SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ALLOCATING RESOURCES USING SPOT MARKET AND DERIVATIVE MARKET TECHNIQUES

• US 20090254383A1
• Filed: 06/15/2009
• Published: 10/08/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Trustees Of Columbia University In The City Of New York (Columbia University)
• Original Assignee: Trustees Of Columbia University In The City Of New York (Columbia University)
• Inventors: Semret, Nemo, Lazar, Aurel
• Granted Patent: US 8,131,616 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/201 Price look-up processing, e.g. updating
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring
• 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 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

A method for controlling access to a system of finite resources with excess demand employs a two stage admission process. Subscribers are first admitted based on an initial bid price and resource availability. The market price is determined by the highest bid price among the rejected arrivals in the current batch. Admitted subscribers are then given the option to secure continued access to the resource by accepting a fee-based reservation. The fee for the reservation is determined in a manner which is fair to the reserving subscriber, as well as all other subscribers, in that the reservation fee is priced to provide access at a cost which prevents arbitraging opportunities. If the current market price exceeds a non-reserved subscriber'"'"'s bid price, that non-reserved subscriber is displaced. If the current market price exceeds a reserved subscriber'"'"'s bid price, that reserved subscriber'"'"'s reservation is activated and access to the resource continues. In the case of a communications system having a finite number of access lines, the reservation fee is based on the bid price from the subscriber and the duration of the requested reservation.

Claims

1-12. -12. (canceled)

13. A method for allocating a finite resource among subscribers in a system having a first stage and a second stage, the method comprising:

partitioning the finite resource into a first stage portion and a second stage portion using an access interface;

queuing messages received at a network access computer server system from subscriber computer systems, each message including a bid for an allocation of the finite resource in the first stage;

storing subscriber data in an electronic storage device coupled to the processor;

determining an available capacity in the second stage using a processor;

storing information corresponding to the available capacity in the electronic storage device;

periodically admitting at least a portion of the bidding subscribers into the second stage based on respective bid amounts and second stage resource availability information retrieved from the electronic storage device by the processor;

determining, with the processor, a spot price of the resource based on at least one arrival subscriber not admitted;

offering admitted subscribers a reservation, having a reservation fee, to secure a future allocation of the finite resource at a given bid price, subscribers accepting the reservation fee being admitted as reserved subscribers, those rejecting the reservation fee being admitted as non-reserved subscribers;

displacing non-reserved subscribers whose bid prices are below the spot price;

activating a reservation of a reserved subscriber whose bid price is below the spot price; and

making a portion of the finite resource available to the reserved subscriber corresponding to the activated reservation, including establishing a connection to exchange data between the reserved subscriber and a computer network through the access interface.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the reservation fee is calculated based on the bid price and a requested duration of the reservation.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the reservation fee is inversely proportional to the bid price and directly proportional to the requested duration of the reservation.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein after a reservation is activated, the subscriber is displaced upon expiration of the duration of the reservation.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the spot price of the resource is the highest bid price of the at least one arrival subscriber not admitted.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the availability of the resource in the second stage is defined as the total quantity of the resource in the second stage less a reserved quantity of the resource in the second stage.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the resource is communication lines in a computer network access system and where the first and second stage each contain a discrete number of communications lines.

20. A network computer server system for controlling a plurality of network access connections to provide information exchange from a subscriber to a computer network, the server system comprising:

an access connection interface for partitioning the plurality of network access connections as first stage connections and second stage connections;

a processor operatively coupled to the access connection interface, the processor;

determining an available number of second stage connections;

queuing arriving subscribers bidding for network access in the first stage connections and periodically admitting a predetermined number of the arriving subscribers into the second stage connections based on respective bid amounts and the availability of second stage connections;

determining a spot price of the network access connections based on at least one arrival subscriber not admitted;

determining a reservation fee for guaranteed access to the network connections for the admitted subscribers to secure future network access at a given bid price;

determining whether a subscriber has accepted the reservation fee and controlling the access connection interface to operatively couple that subscriber to the network via a second stage connection as a reserved subscriber;

determining whether a subscriber has rejected the reservation fee and controlling the access connection interface to operatively couple that subscriber to the network via a second stage connection as an unreserved subscriber;

controlling the access connection interface to disconnect from the network non-reserved subscribers whose bid prices are below the spot price; and

activating a reservation of reserved subscribers whose bid price is below the spot price, and

controlling the access connection interface to maintain network access for the reserved subscriber for a duration of the reservation; and

a memory device operatively coupled to the processor, the memory device for storing a database of subscriber account data.

21. The network computer server system of claim 20, wherein the processor calculates the reservation fee on the bid amount and a requested duration of the reservation.

22. The network computer server system of claim 20, wherein the reservation fee is inversely proportional to the bid price and directly proportional to the requested duration of the reservation.

23. The network computer server system of claim 20, wherein processor sets the spot price to the highest bid price of the at least one arrival subscriber not admitted.

24. The network computer server system of claim 20, wherein the processor calculates the available number of connection in the second stage as a total number of connections in the second stage less the number of reserved subscribers admitted in the second stage.

25. A computer readable medium having software instruction stored thereon for providing subscriber access to a computer network, the software instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

partitioning a finite resource as a first stage resource and a second stage resource;

determining an available portion of the second stage resource;

queuing arriving subscribers bidding for network access in the first stage resource and periodically admitting at least a portion of the arriving subscribers into the second stage resource based on respective bid amounts and the availability of the second stage resource;

determining a spot price of the finite resource based on at least one arrival subscriber not admitted;

determining a reservation fee for secured access to the network for the admitted subscribers to secure future network access at a given bid price;

determining whether a subscriber has accepted the reservation fee and controlling an interface to operatively couple that subscriber to the network via a portion of the second stage resource as a reserved subscriber;

determining whether a subscriber has rejected the reservation fee and controlling the interface to operatively couple that subscriber to the network via a portion of the second stage resource as an unreserved subscriber;

controlling the interface to disconnect from the network non-reserved subscribers whose bid prices are below the spot price;

activating a reservation of reserved subscribers whose bid price is below the spot price;

controlling the interface to maintain network access for the reserved subscriber for a duration of the reservation; and

storing a database of subscriber account data in a memory device operatively coupled to the processor.

26. The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the interface is operatively coupled to the processor.

27. The computer readable medium of claim 26, wherein the interface is an access line interface.

28. The computer readable medium of claim 27, wherein the finite resource is a plurality of network access lines, and the first stage resource is a first group of network access lines and the second stage resource is a second group of network access lines.

29. The computer readable medium of claim 28, wherein the operations further include calculating the reservation fee on the bid amount and a requested duration of the reservation.

30. The computer readable medium of claim 29, wherein the reservation fee is inversely proportional to the bid price and directly proportional to the requested duration of the reservation.

31. The computer readable medium of claim 30, wherein the operations further include setting the spot price to the highest bid price of the at least one arrival subscriber not admitted.

32. The computer readable medium of claim 31, wherein the processor calculates the available resource in the second stage as a total resource in the second stage less the number of reserved subscribers admitted in the second stage.