System and method for performing a progressive second price auction technique
First Claim
1. A method of allocating an arbitrarily divisible resource comprising the steps of:
- receiving first data indicative of at least one bid comprising a quantity component indicating a requested quantity of said resource, and a price component;
receiving second data indicative of a new bid comprising a quantity component, a price component, and a bid fee;
first providing at least one portion of said resource to each of said at least one bid having a price component higher than the price component of said new bid;
second providing a second portion of said resource to said new bid responsive to said first providing step;
calculating by a computer processor said new bid'"'"'s cost as a function of the price data component of said at least one bid having a price component lower than said price component of said new bid that does not receive the entirety of the quantity of said resource requested in said at least one bid'"'"'s quantity component as a result of said second providing; and
storing cost data indicative of said new bid'"'"'s calculated cost.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for allocating a resource using a progressive second price auction technique. An auction is held for a limited resource, such as bandwidth in an Internet Service Provider Network in which bids are submitted by prospective users including the quantity desired and the price for each unit of resource bid upon. In order to make an efficient allocation, a new bidder is granted some of the resource based upon the availability of the limited resource due to the bids higher than the new bidder. The actual price paid by the new bidder is based upon bids made with lower prices who have been or would have been allocated some of the resource. This calculation of the price paid encourages bidders to bid their actual valuation of the resources rather than engage in inefficient tactical bids.
86 Citations
36 Claims
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1. A method of allocating an arbitrarily divisible resource comprising the steps of:
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receiving first data indicative of at least one bid comprising a quantity component indicating a requested quantity of said resource, and a price component; receiving second data indicative of a new bid comprising a quantity component, a price component, and a bid fee; first providing at least one portion of said resource to each of said at least one bid having a price component higher than the price component of said new bid; second providing a second portion of said resource to said new bid responsive to said first providing step; calculating by a computer processor said new bid'"'"'s cost as a function of the price data component of said at least one bid having a price component lower than said price component of said new bid that does not receive the entirety of the quantity of said resource requested in said at least one bid'"'"'s quantity component as a result of said second providing; and storing cost data indicative of said new bid'"'"'s calculated cost. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. An apparatus for allocating an arbitrarily divisible resource comprising:
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means for receiving at least one first bid comprising a quantity component and a price component; means for receiving a new bid comprising a quantity component and a price component; means for receiving a bid fee associated with said new bid; means for first providing a first portion of said resource to each of said at least one bid having a price component higher than the price component of said new bid; means for second providing a second portion of said resource to said new bid responsive to said first allocation step; and computer processor for calculating said new bid'"'"'s cost as a function of the price data component of said at least one bid having a price component lower than said price component of said new bid that does not receive the entirety of the quantity of said resource requested in said at least one bid'"'"'s quantity component as a result of the operation of said means for second providing. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A method of allocating a divisible resource comprising the steps of:
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receiving a list of previously submitted bids from previous bidders, each bid comprising at least one quantity component and at least one associated price component, said previously submitted bids sorted by said price components; receiving a total quantity of said divisible resource to allocate; receiving a new bid comprising at least one quantity component and at least one associated price component; first providing a portion of said resource to the bidder of each previously submitted bid having a price component higher than said new bid'"'"'s price component, in an amount equal to each respective bid'"'"'s quantity component; first determining the first remaining amount of said resource not allocated during said first providing step; second providing, in response to said first determining, a portion of said resource to the bidder of said new bid in an amount equal to the lower of said quantity component of said new bid or said first remaining amount of said resource; second determining a second remaining amount of said resource not allocated during said first and second providing steps; third providing a portion of said second remaining amount of said resource to the bidder of a previously submitted bid having the highest price component lower than said new bid'"'"'s price component, repeating said third providing for the next highest previously submitted bid, until none of said second remaining amount remains to be provided; third determining at least one previously submitted bid having a price component lower than the price component of said new bid that, if said new bid had not been made, would have been provided with a greater portion of said resource than was actually provided to that bidder and designating that bid an excluded allocation bid and designating said greater portion an excluded allocation quantity associated with said excluded allocation bid; and calculating in a processor the cost paid by said new bidder as a function of the price component associated with said excluded allocation bid. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36)
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Specification