Method and system for controlling an electronic auction during the transition to a closed state

• US 7,395,238 B2
• Filed: 04/11/2001
• Issued: 07/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/19/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Ariba Incorporated (SAP SE)
• Original Assignee: Ariba Incorporated (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Stevens, Robert G., Becker, David J., Rago, Vincent F., Rupp, William D., Heckmann, Daniel C., Bernard, Anthony F., Kinney, Sam E. Jr., Meakem, Glen T., Roberts, Frederick W., Alaia, Marc, Reneau, Jason
• Primary Examiner(s): Dass; Harish T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): MILEF, ELDA G
• Application Number:
  US09/832,437
• Publication Number:
  US 20020046148A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,638 Days
• Field of Search: 705/37
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• 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 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis

Abstract

A method and system for conducting electronic auctions is described. A dynamic lot closing extension feature avoids collisions in closing times of multiple lots by dynamically extending the closing time of a subsequent lot if a preceding lot'"'"'s closing time is extended to be too close to the subsequent lot'"'"'s then-currently scheduled closing time. Scheduled closing times can be extended with a flexible overtime feature, in which the properties of the event triggering the extension and the duration of the overtime period(s) can be tailored to a particular auction, particular lots of products within an auction, and to the particular time within an auction process. The bidding status of a lot can be set to a “pending” status after the nominal closing time for submission of bids to allow bidders to alert the auction coordinator of technical problems in submission of bids. This allows the possibility for a lot to be return to open status for further bidding by all bidders. The auction may be paused by the auction coordinator to correct technical, market and miscellaneous problems that may arise during the course of an auction. Individual bid ceilings can be set for each bidder so that they are required to bid lower than certain thresholds determined in advance of the auction. Failsafe error detection is performed to prevent erroneous bids from entering the auction. The auction coordinator has the ability to override any erroneous bids that are entered to prevent prejudice to the auction.

Claims

1. A method of controlling bidding status in an online auction, comprising:

setting a bid status to an open status for a lot with a closing time;

upon determining that said closing time is reached, setting said bid status to a pending status for said lot, said pending status indicating that no bids are temporarily accepted on said lot;

determining whether to change said bid status for said lot; and

setting said bid status in accordance with said determination.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said lot has an associated status parameter and pending interval.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining comprises:

receiving a message to set said bid status to close; and

determining to set said bid status to close in accordance with said message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining comprises:

receiving a message to set said bid status to open; and

determining to set said status to open in accordance with said message.

5. A machine-readable medium whose contents cause a computer system to control the bidding status in an online auction by performing:

setting a bid status to an open status for a lot with a closing time;

upon determining that said closing time is reached, setting said bid status to a pending status for said lot, said pending status indicating that no bids are temporarily accepted on said lot;

determining whether to change said bid status for said lot; and

setting said bid status in accordance with said determination.

6. The machine-readable medium of claim 5, wherein said lot has an associated status parameter and pending interval.

7. The machine-readable medium of claim 5, wherein said determining comprises:

receiving a message to set said bid status to close; and

determining to set said bid status to open in accordance with said message.

8. The machine-readable medium of claim 5, wherein said determining comprises:

receiving a message to set said bid status to open; and

determining to set said bid status to open in accordance with said message.

9. A method to control bid status in an electronic auction between a sponsor of an auction and a plurality of bidders, comprising:

setting a bid status to an open status or an overtime status for a lot with a closing time;

upon determining that said closing time is reached, setting said bid status to a pending status for the lot, said pending status indicating that no bids are temporarily accepted on said lot;

determining whether a return to open trigger has occurred; and

setting said bid status to a new status according to said determination;

wherein the sponsor and the bidders are coupled electronically over a communications network during the auction.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said pending status indicates that bids are not currently being accepted, but that the bid status may change such that bids will again be accepted.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein said new status is a closed for bidding status.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein said new status is an available for bidding status.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein said new status is the open or overtime status.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein said determining comprises:

determining whether an automatic close flag is set to Yes; and

determining to set said bid status to closed if said automatic close flag is set to Yes and an intervening condition does not occur prior to expiration of a pending interval.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein said determining comprises:

determining whether an automatic close flag is set to Yes; and

determining to set said bid status to closed if said automatic close flag is set to Yes and an intervening condition occurs prior to expiration of a pending interval.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein said determining comprises:

determining whether an automatic close flag is set to Yes; and

determining to set said bid status to closed if said automatic close flag is set to No and an intervening condition does not occur prior to expiration of a pending interval.

17. The method of claim 9, wherein said determining comprises:

determining whether an automatic close flag is set to Yes; and

determining to set said bid status to closed if said automatic close flag is set to No and an intervening condition occurs prior to expiration of a pending interval.

18. The method of claim 9, wherein said determining comprises:

determining whether an automatic close flag is set to Yes; and

determining to set said bid status to an available for bidding status if said automatic close flag is set to Yes and an intervening condition does not occur prior to expiration of a pending interval.

19. The method of claim 9, wherein said determining comprises:

determining whether an automatic close flag is set to Yes; and

determining to set said bid status to an available for bidding status if said automatic close flag is set to Yes and an intervening condition occurs prior to expiration of a pending interval.

20. The method of claim 9, wherein said determining comprises:

determining whether an automatic close flag is set to Yes; and

determining to set said bid status to an available for bidding status if said automatic close flag is set to No and an intervening condition does not occur prior to expiration of a pending interval.

21. The method of claim 9, wherein said determining comprises:

determining whether an automatic close flag is set to Yes; and

determining to set said bid status to an available for bidding status if said automatic close flag is set to No and an intervening condition occurs prior to expiration of a pending interval.

22. A machine-readable medium whose contents cause a computer system to control bid status in an electronic auction between a sponsor of the auction and a plurality of bidders, having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

setting a bid status to an open status or an overtime status for a lot with a closing time;

upon determining that said closing time is reached, setting said bid status to a pending status for the lot, said pending status indicating that no bids are temporarily accepted on said lot;

determining whether a return to open trigger has occurred; and

setting said bid status to a new status according to said determination;

wherein the sponsor and the bidders are coupled electronically over a communications network during the auction.

23. The machine-readable medium of claim 22, wherein said pending status indicates that bids are not currently being accepted, but that the bid status may change such that bids will be again be accepted.

24. The machine-readable medium of claim 22, wherein said new status is a closed for bidding status.

25. The machine-readable medium of claim 22, wherein said new status is an available for bidding status.

26. The machine-readable medium of claim 22, wherein said new status is the open or overtime status.

27. The machine-readable medium of claim 22, wherein said instructions to determine comprise instructions to:

determine whether an automatic close flag is set to Yes; and

determine to set said bid status to closed if said automatic close flag is set to Yes and an intervening condition does not occur prior to expiration of a pending interval.

28. The machine-readable medium of claim 22, wherein said instructions to determine comprise instructions to:

determine whether an automatic close flag is set to Yes; and

determine to set said bid status to closed if said automatic close flag is set to Yes and an intervening condition occurs prior to expiration of a pending interval.

29. The machine-readable medium of claim 22, wherein said instructions to determine comprise instructions to:

determine whether an automatic close flag is set to Yes; and

determine to set said bid status to closed if said automatic close flag is set to No and an intervening condition does not occur prior to expiration of a pending interval.

30. The machine-readable medium of claim 22, wherein said instructions to determine comprise instructions to:

determine whether an automatic close flag is set to Yes; and

determine to set said bid status to closed if said automatic close flag is set to No and an intervening condition occurs prior to expiration of a pending interval.

31. The machine-readable medium of claim 22, wherein said instructions to determine comprise instructions to:

determine whether an automatic close flag is set to Yes; and

determine to set said bid status to an available for bidding status if said automatic close flag is set to Yes and an intervening condition does not occur prior to expiration of a pending interval.

32. The machine-readable medium of claim 22, wherein said instructions to determine comprises instructions to:

determine whether an automatic close flag is set to Yes; and

determine to set said bid status to an available for bidding status if said automatic close flag is set to Yes and an intervening condition occurs prior to expiration of a pending interval.

33. The machine-readable medium of claim 22, wherein said instructions to determine comprises instructions to:

determine whether an automatic close flag is set to Yes; and

determine to set said bid status to an available for bidding status if said automatic close flag is set to No and an intervening condition does not occur prior to expiration of a pending interval.

34. The machine-readable medium of claim 22, wherein said instructions to determine comprise instructions to:

determine whether an automatic close flag is set to Yes; and

determine to set said bid status to an available for bidding status if said automatic close flag is set to No and an intervening condition occurs prior to expiration of a pending interval.

35. A method of controlling bidding status of a lot in an electronic auction, wherein said lot has a closing time, comprising:

setting a bidding status for said lot to an open status indicating that bids will be received from bidders on said lot;

receiving bids from bidders for said lot;

upon determining that said closing time is reached, changing said bidding status for said lot to a pending status indicating that bids will not be accepted on said lot but that said bidding status may subsequently be changed to a status indicating that bids will be received;

determining whether a return to open trigger event has occurred within a predefined time period following the changing of said bidding status from said open status to said pending status;

if said return to open trigger event has not occurred, setting said bidding status to a close status indicating that bidding for said lot is closed; and

if said return to open trigger event has occurred, setting said bidding status to an open status indicating that said lot is open for bidding.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein said determining comprises receiving a communication from a bidder indicating a request for an opportunity for further bidding.

37. A computer-readable medium for controlling bidding status of a lot in an electronic auction, wherein said lot has a closing time, the medium containing instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

setting a bidding status for said lot to an open status indicating that bids will be received from bidders on said lot;

receiving bids from bidders for said lot;

upon determining that said closing time is reached, changing said bidding status for said lot to a pending status indicating that bids will not be accepted on said lot but that said bidding status may subsequently be changed to a status indicating that bids will be received;

determining whether a return to open trigger event has occurred within a predefined time period following the changing of said bidding status from said open status to said pending status;

if said return to open trigger event has not occurred, setting said bidding status to a close status indicating that bidding for said lot is closed; and

if said return to open trigger event has occurred, setting said bidding status to an open status indicating that said lot is open for bidding.

38. The computer-readable medium of claim 37, wherein said instructions to determine comprise instructions to receive a communication from a bidder indicating a request for an opportunity for further bidding.

39. A method of controlling bid status in a multi-lot electronic auction, wherein each lot has a closing time and a bid status, comprising:

setting a first closing time for a first lot, and a second closing time for a second lot, wherein said first closing time precedes said second closing time;

setting a first bid status for the first lot to a value indicating that bids will be accepted for said first lot;

setting a second bid status for the second lot to a value indicating that bids will be accepted for said second lot;

upon determining that said first closing time is reached, setting said first bid status to a value indicating that bids will not be accepted for said first lot, but said first bid status may subsequently be changed to a value indicating that bids will be accepted for said first lot;

before said second closing time, determining whether a return to open trigger condition has occurred; and

if said condition has occurred, setting said first bid status to a status indicating that bids will be accepted for said first lot, and updating said first closing time so that it is subsequent to said second closing time.

40. A machine readable medium for controlling bid status in a multi-lot electronic auction, wherein each lot has a closing time and a bid status, comprising instructions for:

setting a first closing time for a first lot, and a second closing time for a second lot, wherein said first closing time precedes said second closing time;

setting a first bid status for the first lot to a value indicating that bids will be accepted for said first lot;

setting a second bid status for the second lot to a value indicating that bids will be accepted for said second lot;

upon determining that said first closing time is reached, setting said first bid status to a value indicating that bids will not be accepted for said first lot, but said first bid status may subsequently be changed to a value indicating that bids will be accepted for said first lot;

before said second closing time, determining whether a return to open trigger condition has occurred; and

if said condition has occurred, setting said first bid status to a status indicating that bids will be accepted for said first lot, and updating said first closing time so that it is subsequent to said second closing time.