Computer-implement method and system for conducting auctions on the internet
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method for conducting auctions on the Internet, the method comprising:
- receiving over a communication network, by a communication handler program executing on a networked market maker computer, information from a remote computer of a first entity corresponding to an item for auction, the information received via the communication network from the remote computer of the first entity including (i) a designation of an item category, selected from a list of item categories presented at the remote computer of the first entity, under which the item for auction is to be listed, and (ii) input relating to scheduling an auction for the item;
processing, by a mapping module at the networked market maker computer, at least a portion of the received information from a database format into a world wide web presentation format, the presentation format including an indication of the selected designation of the category of the item for auction;
based at least in part on the selected category designation and the auction scheduling information previously received from the remote computer of the first entity, automatically initiating an instance of an ascending-bid auction process to conduct an ascending-bid auction for the item over the Internet from the networked market maker computer;
wherein the automatically initiated auction process conducts the auction to completion by performing operations including;
presenting a depiction of the item in the presentation format to a plurality of potential buyers;
receiving at the networked market maker computer one or more bids on the auctioned item from one or more bidders; and
terminating the auction after a predetermined time.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for a system for facilitating electronic commerce transactions with a first data storage location for holding information about an item for auction from a first participant in a data packet network, a verification process that verifies the user identification of the first participant in said data packet network, the verification process confirming a user identification before allowing the participant in said data packet network access to place information about an item for auction in the system, a display process for displaying information of the item for auction to a plurality of data packet network users, the display process displaying an advertisement with the item for auction to the plurality of data packet users, an auction process for receiving bids on the item for auction from at least one of said plurality of data packet network users, the auction process also verifying a user identification from said at least one of a plurality of data packet network users before allowing receipt of the bid and a notification process for notifying the plurality of data packet network participants that said bid was accepted by said system.
338 Citations
157 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method for conducting auctions on the Internet, the method comprising:
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receiving over a communication network, by a communication handler program executing on a networked market maker computer, information from a remote computer of a first entity corresponding to an item for auction, the information received via the communication network from the remote computer of the first entity including (i) a designation of an item category, selected from a list of item categories presented at the remote computer of the first entity, under which the item for auction is to be listed, and (ii) input relating to scheduling an auction for the item; processing, by a mapping module at the networked market maker computer, at least a portion of the received information from a database format into a world wide web presentation format, the presentation format including an indication of the selected designation of the category of the item for auction; based at least in part on the selected category designation and the auction scheduling information previously received from the remote computer of the first entity, automatically initiating an instance of an ascending-bid auction process to conduct an ascending-bid auction for the item over the Internet from the networked market maker computer; wherein the automatically initiated auction process conducts the auction to completion by performing operations including; presenting a depiction of the item in the presentation format to a plurality of potential buyers; receiving at the networked market maker computer one or more bids on the auctioned item from one or more bidders; and terminating the auction after a predetermined time. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A computer-implemented method of conducting auctions on the Internet at a networked market maker computer that coordinates via the Internet with a post request module executing at a remote computer operated by a remote entity, the method comprising:
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maintaining at a remote computer operated by a remote entity information about an item category structure corresponding to a database structure maintained at a networked market maker computer for storage in a data repository associated with the remote computer operated by the remote entity that is subsequently accessible by a post request module executing on the remote computer operated by the remote entity while the post request module is not in network communication with the networked market maker computer; receiving over a communication network, by the networked market maker computer an asynchronously created data record from the post request module executing on the remote computer operated by the remote entity, the asynchronously created data record providing an item category selection from the data repository containing information about the category structure of the networked market maker computer, the data record further containing input relating to scheduling an auction for an item, a descriptive name of an item and a brief description of the item from the remote computer operated by the remote entity, the data record being capable of storage at the data repository associated with the remote computer operated by the remote entity for subsequent scheduled or manual transmission to the networked market maker computer over the Internet; identifying an item to be auctioned; processing, by a mapping module, at least a portion of the received data record from a database format to a world wide web presentation format corresponding to the item to be auctioned, the presentation format including an indication of the item category selection; based at least in part on the received item category selection and the data record, automatically initiating an instance of an ascending-bid auction process at the networked market maker computer to conduct an ascending-bid auction for the item over the Internet, the auction process automatically conducting an auction for the item to completion by; presenting the presentation format to a plurality of Internet participants; receiving one or more bids for the item from one or more Internet bidder participants; and terminating the auction upon occurrence of a predetermined condition. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A computer-implemented system for conducting auctions on the Internet, the system comprising:
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information processing means for mapping at least a portion of information corresponding to an item for auction received from a remote computer of a first entity over a communication network from a database format into a world wide web presentation format, the received information including a designation of an item category, selected from a list of item categories presented at the remote computer of the first entity, under which the item for auction is to be listed, and input relating to scheduling an auction for the item; an auction item presentation means for presenting items for auction in the presentation format to bidding participants connected via the Internet, the auction item presentation means presenting items for auction in the presentation format arranged into item categories, each item for auction being associated with a selected item category designation; an auction process means for executing an ascending-bid auction process at a networked market maker computer to automatically conduct an ascending-bid auction for an item based at least in part on the selected designation of the category of the item for auction and the scheduling information received from the remote computer of the first entity over the communication network prior to initiation of the auction; an auction bid recipient means for receiving, during the auction process, at least one bid on an item being presented by the auction item presentation means; and payment recipient means for receiving payment information from a bidding participant, the payment information corresponding to the item for which the bid was received. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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42. A computer-implemented auction system for enabling participation in an online auction conducted over a packet-switched network, the system comprising:
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auction item information receiving means for receiving information for creating a data record for each of one or more items available for auction, the received information including information corresponding to one or more items available for auction, specified auction scheduling information for each item available for auction, and a specified designation of an item category with which each item available for auction is associated; means for placing, in each of the one or more data records, a respective unique identifier to uniquely identify a respective data record for an item available for auction; auction process means for executing an ascending-bid auction process to automatically conduct an ascending-bid auction for one or more of the one or more items available for auction each based at least in part on the specified designation of an item category for the item available for auction and the specified auction scheduling information for the item available for auction received prior to initiation of an auction for the item available for auction; auction bid input means for inputting a bid for at least one of the items during an ascending-bid auction for the at least one of the items and for inputting payment information associated with the bid; and bid processing means for processing payment information of a winning bidder via the packet-switched network and of an account maintained by the computer-implemented auction system. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
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50. A computer-implemented system for auctioning a uniquely identified item over a packet-switched network, the system comprising:
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a database of data records, each data record relating to an item for auction and comprising a unique identifier to uniquely identify a respective data record for the item for auction and an item category under which the item is to be offered for auction, each data record including information specified by and received from a remote computer of a first entity, the specified information including an item category designation and auction scheduling information; a networked market maker computer accessible by a plurality of participants via the packet-switched network, that based at least in part on the specified category designation and the auction scheduling information received prior to initiation of an auctions automatically maps, by a mapping module, information in a database format to a page of information in a world wide web presentation format for presentation corresponding to an item that is available for auction during a specified time, the page of information including an indication of the item category designation; wherein the system is configured with computer-executable instructions stored in computer-readable memory that execute an ascending-bid auction process corresponding to the item based at least in part on the scheduling information received from the remote computer of the user, receive bids from one or more of the participants at the networked market maker computer and terminate the auction when one or more predetermined criteria are satisfied; and wherein the system is configured to transmit to a selected auction participant information about where the selected auction participant should submit payment information for the auctioned item. - View Dependent Claims (51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62)
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63. A computer-implemented auction participation system, in communication with an auction processor that process bids for items being auctioned, for enabling participation in an online auction over a packet-switched network, the auction participation system comprising:
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an auction data recipient means that receives from a first entity via a server at the auction processor data containing information about at least one item being auctioned, the received data including auction scheduling information for each item and a designation of an item category with which each of the at least one item being auctioned is associated, the designation of an item category being specified by a the first entity, storing means for storing at least a portion of the received data for each item as a respective data record in a database format; mapping means for mapping at least as portion of the data stored in the respective data record for each item from the database format into a world wide web presentation format; an auction process stored in computer-readable memory for conducting an Internet-based ascending-bid auction of an item based at least in part on the specified designation of an item category and the auction scheduling information received from the first entity prior to inception of the auction; presentation means for presenting the ascending-bid auction to a plurality of participants in the world wide web presentation format; bid input means for enabling a bid from a participant to be submitted to the auction processor via the packet-switched network; bid award receiving means for receiving an indication that the bid from the participant was accepted; and payment information input means for enabling the participant to input payment information in response to receiving an indication that the bid from the participant was accepted. - View Dependent Claims (64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71)
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72. A computer-implemented system for facilitating commerce at an Internet-based auction, the system comprising:
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a networked market maker computer for receiving over a communication network from one or more remote computers operated by users information regarding an item to be electronically presented for an auction, the received information including auction scheduling information and a user-specified designation of a category, selected from a list of categories presented at a remote computer of a user, under which the item is to be auctioned; an auction processor including a mapping module at the networked market maker computer for processing information received by the networked market maker computer from a database format to a world wide web presentation format and presenting the processed information in the presentation format to be transmitted to auction participants over a packet-switched network, the format including an indication of the user-specified designation of a category of the item to be auctioned, the auction processor configured for execution of computer-executable instructions stored in computer-readable memory that execute an autonomous ascending-bid auction process for executing an ascending-bid auction for the item based at least in part on the user-specified designation of a category and the auction scheduling information regarding an item received from the remote computer of the user prior to execution of the auction; and bid receiving means for receiving bids for the item presented to auction participants. - View Dependent Claims (73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81)
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82. A computer-implemented method of facilitating Internet auctions, the method comprising:
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receiving, from at least one of a plurality of remote computers over a communication network at a computer system programmed to receive information over the communication network, information provided from a first entity and corresponding to an item to be posted for auction including (i) information about the item to be posted for auction, and (ii) information relating to scheduling an auction for the item, the information corresponding to the item to be posted for auction including a specified selection of a predetermined category, the predetermined category selected from a predetermined list of categories maintained by the computer system and presented at least one of the plurality of remote computers; based on at least a portion of the information corresponding to the item to be posted for auction received from at least one of the plurality of remote computers, generating a unique data record identifier corresponding to a respective data record for the item to be posted for auction by a program executing on the computer system; placing, in the respective data record for the item to be posted for auction, the unique data record identifier; notifying at least one of the plurality of remote computers of the unique data record identifier generated in response to receiving information corresponding to the item to be posted for auction; based at least in part on the specified category selection and the information relating to scheduling an auction received prior to initiation of the auction, autonomously initiating an instance of an ascending-bid auction process to conduct an ascending-bid auction for the item at the computer system by executing an auction process program, the autonomous auction process program indicating the selected category and identifying the item to be auctioned; presenting the ascending-bid auction to a plurality of auction participants via the communication network in response to a request to display information about the item to be auctioned, the request to display the information about the item to be auctioned being processed by a computer program executing on the computer system; and receiving at the computer system at least one bid on the item being auctioned, the computer system automatically checking for bids and updating a display of the information about the item in response to receipt of the at least one bid. - View Dependent Claims (83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124)
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125. A computer-implemented method of facilitating online electronic auctions, the method comprising:
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receiving, at a networked computer programmed to receive information over a communication network, information for each of a plurality of items to be posted for auction provided from at least one of a plurality of first entities, the information for each of the plurality of items to be posted for auction corresponding to a respective item to be auctioned and including (i) information identifying the respective item to be auctioned and designating an item category selected from a list of item categories presented at the networked computer, and (ii) information relating to scheduling an auction for the respective item; storing at least a portion of the received information in a database of information relating to items to be auctioned; mapping, by a mapping module, at least a portion of the received information stored in the database from a database format into a world wide web presentation format that includes the information identifying the respective item to be auctioned and the selected item category; displaying the presentation format to a plurality of potential buyers; based at least in part on the selected item category and the information relating to scheduling an auction for the respective item received prior to initiation of an auction, autonomously initiating an instance of an ascending-bid auction process to conduct an ascending-bid online auction for the respective item by executing an auction process program, the auction process including presenting the ascending-bid auction to the plurality of potential buyers and receiving bids on the respective item from one or more of the plurality of potential buyers; and terminating the online auction of the respective item based on a predetermined condition. - View Dependent Claims (126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144)
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145. A computer-implemented method of facilitating online electronic auctions, the method comprising:
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receiving, at a first computer via the Internet, information provided from at least one of a plurality of remote computers, the at least one remote computer providing information corresponding to an item to be posted for auction including (i) information describing the item to be auctioned, (ii) information for the designation of an item category and an item subcategory selected from an electronically displayed list of item categories and subcategories, and (iii) information relating to scheduling an auction for the item; storing at least a portion of the received information in a database of information relating to items to be auctioned; displaying the list of item categories and subcategories via the Internet to a plurality of potential buyers, each potential buyer being able to browse the item categories and subcategories selectively to navigate to or search for a desired item offered for auction; and for each item to be auctioned computer programming executing from computer-readable memory to;
(i) map the information stored in the database relating to the item from a database format into a world wide web presentation format that includes the information describing the item to be auctioned and the selected item category (ii) display the presentation format to a plurality of potential buyers;
(iii) based at least in part on the information for the designation of an item category and an item subcategory and the information relating to scheduling an auction for the item received prior to initiation of an auction, conduct an autonomous ascending-bid online auction for the item including presenting the ascending-bid auction to the plurality of potential buyers and receiving bids on the item from one or more of the plurality of potential buyers; and
(iv) terminate the online auction of the item based on a predetermined condition. - View Dependent Claims (146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152)
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153. A computer-based auction apparatus for facilitating Internet-based auctions where the computer based auction apparatus is under a central franchising authority'"'"'s control, the auction apparatus comprising:
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(a) a first computer system in communication with the Internet and configured to execute a plurality of substantially simultaneous processes; (b) one or more processes stored in computer-readable memory and executing on the first computer system to perform the following; (i) receive, over a communication network, from a remote program executing on a remote, independently operated computer system, auction item information including;
information describing an item to be offered for auction containing a designation of an item category, selected from a list of item categories, a short title for the item, a textual description of the item, and a digital image of the item, information containing an identification of the entity that is posting the item for auction, and information for scheduling an auction for the item;(ii) initiate an autonomous ascending-bid auction instance for the item based at least on the information for scheduling an auction for the item received from the remote, independently operated computer system; (iii) map at least a portion of the received information from a database format into a world wide web presentation format; (iv) maintain a data structure of participant session identifications for auction participants remotely connected to the auction apparatus via the Internet to correctly identify participants at a particular auction instance; (v) execute a subroutine to check participant sessions for bids from the auction participants; and (vi) terminate the autonomous ascending-bid auction instance for the item based on predetermined auction termination criteria. - View Dependent Claims (154, 155, 156, 157)
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Specification