Method, system and computer program product for facilitating an auction behavior and automatic bidding in an auction

• US 7,899,737 B2
• Filed: 06/13/2006
• Issued: 03/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Inventor Holdings LLC (Walker Innovation Inc. (f/k/a Patent Properties, Inc.))
• Original Assignee: Walker Digital LLC (Walker Innovation Inc. (f/k/a Patent Properties, Inc.))
• Inventors: Walker, Jay S., Tedesco, Daniel E., Van Luchene, Kathleen, Jorasch, James A., Ware, Adam
• Primary Examiner(s): Colbert, Ella
• Application Number:
  US11/423,821
• Publication Number:
  US 20060218076A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,722 Days
• Field of Search: 705/37, 705/1, 705/1.1, 705/26, 705/27
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

One or more proxy bidders is associated with a rule which determines a time to place a bid. The proxy bidder places a bid at the determined time, instead of immediately after the bidder'"'"'s prior bid is exceeded. Such rules may be selected for all proxy bidders to encourage a desired auction behavior. By controlling the placement of bids based on rules associated with the desired auction behavior, bids may be placed in a manner that seems natural and competitive to bidders in the auction when, in fact, they are placed in accordance with the selected rules. The desired auction behavior may be selected statically for an auction or dynamically during the auction. Historical auction data maybe analyzed to characterize the behavior of an auction, such as the average period of time between bids and the average increment between bids. Rules may be generated to correspond to a behavior so as to provide the same average time and increment between bids.

Claims

1. A method for selecting an auction behavior for an auction, comprising:

determining, by an auction server, information about a current auction;

determining, by the auction server, information about a plurality of prior auctions, wherein each of the plurality of prior auctions has an associated auction behavior;

identifying, by the auction server, at least one of the plurality of prior auctions as similar to the current auction by comparing the information about the plurality of prior auctions to the information about the current auction;

selecting, based on a determination of a beneficial outcome, at least one of the plurality of prior auctions that has been identified; and

utilizing, by the auction server, the auction behavior associated with the selected at least one of the plurality of prior auctions for the current auction.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying at least one of the plurality of prior auctions similar to the current auction comprises:

comparing a metric of the current auction to a metric of each of the plurality of prior auctions.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the beneficial outcome of the selected at least one of the plurality of prior auctions has a best outcome among the plurality of prior auctions identified as similar to the current auction.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein a best outcome is at least one of a highest price and a fastest sale.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

evaluating actual auction behavior according to bids received in the current auction.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein evaluating the actual auction behavior comprises:

characterizing the actual auction behavior according to bids received in the current auction; and

comparing the selected auction behavior to the actual auction behavior.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising determining whether to implement a new rule if the actual auction behavior is substantially different from the selected auction behavior.

8. The method of claim 1, in which identifying at least one of the plurality of prior auctions as similar to the current auction comprises:

obtaining a measure of similarity between each of the plurality of prior auctions and the current auction; and

identifying at least one of the plurality of prior auctions as similar to the current auction based on how close the measure of similarity is to a predetermined threshold value.

9. A system for selecting an auction behavior for an auction, comprising:

means for determining information about a current auction;

means for determining information about a plurality of prior auctions, wherein each of the plurality of prior auctions has an associated auction behavior;

means for identifying at least one of the plurality of prior auctions as similar to the current auction by comparing the information about the plurality of prior auctions to the information about the current auction;

means for selecting, based on a determination of a beneficial outcome, at least one of the plurality of prior auctions that has been identified; and

means for utilizing the auction behavior associated with the selected at least one of the plurality of prior auctions for the current auction.

10. A computer program product comprising:

computer program instructions stored on a computer readable medium, wherein the computer program instructions, when executed by a computer, direct the computer to perform a method for selecting an auction behavior for an auction, the method comprising;

determining information about a current auction;

determining information about a plurality of prior auctions, wherein each of the plurality of prior auctions has an associated auction behavior;

identifying at least one of the plurality of prior auctions as similar to the current auction by comparing the information about the plurality of prior auctions to the information about the current auction;

selecting, based on a determination of a beneficial outcome, at least one of the plurality of prior auctions that has been identified; and

utilizing the auction behavior associated with the selected at least one of the plurality of prior auctions for the current auction.

11. A computer system for selecting an auction behavior for an auction, comprising:

a processor; and

a computer readable memory in communication with the processor, wherein the computer readable memory stores computer program instructions, which when executed by a computer, direct the processor to perform a method for selecting an auction behavior for an auction, the method comprising;

determining information about a current auction;

determining information about a plurality of prior auctions, wherein each of the plurality of prior auctions has an associated auction behavior;

identifying at least one of the plurality of prior auctions as similar to the current auction by comparing the information about the plurality of prior auctions to the information about the current auction;

selecting, based on a determination of a beneficial outcome, at least one of the plurality of prior auctions that has been identified; and

utilizing the auction behavior associated with the selected at least one of the plurality of prior auctions for the current auction.