INTEGRATION OF REMOTE BIDDERS INTO MULTIPLE AND SIMULTANEOUS LIVE AUCTIONS

• US 20100161448A1
• Filed: 01/11/2010
• Published: 06/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xcira Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Xcira Incorporated
• Inventors: Smith, Gregory Scott, Bain, Tyler, Paulovich, Daniel, Hardway, Brian, Rabenold, Nancy J., Simmons, James A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,412,587 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

Multiple simultaneous auctions can be monitored and participated in using a single bidding device operated by a single remote bidder. A multi-windowed environment allows for the display of active bidding windows and docked bidding windows. The active bidding windows are fully functional bidding windows and include auction status, product information and the like. The docked bidding windows provide a subset of the information but, nonetheless provide real-time auction status information and allows for bidders to enter bids into the auctioning process without having to move the bidding window into an active status. A customer-identifier selector of identifier allows the remote bidder to associate a customer with a particular bidding window. The customer-identifier advantageously helps the remote bidder to track who purchased items are associated with, as well as providing control structure over the bidding process.

Claims

1. A method for enabling a remote bidder to actively participate in and monitor multiple simultaneous auctioning events using a single bidding device with a display, the method comprising the steps of:

displaying a plurality of bidding windows on the display of the bidding device, wherein each of the plurality of bidding windows is associated with a bidding actuator and is configured to display information pertinent to an auctioning event associated with the bidding window;

associating an identifier with each of the plurality of bidding windows;

receiving an actuation of a particular bidding actuator associated with a particular bidding window, wherein upon receipt of the actuation the bidding device forwards a signal to a bid processing system managing a particular auctioning event associated with the particular bidding window;

receiving status information from the bid processing system managing the particular auctioning event; and

tracking the status information by associating it with the identifier for the particular bidding window.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the received status information is displayed in the particular bidding window.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of generating, for a particular identifier, a report from the tracked status information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifier is uniquely associated with a customer, and further comprising the step of:

controlling, based at least in part on the identifier associated with the bidding window, the bidding process for an auction event.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the bidding device is operable to receive an audio stream from an audio/video system associated with a particular auctioning event and further comprising the step of rendering the audio stream associated with the particular auctioning event.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the bidding device is further operable to:

display a first bidding window in an active state, the active state bidding window displaying information at a first level of detail pertinent to a first auctioning event; and

display a second bidding window in a docked state, the docked state bidding window displaying information at a second level of detail pertinent to a second auctioning event, wherein the information at a second level of detail is a subset of a first level of information detail of the second auctioning event.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a window selection indicator associated with either a docked state bidding window or the active state bidding window; and

changing the state of the appropriate bidding window in response to the selection indicator.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising the steps of:

displaying on the display of the bidding device a second docked state bidding window associated with a third auctioning event, the second docked state bidding window displaying information at the second level of detail pertinent to the third auctioning event, wherein the information at a second level of detail is a subset of a first level of information detail of the third auctioning event.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a first customer-identification selection associated with either the docked state bidding window or the active state bidding window; and

associating items purchased in the auctioning event for the associated window with the customer-identification selection.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a first customer-identification selection for the active state bidding window;

receiving a second customer-identification selection for the docked state bidding window;

controlling, based at least in part on the first customer-identification selection, the bidding process for the active state bidding window;

controlling, based at least in part on the second customer-identification selection, the bidding process for the docked state bidding window;

associating items purchased in the first auctioning event with the first customer-identification selection; and

associating items purchased in the second auctioning event with the second customer-identification selection.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein the bidding device is operable to receive an audio stream from an audio/video system associated with a particular auctioning event and further comprising the step of rendering the audio stream associated with the active state bidding window.

12. The method of claim 6, wherein the bidding device is operable to receive a video stream from an audio/video system associated with a particular auctioning event and further comprising the step of rendering the video stream in the active state bidding window.

13. The method of claim 6, wherein the bidding device is operable to receive audio and video streams from audio/video systems associated with the plurality of auctioning events and further comprising the steps of:

rendering each video stream associated with each of the plurality of auctioning events in the bidding window that correlates with each particular auctioning event; and

rendering the audio stream associated with the active state bidding window.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the video streams associated with docked state windows are rendered at a reduced quality level relative to the quality level of the video stream associated with the active state bidding window.

15. The method of claim 6, wherein the bidding device is operable to receive audio and video streams from audio/video systems associated with the plurality of auctioning events and further comprising the steps of:

rendering the video stream associated with the active state bidding window; and

rendering the audio stream associated with the active state bidding window.

16. A bidding device that enables a remote bidder to actively participate in and concurrently monitor multiple auctioning events, the bidding device comprising:

a display;

a user input interface;

a bid processing system interface;

a processing unit configured to;

receive a request from the user input interface to display a first bidding window on the display, the first bidding window being associated with a first auctioning event, inclusive of at least one active control and mapped to a first customer identifier;

receive a request from the user input interface to display a second bidding window on the display, the second bidding window being associated with a second auctioning event, inclusive of at least one active control and mapped to a second customer identifier;

receive an actuation of the first bidding window active bidding control, wherein upon receipt of the actuation the bidding device forwards a signal to the bid processing system managing the first auctioning event; and

receive an actuation of the second bidding window bidding active bidding control, wherein upon receipt of the actuation the bidding device forwards a signal to the bid processing system managing the second auctioning event.

17. The bidding device of claim 16, wherein in response to a user actuating an active control, the processing unit is further configured to:

identify the bidding window, auctioning event and customer identifier associated with the actuation of the active control;

determine an action associated with the actuation of the active control; and

provide data to the bid processing system interface identifying the auctioning event and the action.

18. The bidding device of claim 17, wherein in response to receiving a data signal from the bid processing system through the bid processing system interface, the processing unit is further configured to:

determine the auctioning event associated with the bid processing system data signal;

determine the bidding window associated with the auctioning event;

determine the customer identification associated with the bidding window;

update, based at least in part on the received bid processing system data signal, the information displayed on the associated bidding window; and

map the updated information to the determined customer identification.

19. The bidding device of claim 18, the processing unit being further configured to generate, for a given customer identification, a report from the mapped information.

20. The bidding device of claim 16, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

cause the first bidding window to be displayed in an active state, the active state bidding window displaying information at a first level of detail pertinent to a first auctioning event; and

cause the second bidding window to be displayed in a docked state, the docked state bidding window displaying information at a second level of detail pertinent to a second auctioning event, wherein the information at a second level of detail is a subset of a first level of information detail of the second auctioning event.

21. The bidding device of claim 20, further comprising an audio output interface and an audio data input interface, and the processing unit is further configured to:

receive audio data over the audio data input interface representing the audio feed for one or more auctioning events, the audio data including at least the audio data associated with the auctioning event associated with the active state bidding window; and

provide audio data to the audio output interface for the auctioning event associated with the active state bidding window.

22. The bidding device of claim 20, wherein in response to receiving a window selection indicator associated with a docked state bidding window, the processing unit is further operable to change the state of the docked state bidding window.

23. The bidding device of claim 16, wherein the bidding windows include a video feed and the processing unit is operable to provide the video feed at a first rate to the first bidding window and at a second rate to the second bidding window.

24. A bidding device that enables a remote bidder to actively participate in and concurrently monitor multiple auctioning events, the bidding device comprising:

a display;

a user input interface;

a bid processing system interface;

a processing unit configured to;

receive a request from the user input interface to display a first bidding window on the display, the first bidding window being associated with a first auctioning event and mapped to a first customer identifier;

receive a request from the user input interface to display a second bidding window on the display, the second bidding window being associated with a second auctioning event and mapped to a second customer identifier;

control, based at least in part on the first customer identifier, the bidding process for the auctioning event associated with the first bidding window by forwarding a signal, via the bid processing system interface, to the bid processing system managing the first auctioning event; and

control, based at least in part on the second customer identifier, the bidding process for the auctioning event associated with the second bidding window by forwarding a signal, via the bid processing system interface, to the bid processing system managing the second auctioning event.

25. The bidding device of claim 24, wherein the processing unit is operative to control the bidding process for the auctioning event by applying maximum bids associated with a customer identifier.

26. The bidding device of claim 24, wherein in response to receiving a data signal from the bid processing system through the bid processing system interface, the processing unit is further configured to:

determine the auctioning event associated with the bid processing system data signal;

determine the bidding window associated with the auctioning event;

determine the customer identification associated with the bidding window;

update, based at least in part on the received bid processing system data signal, the information displayed on the associated bidding window; and

map the updated information to the determined customer identification.

27. The bidding device of claim 26, the processing unit being further configured to generate, for a given customer identification, a report from the mapped information.