Auction system for remote bidding and method

• US 7,409,361 B2
• Filed: 12/08/2003
• Issued: 08/05/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bidcatcher LP
• Original Assignee: Bidcatcher LP
• Inventors: Dinwoodie, David L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rosen; Nicholas D
• Application Number:
  US10/730,624
• Publication Number:
  US 20050125330A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,702 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/37
• US Class Current: 705/26.3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A system for conducting interactive auctions with remote bidders is provided. The system includes an auction system operable to maintain information related to a subject of an auction and a remote bidder system in communication with the auction system. The remote bidder system is operable to communicate a bid including bid information to the auction system based on a price for the subject of the auction. The auction system uses at least a portion of the bid information to accept the bid where the price for the subject of the auction is the same when the bid is processed by the auction system and to reject the bid where the price for the subject of the auction has changed when the bid is processed by the auction system.

Claims

1. A system for conducting interactive auctions with remote bidders, the system comprising:

an auction system that maintains information related to a subject of an auction, the auction system establishes a price at which the subject of the auction is offered; and

a remote bidder system that communicates a bid, including bid information, to the auction system, the bid accepting the offer for the subject of the auction at the price established by the auction system, the auction system using at least a portion of the bid information to accept the bid where the price for the subject of the auction is the same when the bid is processed by the auction system and to reject the bid where the price for the subject of the auction has changed,

wherein auction system is maintains the price for the subject of the auction and a time related information associated with the price of the subject at a time during the auction, and wherein the bid information includes a time related component comparable to the time related information maintained by the auction system, and

wherein the time related information associated with the price of the subject matter is further defined as time data associated with the time during the action when the subject matter is auctioned for the price, the auction system using the time data to determine whether the price of the subject of the auction has changed.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the bid information includes a price component related to the price of the subject of the auction when the bid was made by the remote bidder system.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the remote bidder system and auction system communicate over a network.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the network is further defined as the Internet.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the price is further defined as a current bid for the subject of the auction.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the price is further defined as an asking bid for the subject of the auction.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the remote bidder system is further defined as a computer system.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the remote bidder system is further defined as a wireless device communicating at least partially in a wireless manner with the auction system.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the wireless device is further defined as a personal digital assistant.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the wireless device is further defined as a mobile telephony device.

11. A system for conducting interactive auctions with remote bidders, the system comprising:

an auction system that maintains information related to a subject of an auction, the auction system establishes a price at which the subject of the auction is offered; and

a remote bidder system that communicates a bid, including bid information, to the auction system, the bid accepting the offer for the subject of the auction at the price established by the auction system, the auction system using at least a portion of the bid information to accept the bid where the price for the subject of the auction is the same when the bid is processed by the auction system and to reject the bid where the price for the subject of the auction has changed,

wherein the bid information includes a first data indicative of an offer from the remote bidder system for the subject of the auction and a second data related to a time associated with the price of the subject of the auction, and wherein the auction system uses the second data to determine whether the price for the subject of the auction has changed.

12. A method for remote auction bidding, comprising:

updating an auction system with an auction system current price established by the auction system for a subject of an auction;

communicating the auction system current price to a remote bidder system;

updating a remote bidder system current price with the auction system current price communicated to the remote bidder;

transmitting a message related to the subject of the auction from the remote bidder system to the auction system, the message including a bid offer based on the remote bidder system current price, the bid offer accepting the auction system current price for the subject of the auction;

accepting, by the auction system, the bid offer where a then current price maintained by the auction system for the subject of the auction is the same as the remote bidder system current price; and

rejecting, by the auction system, the bid offer where the then current price maintained by the auction system for the subject of the action is different from the remote bidder system current price.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein communicating the auction system current price to the remote bidder system includes:

pushing, by the auction system to the remote bidder system, the auction system current price.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the auction system pushes the auction system current price to the remote bidder system only in response to a change in the auction system current price.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein communicating the auction system current price to the remote bidder system includes:

polling, by the remote bidder system, the auction system current price on the auction system; and

communicating to the remote bidder system the auction system current price in response to the auction system current price being updated by the auction system and communicating to the remote bidder system a no change message where the auction system current price is the same.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

updating, with a new amount, the auction system current price; and

associating a unique identifier with the auction system current price based on when the auction system current price was updated with the new amount;

receiving, by the remote bidding system, the new amount of the auction system current price and the unique identifier; and

updating the remote bidder system current price with the new amount.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising transmitting a unique identifier based on the auction system current price to the remote bidder system and wherein the message transmitted from the remote bidder system to the auction system includes the unique identifier such that the auction system uses the unique identifier received from the remote bidder system to determine whether to accept or reject the bid.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the time information is based upon when the auction system updated the auction system current price used by the remote bidder system to update the remote bidder system current price.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein the bid offer is further defined as a data interpreted by the auction system as an offer by the remote bidder system for the subject of the action, and wherein the message further includes a time information related the remote bidder system current price.

20. A method for remote auction bidding, comprising:

updating an auction system with an auction system current price established by the auction system for a subject of an auction;

communicating the auction system current price to a remote bidder system;

transmitting a message related to the subject of the auction from the remote bidder system to the auction system, the message including a bid offer acknowledging acceptance by the remote bidder system of the auction system current price for the subject of the auction;

accepting, by the auction system, the bid offer where the auction system current price for the subject of the auction has not changed; and

rejecting the bid offer where the auction system current price for the subject of the action has changed.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the actions of accepting and rejecting, by the auction system, further comprise:

accepting, by the auction system, the bid offer where the auction system current price for the subject of the auction has not changed and the bid offer is more than the auction system current price for the subject of the auction; and

rejecting the bid offer where the auction system current price for the subject of the action has changed and the bid offer is more than the auction system current price for the subject of the auction.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the actions of accepting and rejecting, by the auction system, further comprise:

accepting, by the auction system, the bid offer where the auction system current price for the subject of the auction is the same on both the auction system and the remote bidder system; and

rejecting the bid offer where the auction system current price for the subject of the action on the auction system and the remote bidder system is different.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the auction system generates a tag associated with auction system current price for a subject of an auction.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the tag is communicated to the remote bidder system.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the tag is communicated from the auction system to the remote bidder system related to the message with the bid offer.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein the message includes the tag.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the tag is used by the auction system to determine whether the auction system current price for the subject of the auction has changed.

28. The method of claim 23, wherein the tag is related to a time when the auction system current price for the subject of the auction was changed.

29. The method of claim 23, wherein the tag includes a time portion based on when the auction system current price for the subject of the auction was changed.

30. The method of claim 20, wherein the remote bidder system is further defined as a device operable on the internet to communicate with the auction system.

31. The method of claim 20, wherein the remote bidder system is further defined as a telephone operable on a standard telephone network to communicate with the auction system.

32. The method of claim 20, wherein the remote bidder system is a wireless device operable to communicate with the auction system.