Auction redemption system and method

• US 7,461,022 B1
• Filed: 10/20/1999
• Issued: 12/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/20/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Connelly, John Patrick, Boyd, Eric, Panchapakesan, Venkat, Godin, Seth, Sohn, Henry Hyunsuk, Churchill, Thomas, Conway, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Poinvil; Frantzy
• Assistant Examiner(s): GRAHAM, CLEMENT B
• Application Number:
  US09/422,114
• Time in Patent Office: 3,331 Days
• Field of Search: 705/37, 705/38, 705/14, 705/26, 705/27, 705/36, 705/1, 705/5, 704/275
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• 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

Abstract

An electronic auction system known as the Yahoo! Auction System provides functionality that permits users to conduct auction transactions with various payment units, such as incentive points and credit points, as well as money. Points can be earned in a variety of ways and redeemed via online auctions. The Yahoo! Auction System includes a web server, a messaging server, a database server, and various databases including an account database for storing information about account balance, expiration date for each point or group of points, and redemption information. The Yahoo! Auction System provides different auction formats, such as Standard Auction, Dutch Auction, Progressive Auction, Buy-or-Bid Auction, and Declining Bid Auction. The Yahoo! Auction System reserves the bid amount associated any new valid bid in the bidder'"'"'s account and unreserves those bid amounts that were previously reserved but are no longer the winning bid or otherwise displaced from the top bid positions.

Claims

1. An auction-redemption system, comprising:

a web server;

an account database for maintaining account records with points, including credit points, that are redeemable and represent payment units for covering bid prices, a first account record of which being associated with a first bidder and a second account record of which being associated with a second bidder, wherein the credit points are not owned by but made available to any bidder who is qualified, wherein the credit points comprise attention points adapted for bids for an auction which are issued by a merchant for viewing an advertising of the merchant, and wherein for each group of one or more points there is an expiration date at which unredeemed points from such group are eliminated; and

an auction server linked to the web server for receiving and processing one or more bids for an item to be auctioned by the merchant, one of which being a first bid with a first bid price from the first bidder and another one of which being a second bid with a second bid price from the second bidder, wherein the auction server reserves points representing payment units for covering the first bid price from the first account record if, when received, the first bid is deemed valid and points representing payment units for covering the second bid price from the second account record if, when received, the second bid is deemed valid, the auction server further redeems reserved points of a winning bid from among the one or more bids for the item.

2. The auction-redemption system of claim 1, wherein, for any bid that is higher than one or both of the first and second bids, the auction server unreserves the reserved points for covering the respective one or both of the first and second bid prices.

3. The auction-redemption system of claim 1, wherein for determining whether each of the one or more bids is valid the auction server determines if such bid satisfies a minimum bid amount and a minimum bid increment amount, and, if such bid is for N items, whether a remaining quantity of items supports such bid and if it was made in connection with a time-limited auction, whether the bid was timely.

4. The auction-redemption system of claim 1, wherein for the reservation of points the auction server sets aside the points in a sub-account.

5. The auction-redemption system of claim 1, wherein points maintained at the account records in the account database include universal points that when earned through one merchant can be redeemed through another merchant.

6. The auction-redemption system of claim 1, wherein the points include incentive points.

7. The auction-redemption system of claim 1, wherein unredeemed points can be converted into cash.

33. The auction-redemption system of claim 1, wherein the one or more bids are made for N items by M bidders, the first and second bidders being among them, wherein N is a number equal or greater than one (1) while M is a number equal or greater than two (2).

8. An auction processing server for allowing a plurality of bidders to bid on at least one item, comprising:

an account file containing account records of points, including credit points, that are redeemable and represent payment units, where each account record is associated with a bidder, wherein the credit points are not owned by but made available to any of the bidders who is qualified, wherein the credit points comprise attention points adapted for bids for an auction which are issued by a merchant for viewing an advertising of the merchant and wherein for each group of one or more points there is an expiration date at which unredeemed points from such group are eliminated;

a web server that receives bids from the plurality of bidders via the Internet, where the bid is for an item to be auctioned by the merchant, where each bid is associated with a bidder-selected number of points and

a database server that reserves the bidder-selected number of points from the respective bidder'"'"'s account record if the selected number of points is available in that account record, wherein the reserved bidder-selected number of points of a winning bid for an item are redeemed for that item.

9. The auction processing server of claim 8, wherein the web server receives a first bid of first number of points from a first bidder and a second bid of a second number of points from a second bidder, and wherein the database server unreserves the first number of points from the first bidder'"'"'s account record if the first number of points is lower than the second number of points.

10. The auction processing server of claim 8, wherein the points contained in the account records include incentive points.

11. An auction processing server for allowing a plurality of bidders to bid on at least one item, comprising:

an account database with account records in which points, including credit points, are maintained in encrypted form, the points being redeemable and representing payment units, wherein the credit points comprise attention points adapted for bids for an auction which are issued by a merchant for viewing an advertising of the merchant, wherein for each group of one or more points there is an expiration date at which unredeemed points are eliminated, wherein each account record is associated with a bidder, and wherein the credit points are not owned by but made available to any of the bidders who is qualified;

first logic that receives bids from the plurality of bidders for an item to be auctioned by the merchant, where each bid is associated with a bidder-selected number of points and an automated maximum number of points;

second logic that reserves each bidder'"'"'s automated maximum number of points from the respective bidder'"'"'s account record if the bidder'"'"'s automated maximum number of payment units is available in that account record; and

third logic that redeems the reserved points of a winning bid for the item.

12. The auction processing server of claim 11, wherein the first logic receives a first bid of first number of points from a first bidder and a second bid of a second number of points from a second bidder, and wherein the second logic unreserves the first bidders number of points at the account record of the first bidder if the first number of points is lower than the second number of points.

13. The auction processing server of claim 11, wherein the first logic receives a first bid of a first number of points from a first bidder and a second bid of a second number of payment units from a second bidder, and wherein the second logic unreserves the first bidder'"'"'s automated maximum number of points at the account record of the first bidder if the first number of payment units is lower than the second number of payment unit.

14. The auction processing server of claim 13, wherein the second logic unreserves the difference between a winning bid determined at the close of bidding and the automated maximum number of points for the bidder with the winning bid if the winning bid is lower than that bidder'"'"'s automated maximum number of points.

15. A point based auction system comprising:

a database with accounts for holding points in encrypted form the points including credit points not owned by but made available to users who are qualified and any number of incentive points awarded to such users, wherein the credit points comprise attention points adapted for bids for an auction which are issued by a merchant for viewing an advertising of the merchant, the accounts including a first account for a first user and a second account for a second user, wherein for each group of one or more points there is an expiration time;

a processor;

a communications port connected to clients associated with the first user and the second user, respectively;

a memory embodying a computer program for taking as an input bids for an item to be auctioned by the merchant received from the first user and the second user through the communications port, each bid constituting a number of points and relating to an item being auctioned, said computer program having program instructions for causing the processor to perform the steps of;

(a) validating each bid by checking it against the database to confirm that the user submitting the bid owns at least the number of points specified in the bid, (b) storing information identifying the current high bid, (c) reserving a number of points equal to the current high bid from the account of the user who submitted that bid to prevent use of the points for any other purpose unless and until unreserved, (d) unreserving reserved points once a higher bid is received and validated, (e) at the end of the auction, awarding the item to the user with the highest bid at that point, (f) subtracting the number of points representing the winning bid from the account of the user who submitted the winning bid, and (g) discarding from the accounts any unredeemed points whose time has expired.

16. A system as in claim 15 in which the computer program has further instructions for causing the processor to perform the further step of awarding incentive points to users for actions taken by users.

17. A system as in claim 15 in which the points are maintained in encrypted form to prevent unauthorized access.

18. An auction method performed by a networked computer system, comprising:

instantiating in a server a database with a plurality of accounts for holding points in an encrypted form, the points in each account of a user including credit points not owned by but made available to such user if qualified and incentive points if any are awarded to such user, wherein the credit points comprise attention points adapted for bids for an auction which are issued by a merchant for viewing an advertising of the merchant, wherein for each group of one or more points there is an expiration time;

operating an auction server for;

(a) initiating an on line auction for an item to be auctioned by the merchant, including specifying a minimum number of points required for an opening bid;

(b) receiving a first bid from the first user via a web server;

(c) comparing the first bid against the minimum number and rejecting the first bid if the first bid is lower than the minimum number;

(d) comparing the first bid against the number of points available in the first account and rejecting the first bid if the first bid is higher than the number of points available in the first account;

(e) if the first bid has not been rejected, storing an indication that the first bid is the current high bid and reserving out of the first account a number of points for the first bid;

(f) receiving a second bid from the second user via the web server;

(g) comparing the second bid against the current high bid and rejecting the first bid if the first bid is lower than the current high bid;

(h) comparing the second bid against the number of points available in the second account and rejecting the second bid if the second bid is greater than the number of points available in the second stored account;

(i) if the second bid has not been rejected, storing an indication that the second bid is the current high bid, reserving out of the second account a number of points for the second bid, and unreserving the points previously reserved out of the first account;

(j) after receipt of n additional bids, closing the auction; and

(k) awarding the item to the user who submitted the highest valid bid by the close of the auction and removing from that user'"'"'s account the number of points reserved for that bid, whereby the number of points reserved for the bid are redeemed for the item; and

removing by the server any unredeemed points from the first and second accounts in the database if their time has expired.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein incentive points are awarded to a user for viewing an advertisement on-line.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein incentive points are awarded to a user upon signing up on-line for a service.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein incentive points are awarded to a user for providing identification information on-line.

22. A computer system comprising:

a first database with at least a first of three entries of points for each user of which the first entry is of points, including incentive points, which are held for such user, the second entry is of points which are reserved for a bid, if made, out of the first entry of points, and the third entry is of credit points not owned but available as a credit to such user if the user is deemed qualified, wherein the credit points comprise attention points adapted for bids for an auction which are issued by a merchant for viewing an advertising of the merchant, wherein for each group of one or more points there is an expiration time;

a second database including entries of items to be auctioned on which users are capable of submitting a bid of a number of points, wherein the item is to be auctioned by the merchant, wherein if a user'"'"'s bid for one of the items is a winning bid reserved points from the user'"'"'s second entry are redeemable for the item;

means for adding incentive points to a user'"'"'s first entry when the first user performs actions for which incentive points are awarded;

means for adding incentive points to a user'"'"'s second entry when the user submits a valid bid higher than any other bid submitted in an auction;

means for deleting incentive unreserving points from a user'"'"'s second entry when a valid bid is received from another user which is higher than the user'"'"'s valid bid; and

means for removing any unredeemed points from entries in the first database whose time has expired.

23. A system as in claim 22, wherein the first database maintains the entries of points in encrypted form.

24. A system as in claim 23, in which the actions for which incentive points are awarded include viewing advertisements on-line.

25. A point-based computerized auction system comprising:

a database with accounts, each account being associated with a user and having points, including credit points not owned by but made available to the user if qualified and any number of incentive points awarded to the user, wherein the credit points comprise attention points adapted for bids for an auction which are issued by a merchant for viewing an advertising of the merchant, the points being maintained in encrypted form, wherein for each group of one or more points there is an expiration date;

a communications port connected to one or more clients, wherein a client is associated with a user;

a processor; and

a memory embodying a computer program having program instructions for causing the processor to perform the steps of;

(a) taking as inputs reserve amounts and bids for an item to be auctioned by the merchant received from users through the communications port, each reserve amount representing a maximum number of points to be reserved for an auction from a respective users account, each bid submitted by a user for one or more items consisting of a number of points to be redeemed from the respective user'"'"'s account, (b) checking each reserve amount against the database to confirm that the user submitting the bid owns at least the number of points specified in the respective reserve amount, (c) for each reserve amount, subtracting that reserve amount from a respective user'"'"'s account, (d) checking each bid against the database to confirm that the bid is lower than the reserve amount associated with the bid, (e) storing information identifying the current high bid, (f) unreserving the reserve amount once a higher bid is received and validated, (g) at the end of the auction, awarding the item to the user with the highest bid at that instant, and (h) removing any unredeemed points whose time has expired.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the computer program includes further instructions for causing the processor to perform the further steps of:

(i) subtracting the number of points representing the winning bid from the reserve amount to generate an unreserved amount, and (j) adding the unreserved amount to the account of the user who submitted the winning bid.

27. A method performed by a computer system, comprising:

instantiating a database in a computer with a communication port for receiving bids from users, the database being instantiated for maintaining a plurality of accounts that hold points in encrypted form, wherein in each account for a user the points include incentive points if any are awarded to the user and credit points not owned by the user but made available to such user if qualified, wherein the credit points comprise attention points adapted for bids for an auction which are issued by a merchant for viewing an advertising of the merchant, and wherein for each group of one or more points there is an expiration time;

awarding a quantity of incentive points to a first user, including accessing the database for adding that quantity to a first one of the accounts associated with the first user;

awarding a quantity of incentive points to a second user, including accessing the database for adding that quantity to a second one of the accounts associated with the second user;

automatically removing incentive points from the first and second accounts if not redeemed by the expiration time;

initiating by the computer an on-line auction for an item to be auctioned by the merchant, including;

specifying a minimum number of points required for an opening bid;

receiving on-line a first bid from the first user;

comparing the first bid against the minimum number and rejecting the first bid if it is lower than the minimum number; and

comparing the first bid against the number of points in the first one of the accounts and rejecting the first bid if it is higher than the number of incentive points in that account.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the on-line auction further includes, if the first bid has not been rejected, storing an indication that the first bid is the current high bid and reserving a number of points for the first bid from the first one of the accounts.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the on-line auction further includes:

receiving a second bid from the second user;

comparing the second bid against the current high bid and rejecting the first bid if it is lower than the current high bid; and

comparing the second bid against the number of points in the second one of the accounts and rejecting the second bid if it is higher than the number of points in that account.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the on-line auction further includes, if the second bid has not been rejected, storing an indication that the second bid is the current high bid, reserving a number of points for the second bid from the second one of the accounts, and unreserving the number of points previously reserved from the first one of the accounts.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the on-line auction further includes:

after receipt of n additional bids, closing the auction; and

awarding the item to the user who submitted the highest valid bid by the close of the auction and redeeming from that user'"'"'s account the number of points reserved from the user'"'"'s account for that bid.

32. The method of claim 27, in which the awarding of incentive points is in response to viewing an on-line advertisement, signing up on-line for a service;

or providing identification information.