SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IMPLEMENTING AN END OF ROUND IN A MULTIPLE ROUND AUCTION

• US 20100324969A1
• Filed: 06/22/2009
• Published: 12/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: CRA International Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CRA International Incorporated
• Inventors: Miller, Brad
• Application Number:
  US12/489,032
• Publication Number:
  US 20100324969A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions

Abstract

A system and method for implementing End-Of-Round (EOR) calculations in computer implemented multiple round auctions. The EOR process allows for the adjustment of price, quantity, and other parameters, and also adjusts bids as necessary in accordance with the auction rules, parameter values, and constraints. Feasible starting points for the EOR process can be determined based on the post-EOR adjusted bids following the previous round, or based on bids submitted in the round just ended. Bid deviations based on switching and/or reductions in eligibility can be analyzed. Bid requests can be evaluated and granted based on auction rules, parameter values, and/or constraints. Bids can be rolled-back to realize a feasible solution. The EOR process can iteratively loop through the collection of bid deviations until all the bid deviations have been considered, or until an established time limit is reached.

Claims

1. A system for conducting multi-round auctions, comprising;

a plurality of remote computer stations operably connected to a network and configured to receive bid information from a plurality of bidders, wherein the bid information is received in successive rounds;

a Web server component operable to receive and store the bid information from the plurality of remote computer stations, receive and store auction parameters, and including application software configured to evaluate the bid information at the end of each of the successive rounds, wherein evaluating the bid information includes;

evaluating the received bid information to determine if any of the plurality of bidders changed their bid information in the current round just ended as compared to the previous round;

rolling back the bid information received from at least one bidder if their bid information changed between the current and the previous rounds, wherein the rolled-back bid information equals at least a part of the bid information provided by the bidder in the previous round;

calculating a collective bid information as a function of the current bid information received from bidders whose individual bid information was not rolled back and the rolled-backed bid information from the bidders whose individual bids information was rolled back;

determining whether the collective bid information satisfies at least one auction parameter; and

outputting the collective bid information if the at least one auction parameter is satisfied.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the bid information and the auction parameters include price and quantity information.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein evaluating bid information includes increasing or decreasing the prices in the auction parameters if the quantities in the collective bid information are greater or less than the quantities in the auction parameters.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the auction parameters include demand parameters.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the auction parameters include supply parameters.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein rolling back the bid information includes rolling back only bid information that changed based on either eligibility reductions or switches individually.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein rolling back the bid information includes rolling back bid information that changed based on eligibility reduction, and then rolling back bid information that changed based on switches.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein rolling back the bid information includes rolling back bid information that changed based on switches, and then rolling back bid information that changed based on eligibility reduction.

9. A computer implemented multi-round auction system to provide feasible solutions to satisfy supply, demand and price constraints, comprising:

a storage device;

a processor programmed to;

receive bids from a plurality of bidders in a series of sequential rounds,

compare the plurality of bids received in a current round with an auction parameter to determine if a constraint is satisfied,

if the constraint is not satisfied, then determine which bids changed between the current round and the previous round, and iteratively roll back changed bids until the constraint is satisfied, and

store the bids on the storage device.

10. The computer implemented multi-round auction system of claim 9 wherein the bids include price information.

11. The computer implemented multi-round auction system of claim 10 wherein rolling back the changed bids includes decreasing the value of the price information in the bids.

12. The computer implemented multi-round auction system of claim 10 wherein rolling back the changed bids includes increasing the value of the price information in the bids.

13. The computer implemented multi-round auction system of claim 9 wherein rolling back the changed bids includes setting a value of the bid received from a bidder in the current round to be equal to the value of the bid received from the bidder in the previous round.

14. The computer implemented multi-round auction system of claim 9 wherein the bid received from a bidder in the previous round includes a first value, and the bid received from the bidder in the current round includes a second value, and rolling back the changed bids includes setting the bid received from the bidder in the current round to a third value, wherein the third value is within a range of values between the first and second values.

15. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for managing multi-round auctions over a network, comprising:

storing a plurality of auction parameters;

storing information associated with a plurality of blocks;

setting a first price value for each block in the plurality of blocks;

receiving first bids from a plurality of bidders over the network, wherein the first bids include price and quantity information;

determining a second price value as a function of the first bids and at least one auction parameter;

storing the second price value for each block in the plurality of blocks;

receiving subsequent bids from the plurality of bidders over the network, wherein the subsequent bids include price and quantity information;

rolling back the price information in the subsequent bids submitted by at least one of the plurality of bidders to the value of the price information in the bidder'"'"'s first bid;

determining if the multi-round auction is complete; and

outputting an auction result.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 wherein managing multi-round auctions over a network includes rolling back the quantity information in the subsequent bids submitted by at least one of the plurality of bidders to the value of the quantity information in the bidder'"'"'s first bid.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 wherein managing multi-round auctions over a network includes rolling back the price information in the subsequent bids submitted by at least one of the plurality of bidders to a value between the price information in the bidder'"'"'s first and subsequent bids.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 16 wherein managing multi-round auctions over a network includes rolling back the quantity information in the subsequent bids submitted by at least one of the plurality of bidders to a value between the quantity information in the bidder'"'"'s first and subsequent bids.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 wherein managing multi-round auctions over a network includes storing the first price information associated with each block in a first subset of the plurality of blocks, and storing the second price information associated with each block in a second subset of the plurality of blocks.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 wherein managing multi-round auctions over a network includes storing free eligibility blocks.