Auction with interest rate bidding

• US 7,783,555 B2
• Filed: 12/11/2003
• Issued: 08/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Watt, William R. II, Cornell, William J., Ackley, Matthew F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kramer; James A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Vezeris; James A
• Application Number:
  US10/733,700
• Publication Number:
  US 20050131809A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,448 Days
• Field of Search: 705/35
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• 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

A method, apparatus, and system are provided for declining auction with interest rate bidding. According to one embodiment, an interest rate may be set for a transacted financial instrument, and information regarding the financial instrument and an interest rate at which the financial instrument is offered are published via a computer network. Offers from respective bidders to transact the financial instrument may be received, via the computer network, being expressed as offered interest rates at which the bidders are willing to transact the financial instrument. On the termination of a bid receiving process, whether at least one of the offers satisfies transaction criteria, as defined by a seller of the financial instrument, may be determined. If it is determined that at least one of the offers satisfies the transaction criteria, then at least one of the offers may be identified as an accepted offer.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method to set an interest rate for a transacted financial instrument, the method including:

publishing, via a computer network, information regarding the financial instrument and an interest rate at which the financial instrument is offered, the information including a price of the financial instrument;

receiving, via the computer network, offers from respective bidders to transact the financial instrument, the offers being expressed as offered interest rates at which the bidders are willing to transact the financial instrument;

on the termination of a bid receiving process, determining, by using at least one processor, whether at least one of the offers satisfies transaction criteria, defined by a seller of the financial instrument, the bid receiving process being a declining auction and being characterized by reducing the published interest rate at which the financial instrument is offered for sale during the bid receiving process, the reducing of the published interest rate is performed automatically and responsive to a lack of bidding activity and

if it is determined that at least one of the offers satisfies the transaction criteria, identifying, by using the at least one processor, the at least one of the offers as an accepted offer.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the information concerning the financial instrument is published from a server computer to a client computer via the computer network.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further including receiving the information regarding the financial instrument from the seller.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the information regarding the financial instrument includes one or more of the following:

details about the financial instrument, maximum or minimum term of the financial instrument, and benefits of purchasing the financial instrument.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the offers are received from respective client computers operated by the respective bidders.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the reducing of the published interest rate is responsive to receipt of a lower interest rate that is lower than the published interest rate.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 6, wherein the published interest rate is reduced to be equal to the lower interest rate.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the financial instrument comprises at least one of the following:

an interest-paying (IP) financial instrument including one or more of the following;

a bond, a certificate of deposit, an interest-bearing checking account, a savings account, and a money market account; and

an interest-receiving (IR) financial instrument including one or more of the following;

a home mortgage loan, an automobile loan, a personal loan, a student loan, and a credit card.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the interest rate set by the seller for the transacted financial instrument comprises at least one of the following:

a maximum interest rate having a highest interest rate that the seller is willing to pay to a buyer for the IP financial instrument; and

a minimum interest rate having a lowest interest rate that the seller is willing to accept from the buyer for the IR financial instrument.

10. An apparatus, comprising:

a client computer to publish information regarding a financial instrument and an interest rate at which the financial instrument is offered, the information to include a price of the financial instrument, the client computer to publish the information at a request from a server computer via a computer network; and

the server computer, coupled with the client computer, to

receive offers from respective bidders to transact the financial instrument, the offers being expressed as offered interest rates at which the bidders are willing to transact the financial instrument, the server computer to receive the offers from respective client computers operated by the bidders,

on the termination of a bid receiving process, determine whether at least one of the offers satisfies transaction criteria, defined by a seller of the financial instrument, the bid receiving process is a declining auction being characterized by reducing the published interest rate at which the financial instrument is offered for sale during the bid receiving process, the reducing of the published interest rate is performed automatically by the server computer responsive to a lack of bidding activity, and

if it is determined that at least one of the offers satisfies the transaction criteria, identifying the at least one of the offers as an accepted offer.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the server computer is further to receive the information regarding the financial instrument from the seller.

12. A system, comprising:

a first storage medium;

a first computer, coupled with the first storage medium, to publish information regarding a financial instrument and an interest rate at which the financial instrument is offered, the information to include a price of the financial instrument, the first computer to publish the information at a request from a second computer via a computer network; and

the second computer, coupled with the first computer and a second storage medium, to

receive offers from respective bidders to transact the financial instrument, the offers being expressed as offered interest rates at which the bidders are willing to transact the financial instrument, the second computer to receive the offers from respective computers operated by the bidders,

on the termination of a bid receiving process, determine whether at least one of the offers satisfies transaction criteria, defined by a seller of the financial instrument, the bid receiving process is a declining auction being characterized by the second computer to reduce the published interest rate at which the financial instrument is offered for sale during the bid receiving process, the reducing of the published interest rate is performed automatically by the second computer responsive to a lack of bidding activity, and

if it is determined that at least one of the offers satisfies the transaction criteria, identifying the at least one of the offers as an accepted offer.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the first computer includes a client computer, and the second computer includes a server computer in a client-server architecture.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the first computer includes a server computer, and the second computer includes another server computer in a peer-peer architecture.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the respective computers operated by the bidders include one or more client computers.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the computer network includes a single network or a plurality of networks including at least one of the following:

a wide area

network, a local area network, an intranet, and the Internet.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the first computer and the second computer each comprises one or more processors including at least one of the following:

one or

more microprocessors, one or more microcontrollers, one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), one or more central processing units (CPU), and one or more programmable logic devices (PLD).

18. A machine-readable medium having stored thereon data representing sets of instructions which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:

publish, via a computer network, information regarding the financial instrument and an interest rate at which the financial instrument is offered, the information to include a price of the financial instrument;

receive, via the computer network, offers from respective bidders to transact the financial instrument, the offers being expressed as offered interest rates at which the bidders are willing to transact the financial instrument;

on the termination of a bid receiving process, determine whether at least one of the offers satisfies transaction criteria, defined by a seller of the financial instrument, the bid receiving process is a declining auction characterized by reducing the published interest rate at which the financial instrument is offered for sale during the bid receiving process, the reducing of the published interest rate is performed automatically and responsive to a lack of bidding activity; and

if it is determined that at least one of the offers satisfies the transaction criteria, identify the at least one of the offers as an accepted offer.

19. The machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the information concerning the financial instrument is published from a server computer to a client computer via the computer network.

20. The machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the sets of instructions which, when executed by the machine, further cause the machine to receive the information regarding the financial instrument from the seller.

21. The machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the information regarding the financial instrument includes one or more of the following:

details about the financial instrument, maximum or minimum term of the financial instrument, and benefits of purchasing the financial instrument.

22. The machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the offers are received from respective client computers operated by the respective bidders.

23. The machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the reducing of the published interest rate is responsive to receipt of a lower interest rate that is lower than the published interest rate.

24. The machine-readable medium of claim 23, wherein the published interest rate is reduced to be equal to the lower interest rate.

25. The machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the financial instrument comprises at least one of the following:

an interest-paying (IP) financial instrument including one or more of the following;

a bond, a certificate of deposit, an interest-bearing checking account, a savings account, and a money market account; and

an interest-receiving (IR) financial instrument including one or more of the following;

a home mortgage loan, an automobile loan, a personal loan, a student loan, and a credit card.

26. The machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the interest rate set by the seller for the transacted financial instrument comprises at least one of the following:

a maximum interest rate having a highest interest rate that the seller is willing to pay to a buyer for the IP financial instrument; and

a minimum interest rate having a lowest interest rate that the seller is willing to accept from the buyer for the IR financial instrument.