Systems and methods for improving the liquidity and distribution network for luxury and other illiquid items

• US 8,527,363 B2
• Filed: 05/26/2010
• Issued: 09/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: BGC Partners Incorporated (BGC Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: BGC Partners Incorporated (BGC Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Heaton, Timothy H., Lutnick, Howard W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Jagdish
• Application Number:
  US12/787,845
• Publication Number:
  US 20100235227A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,196 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26.1, 705/26.3, 705/26.63
• US Class Current: 705/26.3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0611 Request for offers or quotes
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/16 Real estate

Abstract

Some embodiments may relate to determining information about a subset of auctions that have one or more chosen characteristics. Some embodiments include capturing data from a plurality of completed auctions; storing the data from the plurality of completed auctions; transmitting information about the data for presentation through an interface of a remote device; receiving, a request to compute statistical data about at least a portion of the plurality of completed auctions; determining the statistical data about the at least the portion of the plurality of completed auctions from at least a portion of the data; and transmitting the statistical data to the remote device of the user through the communication link. Various methods and apparatus are described.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

capturing, by a computer system, data from a plurality of completed auctions, in which each auction is for a respective item, in which the respective data comprises information about the respective item and the respective auction;

storing the data from the plurality of completed auctions;

transmitting, by the computer system, information about the data for presentation through an interface of a remote device, in which the interface allows a user to select one or more characteristics of one or more of the plurality of completed auctions and one or more of the respective items, in which transmitting the information includes transmitting a listing comprising at least one of the completed auctions to the remote device;

receiving, by the computer system, a request to compute statistical data about at least a portion of the plurality of completed auctions from the remote device of the user through a communication link, in which the request identifies the one or more auction characteristics selected by the user through the interface and the one or more respective items;

determining, by a processor of the computer system and in response to receiving the request to compute, the statistical data about the at least the portion of the plurality of completed auctions from at least a portion of the data, in which the portion of the data corresponds to completed auctions having the one or more characteristics and completed auctions for the one or more respective items;

transmitting the statistical data to the remote device of the user through the communication link

receiving, by the computer system, a request to remove data about the at least one of the completed auctions from the statistical data from the remote device;

determining, by the processor and in response to receiving the request to remove the data, updated statistical data from at least a portion of the data captured from each of the plurality of completed auctions that has the one or more auction characteristics other than the at least one of the completed auctions; and

transmitting, to the remote device, the updated statistical data through the communication link.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the statistical data comprises an average price at which the respective items sold.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least the statistical data comprises at least one of a lowest price paid for any of the respective items at the plurality of auctions and a highest price paid for any of the respective items at the plurality of auctions.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the statistical data comprises at least one of a mean and a median price for the item.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the statistical data comprises data specific for a particular auction method.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the statistical data comprises a range of prices.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising transmitting a listing of at least one pending auction for an item that satisfies the at least one criterion to the remote device.

8. The method of claim 7, in which transmitting the listing of the at least one pending auction and transmitting the statistical data comprises causing an interface screen to be displayed on the remote device through which both the statistical data and the listing of the at least one pending auction are displayed.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the data is captured from at least one Internet auction site.

10. The method of claim 1, in which the statistical data includes differences in final prices based on the auction types of each of the auctions.

11. A system comprising at least one processor and a memory that stores a program that when executed enables the processor to perform a method comprising:

capturing data from a plurality of completed auctions, in which each auction is for a respective item, in which the respective data comprises information about the respective item and the respective auction;

storing the data from the plurality of completed auctions;

transmitting information about the data for presentation through an interface of a remote device, in which the interface allows a user to select one or more characteristics of one or more of the plurality of completed auctions and one or more of the respective items, in which transmitting the information includes transmitting a listing comprising at least one of the completed auctions to the remote device through the communication link;

receiving a request to compute statistical data about at least a portion of the plurality of completed auctions from the remote device of the user through a communication link, in which the request identifies the one or more auction characteristics selected by the user through the interface and the one or more respective items;

determining, in response to receiving the request to compute, the statistical data about the at least the portion of the plurality of completed auctions from at least a portion of the data, in which the portion of the data corresponds to completed auctions having the one or more characteristics and completed auctions for the one or more respective items;

transmitting the statistical data to the remote device of the user through the communication link

receiving, a request to remove data about the at least one of the completed auctions from the statistical data from the remote device;

determining, by the processor and in response to receiving the request to remove the data, updated statistical data from at least a portion of the data captured from each of the plurality of completed auctions that has the one or more auction characteristics other than the at least one of the completed auctions; and

transmitting, to the remote device, the updated statistical data through the communication link.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the statistical data comprises an average price at which the respective items sold.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least the statistical data comprises at least one of a lowest price paid for any of the respective items at the plurality of auctions and a highest price paid for any of the respective items at the plurality of auctions.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the statistical data comprises at least one of a mean and a median price for the item.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the statistical data comprises data specific for a particular auction method.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the statistical data comprises a range of prices.

17. The system of claim 11, the method comprising transmitting a listing of at least one pending auction for an item that satisfies the at least one criterion to the remote device.

18. The system of claim 17, the method in which transmitting the listing of the at least one pending auction and transmitting the statistical data comprises causing an interface screen to be displayed on the remote device through which both the statistical data and the listing of the at least one pending auction are displayed.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the data is captured from at least one Internet auction site.

20. The system of claim 11, in which the statistical data includes differences in final prices based on the auction types of each of the auctions.