Hybrid online auction

• US 8,204,818 B1
• Filed: 03/03/2008
• Issued: 06/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Aggarwal, Gagan
• Primary Examiner(s): Havan, Thu-Thao
• Assistant Examiner(s): Liu, Jennifer
• Application Number:
  US12/041,524
• Time in Patent Office: 1,569 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products. First auction bids of a first type and second auction bids of a second type for placement of content items are received. Each of the first and second auction bids received including a corresponding bid price. The first auction bids are assigned to bid positions according to the corresponding bid prices. The second auction bids are assigned to bid positions according to a profit measure associated with each of the second bids and the bid positions. The assigned positions of the first and second bids define results of an auction for the placement of the content items.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, by at least one computer, first auction bids of a first auction type for first content items and second auction bids of a second auction type for second content items, each of the first and second auction bids including a corresponding bid price, the first auction type being a different auction type than the second auction type;

ranking, by at least one computer, the first auction bids and the second auction bids, the ranking of each first auction bid and the ranking of each second auction bid being based on the corresponding bid price;

conducting, by at least one computer, a hybrid auction using a set of highest ranked auction bids that includes a number of the ranked auction bids that corresponds to a number of available bid positions, wherein conducting the hybrid auction comprises;

assigning, by at least one computer, the first auction bids in the set of highest ranked auction bids to the available bid positions according to the ranking of the first auction bids, wherein the first auction bids having higher rankings are assigned to higher available bid positions than the first auction bids having lower rankings; and

assigning, by at least one computer, the second auction bids in the set of highest ranked auction bids to the available bid positions according to an advertiser profit measure for each of the second auction bids in the set of highest ranked auction bids; and

providing content items for which the assigned auction bids were received for presentation according to an outcome of the hybrid auction.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the auction bids of the first type are non-truthful auction bids and the auction bids of the second type are truthful auction bids, a non-truthful auction bid being a bid having a value that is lower than a value realized from assignment of a bid position, a truthful auction bid being a bid having a value that is indicative of the value realized from assignment of the bid position.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining an actual cost per click for each of the available bid positions, the actual cost per click for each available position being an amount that an advertiser will pay for the available bid position based on the outcome of the hybrid auction.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining the actual cost per click for each of the available bid positions comprises:

receiving a position normalizer for each of the available bid positions, each position normalizer being a value that characterizes performance differences between different bid positions; and

setting the actual cost per click of each available bid position to a maximum of;

a bid price of a first auction bid that is assigned to an available bid position that has a next lowest position normalizer relative to the position normalizer for the available bid position for which the actual cost per click is being set; and

a virtual bid for a second auction bid that is assigned to an available bid position that has a position normalizer that is lower than the position normalizer for the available bid position for which the actual cost per click is being set.

5. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, by at least one computer, non-truthful auction bids for a first auction and truthful auction bids for a second auction, each of the non-truthful bids and each of the truthful bids having a corresponding bid price, the first auction being a different type of auction than the second auction, a truthful auction bid being a bid having a value that is indicative of a value of a bid position, and a non-truthful auction bid being a bid having a value that is lower than the value of a bid position;

identifying, by at least one computer, a set of highest bids from the non-truthful auction bids and the truthful auction bids;

conducting, by at least one computer, a hybrid auction using the set of highest bids, wherein conducting the hybrid auction comprises;

assigning, by at least one computer, each of the non-truthful auction bids that are included in the set of highest bids to available bid positions according to a bid value for the non-truthful auction bid, wherein the non-truthful auction bids having higher bid values are assigned to higher available bid positions than the non-truthful auction bids having lower bid values; and

assigning, by at least one computer, the truthful auction bids to bid positions based on a profit measure for each truthful auction bid in the set of highest bids.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising determining an actual cost per click for each of the available bid positions, the actual cost per click for each available bid position being an amount that an advertiser will pay for the available bid position based on an outcome of the hybrid auction.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein determining the actual cost per click for each of the available bid positions comprises:

receiving a position normalizer for each of the available bid positions, each position normalizer being a value that characterizes performance differences between different bid positions; and

for each assigned bid position, setting the actual cost per click associated with an assigned position to a maximum of;

a bid price of a non-truthful auction bid that is assigned to an available bid position that has a next lowest position normalizer relative to the position normalizer for the available bid position for which the actual cost per click is being set; and

a virtual bid for a truthful auction bid that is assigned to an available bid position that has a position normalizer that is lower than the position normalizer for the available bid position for which the actual cost per click is being set.

8. A system, comprising:

one or more computers that include an ordering module and a pricing module, wherein;

the ordering module comprises instructions executable by a the one or more computers and upon such execution cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising;

receiving, by at least one computer, first auction bids of a first auction type for first content items and second auction bids of a second auction type for second content items, each of the first and second auction bids including a corresponding bid price, the first auction type being a different auction type than the second auction type;

ranking, by at least one computer, the first auction bids and the second auction bids, the ranking of each first auction bid and the ranking of each second auction bid being based on the corresponding bid price;

conducting, by at least one computer, a hybrid auction using a set of highest ranked auction bids that includes a number of the ranked auction bids that corresponds to a number of available bid positions, wherein conducting the hybrid auction comprises;

assigning, by at least one computer, the first auction bids in the set of highest ranked auction bids to the available bid positions according to the ranking, wherein the first auction bids having higher rankings are assigned to higher available bid positions than the first auction bids having lower rankings; and

assigning, by at least one computer, the second auction bids in the set of highest ranked auction bids to the available bid positions according to an advertiser profit measure for each of the second auction bids in the set of highest ranked auction bids; and

the pricing module comprises instructions executable by the one or more computers and upon such execution cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprisingdetermining an actual cost per click for each of the assigned bid positions, the actual cost per click for each assigned position being an amount that an advertiser will pay for the assigned bid position based on an outcome of the hybrid auction.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the pricing module comprises instructions executable by the one or more computers and upon such execution cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

receiving a position normalizer for each of the available bid positions, each position normalizer being a value that characterizes performance differences between different bid positions; and

setting the actual cost per click of each assigned position to a maximum of;

a bid price of a first auction bid that is assigned to an available bid position that has a next lowest position normalizer relative to the position normalizer for the available bid position for which the actual cost per click is being set; and

a virtual bid for a second auction bid that is assigned to an available bid position that has a position normalizer that is lower than the position normalizer for the available bid position for which the actual cost per click is being set.