Auction methods, auction systems and servers

• US 7,478,055 B2
• Filed: 05/23/2001
• Issued: 01/13/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Tadashi Goino
• Original Assignee: Tadashi Goino
• Inventors: Goino, Tadashi
• Primary Examiner(s): ZURITA, JAMES H
• Application Number:
  US09/864,525
• Publication Number:
  US 20010056396A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,792 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/37
• US Class Current: 705/26.3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

Auction methods, auction systems and servers which can satisfy requirements other than the price for a client are provided. An auction client selects a desired one from time slide schemes from a terminal, and enters a due date in an associated entry field. For example, a due date advance scheme is a scheme in which a person who offers the soonest possible trading date from a due date is determined as a successful bidder. Also, specific details (paying-in, delivery and so on) on the trading date for a payment or delivery of an article, requested to a partner, are specified. These bid condition data are transmitted to the server through a network, and the server collects participants in a bid on a home page. The server receives trading dates offered from terminals of participants, and determines a participant who offers the trading date that most satisfies the trade due date condition offered by the client as a successful bidder.

Claims

1. A method of automatically conducting an auction for bidding on a location-specific service through at least one communication network, said method comprising:

receiving, by an auction management system over a communication network, a bid request for bids on providing a service, the bid request being transmitted via a global positioning system (GPS)-enabled terminal and including at least positional information related to a geographic location for rendering of the service;

executing, by the auction management system, an auction program that automatically solicits bids responsive to the bid request over a communication network;

receiving, by the auction management system over a communication network, bids in response to the auction program, each bid including;

positional information representing a current geographic location of a prospective service provider associated with that bid, the current geographic location being automatically determined via a GPS-enabled terminal; and

current situational information specific to the prospective service provider, the current situational information including automatically-gathered information, other than the positional information, relevant for determining any potential delay associated with rendering of the service by the prospective service provider; and

analyzing tbe bids, by the auction management system, to identify at least one favorable bid based on the positional information and on the current situational information of each bid, and identifying a group of at least one successful bidder associated with at least one of the at least one favorable bid.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the bids by the auction program comprises receiving bids corresponding to a plurality of prospective service providers that are employed by different paid transportation services companies.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the current situational information includes receiving at least one information item selected from the group consisting of:

whether the transportation automobile is on a mission) whether the transportation automobile is on the move to a customer, whether the transportation automobile is in the process being washed, whether the transportation automobile is lacking fuel, whether the transportation automobile is in the process of being fueled, whether the transportation automobile operator is on a break, or any combination thereof.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the bids further comprises:

identifying at least one successful bid from among the bids, including comparing attributes of the service providers to at least one narrow-down condition.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein comparing the attributes of the service providers includes comparing the attributes to at least one narrow-down condition selected from the group consisting of:

services offered by the service provider, a quality of services offered by the service provider, a rating of the service provider, a price offered by the service provider, or any combination thereof.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the bids further comprises:

identifying the at least one favorable bid based on information acquired from at least one source other than the bid in addition to the positional information and the current situational information acquired from the bid.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein identifying the at least one favorable bid based on information acquired from sources other than the bid includes analyzing at least one information item selected from the group consisting of:

traffic information, construction information, weather information, or any combination thereof.

8. The method of claim 1, farther comprising:

presenting the group of at least one favorable bidder associated with the at least one of the at least one favorable bid to a customer for selection by the customer.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the bid further comprises:

automatically selecting, from the group of at least successful bidder associated with at least one of the at least one favorable bid, a single successful bidder.

10. An auction management system for automatically conducting an auction for bidding on a service through at least one communication network, said system comprising:

an auction server communicatively coupled to at least one communication network, the auction server programmed to;

receive a bid request for bids on providing a service, the bid request being trainsmitted via a global positioning system (GPS)-enabled terminal over the at least one communication network and including at least positional information related to a geographic location for rendering of the service;

execute an auction program that automatically solicits bids responsive to the bid request over the at least one communication network;

receive, over the at least one communication network, bids in response to the auction program, each bid including;

positional information representing a current geographic location of a prospective service provider associated with that bid, the current geographic location being automatically determined via a GPS-enabled terminal; and

current situational information specific to the prospective service provider, the current situational information including automatically-gathered information, other than the positional infonnation1 relevant for determining any potential delay associated with rendering of the service by the prospective service provider; and

analyze the bids to identify at least one favorable bid based on the positional information and on the current situational information of each bid, and identify a group of at least one successful bidder associated with at least one of the at least one favorable bid.

11. The auction management system of claim 10, wherein the prospective service provider provides paid transportation services.

12. The auction management system of claim 10, wherein the current situational information includes at least one information item selected from the group consisting of:

whether a transportation automobile is on a mission, whether the transportation automobile is on the move to a customer, whether the transportation automobile is being washed, a fuel situation of the transportation automobile, whether the transportation automobile is being fueled, whether an operator of the transportation automobile is on a break, or any combination thereof.

13. The auction management system of claim 10, wherein each bid further includes at least one road situation information item selected from the group consisting of:

whether one or more roads are affected by constriction. whether one or more roads are affected by traffic congestion. or any combination thereof.

14. The auction management system of claim 10, wherein the prospective service provider operates local sensors adapted to automatically gather current situational information.

15. The auction management system of claim 14 wherein the sensors are adapted to sense at least one condition selected from the group consisting of:

an amount of fuel in a transportation automobile, an indication based on operation of a fare meter associated with the transportation automobile, a presence of passengers in the transportation automobile, whether a transportation automobile operator is on a break, a duration of a transportation automobile operator break, or any combination thereof.

16. The auction management system of claim 10, wherein the auction program is further adapted to:

identify at least one successful bid resulting from a comparison of at least one service provider attribute to at least one narrow-down condition.

17. The auction management system of claim 16, wherein the at least one narrow-down condition includes at least one condition selected from the group consisting of:

services offered by the service provider, a quality of services offered by the service provider, a rating of the service provider, a price offered by the service provider, or any combination thereof.

18. The auction management system of claim 10, wherein the auction program is further adapted to:

identify the at least one favorable bid based on information acquired from sources other than the bid in addition to the positional information and the current situational information of each bid.

19. The auction management system of claim 18, wherein the information acquired from sources other than the bid includes at least one information item selected from the group consisting of:

traffic information, construction information, weather information, or any combination thereof.

20. The auction management system of claim 10, wherein the auction program is further adapted to provide a presentation of the at least one favorable bid to an originator of the bid request, wherein the presentation includes an information set selected from the group consisting of:

at least a subset of the at least one favorable bid, and an identification of a single successful bidder from among the at least one favorable bid.