Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02353999 2001-06-06
WO 00/34899 PCTIUS99/29312
INTEGRATED AUCTION FOR REMOTE ONLINE BIDDERS AND LIVE
PARTICIPANTS AT AN AUCTION SITE
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.
60/111,717,
filed 12/8/98.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Contained herein is material that is subject to copyright protection. The
copyright
owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction of the patent disclosure
by any person
as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent: files or records, but
otherwise
reserves all rights to the copyright whatsoever.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates generally to the fields of auctioning and online
commerce.
More particularly, the invention relates to an integrated auction format that
incorporates
features of both Internet and traditional, real world auctions.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
With the advent of online auctioning pioneered by eBay Inc., the assignee of
the
present invention, more and more Internet users are re~aizing the ease and
convenience of
2 0 buying items online. As the leading person-to-person trading site, buyers
are compelled to
trade on eBay's web site due to the large amount of content available.
Similarly, sellers are
attracted to eBay to conduct business where there are the most buyers. Ebay
currently
provides over two million new auctions, and 250,000 new items every day from
which users
may choose.
2 5 Auction houses that run Live, real-time, on-site. auctions ("traditional
auctions")
continue to experience much success. However, geographic barriers, travel
costs, and other
constraints limit the participation in such auctions.
It is desirable, therefore, to expand the reach of traditional auctions via
the Internet.
In particular, it would be advantageous to incorporate the best of both
Internet and traditional
3 0 auctions into an integrated auction format.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THF; INVENTION
A method and apparatus are described for conducting an integrated auction that
3 5 incorporates various features of traditional and online auctions.
According to one aspect of
the present invention, the integrated auction includes a. Iive, in-person
auction component and
an online bidding environment component. Bidding information associated with
an item in
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the online bidding environment is updated to reflect a current bid associated
with the item in
the live, in-person auction. During the live, in-person auction, a bid may be
accepted from an
online bidder in the online environment that reflects a maximum price the
online bidder is
willing to pay for the item. Subsequently, the system bids on behalf of the
online bidder
against one or more live bidders that are participating in the live, in-person
auction based
upon the maximum price.
Other features of the present invention will be apparent from the accompanying
drawings and from the detailed description which follows.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF TH_E_DRAWINGS
The present invention is illustrated by way of e~:ample, and not by way of
limitation,
in the figures of the accompanying drawings and in which:
Figure 1 is a simplified view of an exemplary client-server environment in
which the
online portion of an integrated auction may occur according to one embodiment
of the
present invention.
Figure 2 is an exemplary online auction site screen that allows online bidders
to
participate in an integrated auction according to one embodiment of the
present invention.
Figure 3 is an example of a computer system upon which one embodiment of the
2 0 present invention may be implemented.
Figure ~ is a high level illustration of the interaction between various
devices and
processes according to one embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 5 conceptually illustrates the stages of am integrated auction
according to one
embodiment of the present invention.
2 5 Figure 6 is a flow diagram illustrating integratf;d auction processing
according to
one embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
A method and apparatus are described for carrying out an integrated auction
that
3 0 incorporates various features of traditional and online auctions. In the
following description,
for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific det,~ils are set forth in
order to provide a
thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however,
to one skilled
in the art that the present invention may be practiced without some of these
specific details.
In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block
diagram form.
3 5 As will be described in greater detail below, the: present invention
includes features
that seek to enhance the traditional auctioning experience. According to one
embodiment, an
integrated auction incorporates various features of traditional and Internet
auctions (also
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referred to as online auctions). In a first stage of the invtegrated auction,
e.g., the "pre-
auction bidding stage," a starting bid for a traditional, live auction may be
established based
upon bids received from online bidders. Subsequently, in a second stage of the
integrated
auction, e.g., the "live auction stage," a live auction is conducted by an
auction house, such
as Guernsey's, using the highest bid from the pre-auction bidding stage.
During the live
auction stage, bidding information is updated on the online auction site and
online bidders
may submit additional maximum proxy amounts. Finaaly, in an optional third
stage of the
integrated auction, e.g., the "proxy showdown stage," if an online bidder's
maximum proxy
price is greater than the highest bid from the live auction stage, then the
integrated auction
returns to the live auction until the proxy price has been, met.
Advantageously, in this
manner, the reach of traditional auctions may be expanded via the Internet.
In the preferred embodiment, the steps of the present invention are embodied
in
machine-executable instructions. The instructions can be used to cause a
general-purpose or
special-purpose processor which is programmed with the instructions to perform
the steps of
I 5 the present invention. Alternatively, the steps of the preaent invention
might be performed by
specific hardware components that contain hardwired hogic for performing the
steps, or by
any combination of programmed computer components and custom hardware
components.
The present invention may be provided as a cornputer program product which may
include a machine-readable medium having stored thereon instructions which may
be used to
2 0 program a computer (or other electronic devices) to perform a process
according to the
present invention. The machine-readable medium may include, but is not limited
to, floppy
diskettes, optical disks, CD-ROMs, and magneto-optical disks, ROMs, RAMS,
EPROMs,
EEPROMs, magnet or optical cards, flash memory, or other type of media /
machine-
readable medium suitable for storing electronic instructions. Moreover, the
present invention
2 5 may also be downloaded as a computer program product, wherein the program
may be
transferred from a remote computer (e.g., a server) to a requesting computer
(e.g., a client) by
way of data signals embodied in a carrier wave or other propagation medium via
a
communication link (e.g., a modem or network connection).
Client-Server Environment
Figure I is a simplified view of an exemplary client-server environment, such
as the
World Wide Web (the Web}, in which the online portion of an integrated auction
may take
place. The architecture of the Web follows a conventional client-server model.
The terms
"client" and "server" are used to refer to a computer's general role as a
requester of data
3 5 (the client) or provider of data (the server). Web clients 105 and Web
servers 110
communicate using a protocol such as HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP). In
the Web
environment; Web browsers reside on clients and render Web documents (pages)
served by
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the Web servers. The client-server model is used to communicate information
between
clients 105 and servers 110. Web servers 110 are coupled to the Internet 100
and respond to
document requests and/or other queries from Web clients 105. When a user
selects a
document by submitting its Uniform Resource Locator {URL), a Web browser, such
as
S Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer, opens a connection to a server 110
and initiates a
request (e.g., an HTTP get) for the document. The server l I0 delivers the
requested
document, typically in the form of a text document coded in a standard markup
language
such as HyperText Markup Language (HTML).
1. 0 Exem~plary Online Auctioning_Site Interface
Figure 2 is an exemplary online auction site screen that allows online bidders
to
participate in an integrated auction. According to one embodiment, when an
online bidder
requests to view items associated with an integrated auction, screen 200 is
presented with a
textual list of items 205. In this example, each item 211J includes a
hypertext link 215 having
1 S a title (or brief description) of the item fox sale, an indication 220 of
whether or not an image
of the item is available, the current minimum bid 230, tlae number of bids
received 240, and
an auction ending date and/or time 250. Responsive to the selection of the
hypertext link
215, a subsequent screen (not shown) may prompt the online bidder to enter
his/her
maximum bid for the item 210. As will be described further below, by providing
a maximum
2 0 bid amount, a proxy bidding system may bid on behalf' of the online bidder
as necessary by
increasing the online bidder's bid by the current bid increment until the
maximum is
reached. Advantageously; in this manner, the online bidder need not keep track
of the
auction as it proceeds and is assured he/she will not be outbid at the last
minute - unless the
maximum specified is exceeded.
Exempla ,~puter Sxstem
A computer system 300 representing an exemplary server in which features of
the
present invention may be implemented will now be described with reference to
Figure 3.
Computer system 300 comprises a bus or other communication means 301 for
communicating
3 0 information, and a processing means such as processor 302 coupled with bus
301 for
processing information. Computer system 300 further comprises a random access
memory
(RAM) or other dynamic storage device 304 (referred to as main memory),
coupled to bus 301
for storing information and instructions to be executed by processor 302. Main
memory 304
also may be used for storing temporary variables or ot3aer intermediate
information during
3 5 execution of instructions by processor 302. Computer system 300 also
comprises a read only
memory (ROM) and/or other static storage device 306~ coupled to bus 301 for
storing static
information and instructions for processor 302.
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A data storage device 307 such as a magnetic disk or optical disc and its
corresponding
drive may also be coupled to computer system 300 for storing information and
instructions.
Computer system 300 can also be caupled via bus 301 to a display device 321,
such as a
cathode ray tube (CRT) or Liquid Crystal Display (LCJD}, for displaying
information to a
5 computer user. Typically, an alphanumeric input devicc: 322, including
alphanumeric and other
keys, may be coupled to bus 301 for communicating information and/or command
selections
to processor 302. Another type of user input device is cursor control 323,
such as a mouse, a
trackball, or cursor direction keys for communicating direction information
and command
selections to processor 302 and for controlling cursor movement on display
321.
A communication device 325 is also coupled to bus 301 for accessing remote
servers
via the Internet, for example. The communication device 325 may include a
modem, a
network interface card, or other commercially available network interface
devices, such as
those used for coupling to an Ethernet, token ring, or other type of network.
In any event, in
this manner, the computer system 300 may be coupled to a number of clients
and/or other
servers via a conventional network infrastructure, such as a company's
Intranet and/or the
Internet, for example.
System Overview
Figure 4 is a high level illustration of the interaction between various
devices and
2 0 processes according to one embodiment of the present invention. According
to the
embodiment depicted, an online auction site 400 may comprise one or more
listing servers
410. In this example, the listing servers 410 include a listing management
process 415, a
proxy bidding process 425, and a live auction interface 430. Clients 470
interact with the
listing management process 415 and the proxy bidding; process 425 to view
information
2 5 about items for sale and submit proxy prices, respectively.
The listing management process 415 interacts with online bidders and provides
them
with information about the items in which they are interested. The listing
management
process 415 may support a text-based item listing forrriat, such as that
depicted in Figure 2,
and/or a GalleryTM presentation format that includes thumbnail images of the
items for sale
3 0 as described in co-pending US Patent Application No. 09/177,726, entitled
"Information
Presentation and Management in an Online Trading Environment" and assigned to
the
assignee of the present invention {GALLERY is a trademark of eBay Inc. of San
Jose, CA).
The proxy bidding process 425 tracks the maxiimum amounts that online bidders
are
willing to pay for the items 210. Based upon the rnaxi:mum amounts provided,
the proxy
3 5 bidding process 425 automatically submits bids on belzaif on the online
bidders as other
bidders (online or on-site bidders) increase the bid price.
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The live auction interface 430 provides an inter~Face by which online bids may
be
communicated to the on-site bidders and live bids may be communicated to the
proxy
bidding process 425 and updated on various online aucaion site screens.
While, in order to facilitate explanation, the Iistimg servers 410 are
generally
discussed as if they were a single device, in actuality, the listing servers
410 may comprise
multiple physical and/or logical devices connected in a distributed
architecture, and the
various functions performed may actually be distributed among multiple
devices. For
example, any function can be implemented on any number of machines or on a
single
machine. Also, any process maybe divided across multiple machines.
Exemplary Stases of an Integrated Auction
Figure 5 conceptually illustrates the stages of an integrated auction
according to one
embodiment of the present invention. In this example, an integrated auction
comprises three
separate and distinct stages: a pre-auction bidding stage; 530, a live auction
stage 540, and a
proxy showdown stage 550. Bidding results may be fed from one stage to the
next and the
results from a previous stage may serve as the floor for the following stage.
For example, an
initial round of online bidding 530 taking,place over a vpredetermined period
of time may
establish a starting bid 510 for the Iive auction stage 5460. At the
conclusion of the live
auction stage 540, if one or more online bidders have submitted maximum proxy
prices that
2 0 are greater than the final bid from the Iive auction stage 540, the proxy
showdown stage 550
is triggered in which the live auction continues until the maximum proxy price
has been met.
Integrated Auction Flow
Referring now to the flow diagram of Figure 6~, exemplary integrated auction
2 5 processing will now be described. At step b 10, a minirmum bid for the
live auction stage 540
is established by an online auction site 400. For example, one or more online
bidders may
submit maximum bid amounts to the proxy bidding process 425 to have the proxy
bidding
process 425 bid on their behalf. Other bidders may choose to monitor the pre-
auction
bidding stage 530 and periodically submit bids. When the predetermined time
period for the
3 0 pre-auction bidding stage 530 expires, the highest bid is presented to the
auction house via
the live auction interface 430. In this manner, the starting bid for the live
auction stage 540 is
established in a new and exciting way, thereby creating; additional hype about
the auction. At
step 620, the auction house conducts a live auction starting the bidding at
the dollar amount
provided by the online auction site 400. During the live auction, live bids by
the on-site
3 S bidders may be communicated to the online bidders visa the live auction
interface 430.
Additionally, the online bidders may be provided with teleconferencing or
other means of
monitoring the progress of the live auction 540. At any rate, at the
conclusion of the live
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auction, the final bid is input into the live auction interface 430. At step
630, a determination
is made whether or not to perform a proxy showdown. If one or more online
bidders have
submitted a maximum proxy price greater than the highs~st bid from the live
auction stage,
then processing continues with step 640. Otherwise, the integrated auction is
complete. At
step 640, the on-site bidders are pitted against the one e~r more online
bidders' proxies. As
above, live bids are presented to the online auction site 400 via the Iive
auction interface 430
to allow the online bidders to view near real-time update,. As explained
previously, the
proxy bidding process 425 will automatically bid on behalf of the online
bidders as
necessary until the maximum is exceeded. Therefore, svtep 640 continues until
either all
maximum proxy prices have been exceeded or until no jfurther live bids are
received.
In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with
reference to
specific embodiments thereof. It will, however, be evident that various
modifications and
changes may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and
scope of the
invention. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in
an illustrative
rather than a restrictive sense.
