least one advert associated with the bid that was caused to be displayed in response to the allocation of a query to the bid.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the one or more constraints include at least one of the following:

an aggregate volume constraint on the total volume of queries that can be allocated to the bid;

a temporal constraint on the bid or on one or more constraints associated with the bid;

a demographic constraint on the demographic(s) of a user of the computer that must be valid for a query received from the computer to be allocated to the bid;

a budget constraint on the payment of a total value associated with the bid;

a frequency constraint on the frequency that queries are allocated to the bid;

a joint allocation constraint on the allocation of one or more queries to the bid based on the allocation of said one or more queries to at least one other bid;

a user volume constraint that has at least one prerequisite that must be satisfied as a condition to payment of the value;

a query volume constraint that has at least one prerequisite that must be satisfied as a condition to payment of the value; and

a value-adjustment constraint that has at least one prerequisite that must be satisfied as a condition to adjusting the value.

36. The system of claim 35, further including means for determining a payment associated with a bid is determined based on the value associated with the bid, and a least one of the following:

(a) a number of queries allocated to the bid;

(b) a value associated with at least one other bid;

(c) at least one constraint associated with the bid, wherein the payment associated with the bid includes at least one of the following;

a fixed payment, a payment that changes incrementally with each allocation, and a payment that changes in response to satisfaction of the at least one constraint.

37. The method of claim 35, further including means for enabling at least one seller to impose at least one of the following on the sequential allocation of queries to at least one bid:

at least one constraint on at least one attribute of at least one bidder;

at least one constraint on at least one property of a query;

at least one temporal constraint;

at least one volume constraint;

at least one frequency constraint; and

a value for satisfying at least one constraint on the sequence of allocations of queries, wherein each seller is an entity that receives payment in response to allocating queries to bids.

38. The system of claim 34, further including means for determining at least one of the following on the sequential allocation of queries to at least one bid apart from any bid:

at least one constraint on at least one attribute of at least one bidder;

at least one constraint on at least one property of a query;

at least one temporal constraint;

at least one volume constraint;

at least one frequency constraint; and

a value for satisfying at least one constraint on the sequence of allocations of queries.

39. The system of claim 34, wherein the user volume constraint includes the prerequisite that a user of the computer submit a predetermined number of queries, each of which includes at least one word, term, phrase and/or string of characters of a predetermined set of word(s), term(s), phrase(s) and/or string(s) of characters, as a condition of payment of the value.

40. The system of claim 34, wherein the query volume constraint includes the prerequisite that the bid be allocated a number of queries that is greater than, less than and/or equal to a predetermined number of queries or a predetermined percentage of queries received from computers of the computer network as a condition of payment of the value.

41. The system of claim 40, wherein the predetermined percentage of queries are queries in a particular class.

42. The system of claim 40, wherein the query volume constraint further includes the prerequisite that the bid be allocated queries during a predetermined period of time.

43. The system of claim 34, wherein the at least one word, term, phrase or string of characters includes at least one of the following:

a first set of word(s), term(s), phrase(s) and/or string(s) of characters that a query must contain for it to be allocated to the bid;

a second set of word(s), term(s), phrase(s) and/or string(s) of characters that the query may contain for it to be allocated to the bid; and

a third set of word(s), term(s), phrase(s) and/or string(s) of characters that disqualify the query from being allocated to the bid.

44. The system of claim 43, wherein the string(s) of characters of at least one of the first, second and third sets includes a URL.

45. The system of claim 43, wherein the at least one constraint includes a bonus value constraint that prerequisites the payment of a bonus value included in the bid on at least one query allocated to the bid having at least one word, term, phrase and/or string of characters that is also in the second set of word(s), term(s), phrase(s) and/or string(s) of characters.

46. The system of claim 27, wherein:

the at least one rule or decision variable includes at least one of the following parameters;

a budget target for a total payment associated with at least one bid;

a query volume target associated with a predetermined number of queries to be allocated to at least one bid;

a virtual price associated with at least one bid; and

at least one weight associated with at least one bid to adjust a priority assigned to the bid for making an allocation of a query to the bid; and

the allocation is step (d) is made based on an auction for the query that is based on at least one of the parameters.

47. The system of claim 27, wherein:

the at least one rule or decision variable includes at least one rule for allocating a first percentage of the queries to at least one bid of a first set of bids and a second percentage of the queries to at least one bid of a second set of bids;

each bid of the first set of bids requires plural allocations of queries to satisfy its constraint(s);

each bid of the second set of bids requires a single query allocation to satisfy its constraint(s);

step (d) includes allocating the query to either a bid of the first set of bids or a bid of the second set of bids based on the at least one rule for allocating; and

when the query is allocated to a bid of the second set of bids, said allocation is made based on an auction among bids of the second set of bids.

48. The system of claim 27, wherein:

the at least one rule or decision variable includes a plurality of rules for allocating a first percentage of the queries to at least one bid of a first set of bids and a second percentage of the queries to at least one bid of a second set of bids;

each bid of the first set of bids requires plural allocations of queries to satisfy its constraint(s);

each bid of the second set of bids requires a single query allocation to satisfy its constraint(s);

step (d) includes allocating the query to either a bid of the first set of bids or a bid of the second set of bids based on at least one of the plurality of rules, the selection of which is contingent on events caused by allocation(s) occurring after time t and before allocation of the query; and

when the query is allocated to a bid of the second set of bids, said allocation is made based on an auction among bids of the second set of bids.

49. The system of claim 27, wherein:

the at least one rule or decision variable includes at least one of the following;

a value schedule to be associated with a bid that conditions the total value of the bid on the fractional allocation of the total supply of queries, over some period of time;

a value schedule to be associated with a bid that conditions the total value of the bid on the uniform fractional allocation of the total supply of queries, over some period of time; and

/or

a value schedule that is contingent on events caused by allocation; and

the allocation is step (d) is made based on at least one of the value schedules.

50. A method of conducting an expressive auction in a dynamic environment comprising:

(a) receiving a plurality of bids via a computer network, wherein each bid is for the right to be allocated units of a supply of a differentiated resource, wherein each bid further includes at least one constraint on a sequential allocation of units of supply to the bid;

(b) determining at a time t at least one rule or decision variable for allocating the units of supply to at least one bid, wherein the at least one rule or decision variable is determined based on bids received before time t and at least one of the following;

an estimate of the units of supply to be received after time t;

an estimate of events to occur in response to allocation of units of supply after time t; and

/or an estimate of bids to be received after time t;

(c) following step (b), receiving one or more units of supply; and

(d) allocating the one or more units of supply received in step (c) to at least one of the bids based on the at least one rule or decision variable.

51. The method of claim 50, further including:

(e) responsive to allocating the one or more units of supply in step (d) and to satisfaction of the at least one constraint, causing an event to occur.

52. The method of claim 50, wherein:

the at least one rule or decision variable includes at least one of the following parameters;

a budget target for a total payment associated with at least one bid;

a query volume target associated with a predetermined number of queries to be allocated to at least one bid;

a virtual price associated with at least one bid; and

at least one weight associated with at least one bid to adjust a priority assigned to the bid for making an allocation of a query to the bid; and

the allocation is step (d) is made based on an auction for the query that is based on at least one of the parameters.

53. The method of claim 50, wherein:

the at least one rule or decision variable includes at least one rule for allocating a first percentage of the queries to at least one bid of a first set of bids and a second percentage of the queries to at least one bid of a second set of bids;

each bid of the first set of bids requires plural allocations of queries to satisfy its constraint;

each bid of the second set of bids requires a single query allocation to satisfy its constraint;

step (d) includes allocating the query to either a bid of the first set of bids or a bid of the second set of bids based on the at least one rule for allocating; and

when the query is allocated to a bid of the second set of bids, said allocation is made based on an auction among bids of the second set of bids.

54. The method of claim 50, wherein:

the at least one rule or decision variable includes a plurality of rules for allocating a first percentage of the queries to at least one bid of a first set of bids and a second percentage of the queries to at least one bid of a second set of bids;

each bid of the first set of bids requires plural allocations of queries to satisfy its constraint;

each bid of the second set of bids requires a single query allocation to satisfy its constraint;

step (d) includes allocating the query to either a bid of the first set of bids or a bid of the second set of bids based on at least one of the plurality of rules, the selection of which is contingent on events caused by allocation(s) occurring after time t and before allocation of the query; and

when the query is allocated to a bid of the second set of bids, said allocation is made based on an auction among bids of the second set of bids.

55. The method of claim 50, wherein:

the at least one rule or decision variable includes at least one of the following;

a value schedule to be associated with a bid that conditions the total value of the bid on the fractional allocation of the total supply of queries, over some period of time;

a value schedule to be associated with a bid that conditions the total value of the bid on the uniform fractional allocation of the total supply of queries, over some period of time; and

/or

a value schedule that is contingent on events caused by allocation; and

the allocation is step (d) is made based on at least one of the value schedules.

56. A method of conducting an ad auction comprising:

(a) receiving a plurality of bids via a computer network, wherein each bid is for the right to display at least one advert associated with the bid on at least one display of the computer network, and each bid further includes a constraint on a sequential allocation of the right to display based on context data associated with at least one user accessing the computer network to the bid;

(b) determining at a time t at least one rule or decision variable for allocating the right to display an advert on at least one display associated with the computer network in response to receiving the context data, wherein the at least one rule or decision variable is determined based on the bids received before time t and at least one of the following;

an estimate of context data to be received after time t;

an estimate of events to occur in response to displaying adverts after time t; and

/or an estimate of bids to be received after time t;

(c) following step (b), receiving context data from the computer network; and

(d) allocating the right to display based on the context data received in step (d) and the at least one rule or decision variable.

57. The method of claim 56, further including:

(e) responsive to allocating the right to display in step (d) and to satisfaction of the at least one constraint, causing an advert associated with the bid allocated the right to display to be displayed on the display.

58. The method of claim 56, wherein:

the at least one rule or decision variable includes at least one of the following parameters;

a budget target for a total payment associated with at least one bid;

a query volume target associated with a predetermined number of queries to be allocated to at least one bid;

a virtual price associated with at least one bid; and

at least one weight associated with at least one bid to adjust a priority assigned to the bid for making an allocation of a query to the bid; and

the allocation is step (d) is made based on an auction for the query that is based on at least one of the parameters.

59. The method of claim 56, wherein:

the at least one rule or decision variable includes at least one rule for allocating a first percentage of the queries to at least one bid of a first set of bids and a second percentage of the queries to at least one bid of a second set of bids;

each bid of the first set of bids requires plural allocations of queries to satisfy its constraint;

each bid of the second set of bids requires a single query allocation to satisfy its constraint;

step (d) includes allocating the query to either a bid of the first set of bids or a bid of the second set of bids based on the at least one rule for allocating; and

when the query is allocated to a bid of the second set of bids, said allocation is made based on an auction among bids of the second set of bids.

60. The method of claim 56, wherein:

the at least one rule or decision variable includes a plurality of rules for allocating a first percentage of the queries to at least one bid of a first set of bids and a second percentage of the queries to at least one bid of a second set of bids;

each bid of the first set of bids requires plural allocations of queries to satisfy its constraint;

each bid of the second set of bids requires a single query allocation to satisfy its constraint;

step (d) includes allocating the query to either a bid of the first set of bids or a bid of the second set of bids based on at least one of the plurality of rules, the selection of which is contingent on events caused by allocation(s) occurring after time t and before allocation of the query; and

when the query is allocated to a bid of the second set of bids, said allocation is made based on an auction among bids of the second set of bids.

61. The method of claim 56, wherein:

the at least one rule or decision variable includes at least one of the following;

a value schedule to be associated with a bid that conditions the total value of the bid on the fractional allocation of the total supply of queries, over some period of time;

a value schedule to be associated with a bid that conditions the total value of the bid on the uniform fractional allocation of the total supply of queries, over some period of time; and

/or

a value schedule that is contingent on events caused by allocation; and

the allocation is step (d) is made based on at least one of the value schedules.

62. The method of claim 56, wherein the context data includes data regarding at least one of the following:

a location of a user associated with the context data; and

an activity a user associated with the context data is engaged in.

63. A method of conducting an ad auction comprising:

(a) receiving a plurality of bids via a computer network, wherein each bid is for the right to display at least one advert associated with the bid on at least one display of the computer network, and each bid further includes a constraint on a sequential allocation of the right to display based on content data regarding content begin displayed on a display of the computer network and/or being reproduced by an audio device associated with the display to the bid;

(b) determining at a time t at least one rule or decision variable for allocating the right to display an advert on at least one display associated with the computer network in response to receiving the content data, wherein the at least one rule or decision variable is determined based on the bids received before time t and at least one of the following;

an estimate of content data to be received after time t;

an estimate of events to occur in response to displaying adverts after time t; and

/or an estimate of bids to be received after time t;

(c) following step (b), receiving content data from the computer network; and

(d) allocating the right to display based on the content data received in step (d) and the at least one rule or decision variable.

64. The method of claim 63, further including:

(e) responsive to allocating the right to display in step (d) and to satisfaction of the at least one constraint, causing an advert associated with the bid allocated the right to display to be displayed on the display.

65. The method of claim 63, wherein:

the at least one rule or decision variable includes at least one of the following parameters;

a budget target for a total payment associated with at least one bid;

a query volume target associated with a predetermined number of queries to be allocated to at least one bid;

a virtual price associated with at least one bid; and

at least one weight associated with at least one bid to adjust a priority assigned to the bid for making an allocation of a query to the bid; and

the allocation is step (d) is made based on an auction for the query that is based on at least one of the parameters.

66. The method of claim 63, wherein:

the at least one rule or decision variable includes at least one rule for allocating a first percentage of the queries to at least one bid of a first set of bids and a second percentage of the queries to at least one bid of a second set of bids;

each bid of the first set of bids requires plural allocations of queries to satisfy its constraint;

each bid of the second set of bids requires a single query allocation to satisfy its constraint;

step (d) includes allocating the query to either a bid of the first set of bids or a bid of the second set of bids based on the at least one rule for allocating; and

when the query is allocated to a bid of the second set of bids, said allocation is made based on an auction among bids of the second set of bids.

67. The method of claim 63, wherein:

the at least one rule or decision variable includes a plurality of rules for allocating a first percentage of the queries to at least one bid of a first set of bids and a second percentage of the queries to at least one bid of a second set of bids;

each bid of the first set of bids requires plural allocations of queries to satisfy its constraint;

each bid of the second set of bids requires a single query allocation to satisfy its constraint;

step (d) includes allocating the query to either a bid of the first set of bids or a bid of the second set of bids based on at least one of the plurality of rules, the selection of which is contingent on events caused by allocation(s) occurring after time t and before allocation of the query; and

when the query is allocated to a bid of the second set of bids, said allocation is made based on an auction among bids of the second set of bids.

68. The method of claim 63, wherein:

the at least one rule or decision variable includes at least one of the following;

a value schedule to be associated with a bid that conditions the total value of the bid on the fractional allocation of the total supply of queries, over some period of time;

a value schedule to be associated with a bid that conditions the total value of the bid on the uniform fractional allocation of the total supply of queries, over some period of time; and

/or

a value schedule that is contingent on events caused by allocation; and

the allocation is step (d) is made based on at least one of the value schedules.

69. The method of claim 63, wherein the context data includes data in at least one of the following:

a search engine query;

an email; and

an article.

70. A bidding language for an ad auction comprising:

at least one query, each query having associated therewith at least one of the following;

at least one word, term, phrase or string of characters;

time of day;

date; and

demographic information; and

at least one bid, each bid having associated therewith;

at least one advert for display on a display of a computer in response to allocation of at least one query to the bid;

a value; and

a constraint that prerequisites payment of the value based on satisfaction of a condition associated with the constraint.

71. A user interface for an ad auction displayable on the display of each of a plurality of bidder'"'"'s computer of a computer network having a server computer, said user interface for enabling a user of the corresponding bidder'"'"'s computer to create at least one bid for processing by the server computer, the user interface comprising at least one data entry field for:

associating at least one word, term, phrase or string of characters with the bid;

associating with the bid at least one advert for display on the display of a query computer in response to allocation of at least one query received from the query computer to the bid based on the at least one word, term, phrase or string of characters associated with the bid;

associating a value with the bid; and

associating with the bid a constraint on allocation of the bid.