Method of bidding to drive competition in an auction
First Claim
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1. A method, comprising:
- receiving a plurality of bids from a plurality of bidders wherein the plurality of bidders are participants in a same auction;
using a processor to distinguish the bidders into at least a first subset and a second subset based on a parameter;
assigning at least one identifier to the bidders in the first subset, wherein the at least one identifier is known to the bidders in the first subset and is neither assigned to nor known to the bidders in the second subset; and
displaying, to each bidder in the first subset of bidders, a lowest bid and an identifier assigned to the bidder that submitted the lowest bid.
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Abstract
A method of bidding to drive competition in an auction, including receiving a plurality of bids from a plurality of bidders, distinguishing the bidders according to a subset of a parameter, assigning at least one identifier to the bidders in each subset, the subset associated with the identifier is unknown to the bidders outside of the subset, and displaying a lowest bid with the identifier for each bidder.
123 Citations
29 Claims
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1. A method, comprising:
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receiving a plurality of bids from a plurality of bidders wherein the plurality of bidders are participants in a same auction; using a processor to distinguish the bidders into at least a first subset and a second subset based on a parameter; assigning at least one identifier to the bidders in the first subset, wherein the at least one identifier is known to the bidders in the first subset and is neither assigned to nor known to the bidders in the second subset; and displaying, to each bidder in the first subset of bidders, a lowest bid and an identifier assigned to the bidder that submitted the lowest bid. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A system, comprising:
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an interface configured to receive a plurality of bids from a plurality of bidders wherein the plurality of bidders are participants in a same auction; and a processor configured to; use a parameter to distinguish the bidders into at least a first subset and a second subset; assign at least one identifier to the bidders in the first subset, wherein the at least one identifier is known to the bidders in the first subset and is neither assigned to nor known to the bidders in the second subset; and cause a display of, for each bidder in the first subset of bidders, a lowest bid and an identifier assigned to the bidder that submitted the lowest bid. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A computer program product embodied in a tangible computer readable medium and comprising computer instructions for:
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receiving a plurality of bids from a plurality of bidders wherein the plurality of bidders are participants in a same auction; using a parameter to distinguish the bidders into at least a first subset and a second subset; assigning at least one identifier to the bidders in the first subset, wherein the at least one identifier is known to the bidders in the first subset and is neither assigned to nor known to the bidders in the second subset; and displaying, to each bidder in the first subset of bidders, a lowest bid and an identifier assigned to the bidder that submitted the lowest bid. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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Specification