Patent Application
20120084170
The following cases, titled ONLINE AUCTION OPTIONALLY INCLUDING MULTIPLE SELLERS AND MULTIPLE AUCTIONEERS; AN INDICATION OF THE REMAINING DURATION OF AN EVENT WITH A DURATION RECOIL FEATURE; A CUMULATIVE POINT SYSTEM AND SCORING OF AN EVENT BASED ON USER PARTICIPATION IN THE EVENT; and AN OPTION FOR SUBMITTING A USER-DEFINED SUPER BID THAT OVERRIDES AN AUCTION COUNTDOWN, of which the present case is one, have all been filed on the same date. The contents of the three applications that have a different title than the present application are incorporated herein in their entirety.
A physical auction is a social event. An auctioneer works to create an environment of excitement to encourage participation by more of the auction attendees and to encourage higher bidding. Excitement is also generated due to the competition among participants, who earn social status from actively participating in the auction. Excitement builds throughout the auction as the auctioneer sells an item and moves on to the next. In a well-planned and well-conducted auction event, attendees may consider the auction event to be a form of entertainment whether they are bidding or merely observing. Multiple sellers offering items in a single auction event may benefit from it being fun and exciting.
An electronic auction such as an online auction generally lacks the excitement of a physical auction because, among other things, there is not an auctioneer to stimulate or otherwise motivate the individuals that are present into action, a sense of participation in a social event, or social status earned by being recognized as contributor to the auction environment through active bidding. Thus, an online auction system is substantially improved by implementing excitement-generating features for the auction.
A further limitation of typical online auctions is that only a single item may be auctioned in each auction. The online auction system is thus further substantially improved by enabling an auction host to create an online auction including multiple items from multiple sellers.
For an exemplary online auction in an online auction system, such as one that follows the Timeline of Events below, an auction host may create and publish an online auction; users may participate in the auction by submitting early bidding and later joining an auction event in a lobby phase or a live auction phase; hosts, auctioneers, sellers, and buyers may perform post-sale activity; sellers and buyers may perform fulfillment of sold items; and the auction system may provide status reporting.
An auction host may access an online auction system website from a computing device remotely connected to the website through a network, using a graphical user interface (GUI). The auction host may prepare an auction, publish information regarding the auction, and invite people to an auction event. As used herein, the term “auction” is inclusive of both an auction event and the time prior to an auction event after the auction information is published, as illustrated in the exemplary Timeline above.
Invitees to an auction may browse the published auction information and participate in the auction event using a GUI on a computing device remotely connected to the website through a network. The published information may include a virtual gallery (Gallery) of the items to be auctioned. Invitees may view the Gallery and place pre-bids on one or more items in the Gallery. Pre-bids may be placed until the start of the auction event.
An auction event may include a virtual lobby (Lobby) and a Live Auction. For a predefined period before the start of the Live Auction, an invitee who chooses to participate in the auction event may, using the GUI, enter the Lobby and interact with other participants. Each participant may be displayed as a virtual representation, for example, as an icon or an avatar. A participant may interact with other participants in the Lobby by selecting his or her virtual representation and moving it within the Lobby space to simulate walking through the Lobby and approaching other participants. As a participant's visual representation nears the visual representation of another participant, the other participant's visual representation may change appearance to indicate proximity. Participants may communicate with each other while in the Lobby.
When the predefined period of the Lobby ends, the Live Auction may begin. The Live Auction may be a series of item auctions with an intermission after each item sale. The auction GUI may change at the beginning of the Live Auction to indicate auction information, for example, current high bid, highest bidders, current item for sale, etc. The GUI provides capability for entering incremental bids at increments predefined for the auction and may also include capability for entering a user-defined bid.
The Live Auction GUI may include a Gauge of the duration of the current item auction. At the start of an item auction, the duration is set to a predefined initial value, and the Gauge visually represents the initial duration value. As the auction progresses, the duration value decreases from the initial value and the Gauge visually depicts the remaining duration value. If a bid received during the auction is accepted as the current bid, the amount remaining in the duration value is increased and the Gauge is updated to reflect the increased duration value. When the duration value reaches zero, the auction for the current item is ended.
During the Live Auction an auctioneer may, among other actions, pause the auction event, interact with the auction participants during the auction event, eject a participant, and pass control of the auction to another auctioneer.
Participants, including the auctioneer and the auction host, may earn points based on amount and type of participation in the auction. Points may be cumulative across auctions. Participants may subjectively rate auctioneers and other participants based on behavior during the auction.
A seller may include an item for sale in the auction with a reserve amount such that if the reserve amount is not met during the auction then the item will not be considered to be sold. If at the end of the auction for the item the reserve is not met, the highest bidder may see the reserve price and may submit a counteroffer to the reserve price. The seller may then negotiate with the highest bidder for a mutually-agreeable sale price. In another implementation in which the auction host or auctioneer is different from the seller, the seller may set a minimum price, and the auction host or auctioneer may then negotiate with the highest bidder for a mutually-agreeable sale price greater than or equal to the seller's minimum price. Alternative to the bidder seeing a reserve price after the auction, the seller, auction host, or auctioneer may send a message to the highest bidder indicating that an offer less than the reserve price would be entertained and the highest bidder then has an option to make an offer.
Each item sold at the auction is then prepared and sent to the buyer by the seller of that item. Each buyer is presented with a report of the items the buyer won in the auction.
Having presented above an overview of an exemplary online auction system, details of such an online auction system are now provided.
The term “online auction system” is to be broadly interpreted as a combination of hardware components and software components collaborating to provide over a network services related to an auction.
An auction server system 102 may be embodied as one or more application servers. An application server is a framework of hardware and software dedicated to executing scripts, programs, and routines associated with the construction of a computer application. Application servers are often used to provide web applications. In such applications, a user may use a web browser stored on a local terminal to access the application which is processed by the application server. For example, if a user wishes to use a particular web application, the user may use a web browser installed on his or her local machine and enter in a specific network address. The browser is then configured to interact with the application server via a network such as the Internet and present to the user elements associated with the web application.
Application servers typically make use of various types of memory 104. Many types of memory 104 exist and may be used in conjunction with auction server system 102. Some types of memory 104, such as hard disk drives, optical disc drives, solid state drives, and other nonvolatile memory, are optimized for storage. An application server may make use of one or more storage servers. A storage server is a framework of hardware dedicated to storing electronic data. Other types of memory, including volatile memory such as Random Access Memory RAM, are optimized for speed and can be used as “working memory” for providing executable instructions to a processor 108. The various forms of memory 104 may store information in the form of both data 106 and software. In certain implementations, memory 104 includes both nonvolatile and volatile memory.
Memory 104 may be configured to hold various types of data 106 for auction server system 102. Data 106 may include a variety of information associated with the several auctions which are executed over the system. For example, auction item data, auctioneer 118 data, auction host 122 data, bidder 120 data, and other participant data may all be stored on the memory associated with auction server system 102.
A user may further interact with online auction system 100 through an input device 124, 126, 128 or output device 130, 132, 134 associated with the user's terminal 112, 114, 116. Input 124, 126, 128 and output 130, 132, 134 devices allow a user to participate in an auction event and communicate with others using system 100, for example through the use of Voice over Internet Protocol VoIP or other voice transfer protocol.
In some exemplary implementations, a user downloads an auction application to be processed by his or her local terminal 112, 114, 116. In such an implementation, the locally run auction application may be configured to enable a user to interact with online auction system 100.
As mentioned, an auction includes, in addition to an auction event, publication of information regarding the auction event and access to the auction event information. Users interacting with online auction system 100 may become participants in an auction event by selecting a published auction to which they are invited.
A participant of an auction event is any user that attends the auction event. A user who is a participant (Participant) may also be categorized for one auction event as one or more of auction host 122, auctioneer 118, or bidder 120. A bidder 120 is a Participant that either submitted a pre-bid for an item scheduled to be for sale in the auction event before the auction event began or that submits a bid on an item for sale during the Live Auction. Participants are not required to become bidders 120.
Any Participant in an auction event may also be a seller of one or more item in the auction, although the auction application may block a seller from bidding on an item the seller is selling. There may be one or more seller of one or more item to be auctioned during the auction event. A seller of an item in an auction need not be a Participant in the auction event and need not even be a user of online auction system 100.
A seller in an auction is someone who offers an item for sale. The term “sale” is meant to be understood as any disposition of property in exchange for some form of compensation. The types of transactions which may be considered a “sale” may include, but are not limited to, disposition of property via an auction, a consignment sale, bartering through exchange of goods or services for other goods or services, a trade, or offering services in exchange for compensation. Compensation may be, for example, in terms of currency, credit, goods, and securities. The concept of a sale further includes non-traditional services and compensation, such as “paying” in hugs or “selling” pats on the back.
An auction host 122 defines an auction event, publishes information regarding the auction event and the items to be auctioned, and invites people to the auction. Definition, publication, and invitations for the auction are discussed in detail below. An auction host 122 may also be a seller, a bidder 120, an auctioneer 118, or other Participant in the auction. An auction host 122 that is a seller of an item may not also be a bidder 120 on the same item. Thus, in an implementation in which the auction host 122 is the same person as the seller, the auction host 122 may not be a bidder 120. The auction host 122 may be considered a Participant even if not actually participating in the auction event.
One or more auctioneers 118 conduct the auction event. During auction definition auction host 122 may identify a person or persons to take the role of auctioneer 118. Auction host 122 may either receive permission to identify the person as an auctioneer 118 outside of online auction system 100 or may issue a request to the person as part of the auction invitation process. An auctioneer 118 may also be a seller. An auctioneer 118 may not be a bidder 120 on any item auctioneer 118 is auctioning. During an auction event, generally during an intermission time between item auctions, the auction host 122 may make a request to a Participant of the auction to take control of the auction and become auctioneer 118. The Participant may reject the request. If the Participant accepts the request, once control has passed to the Participant, the previous auctioneer 118 becomes a Participant and may become a bidder 120. In an alternative implementation, during an auction event an auctioneer 118 may request another Participant of the auction, who may be one of auctioneers 118 identified by auction host 122 during auction creation, to take control of the auction and become auctioneer 118. The other Participant may reject the request. However, if the other Participant accepts the request and current auctioneer 118 successfully passes control of the auction to that Participant, then current auctioneer 118 becomes a Participant and may become a bidder 120.
As mentioned above, an auction Participant may assume multiple roles within the same auction event. Some examples of multiple roles include: the roles of auction host 122 and auctioneer 118 may be performed by the same person who may also be the seller of one or more items; a person may be a bidder 120 for one item and an auctioneer 118 for another item; any Participant in the auction event may also be a seller of one or more item in the auction; and auction host 122 may also be a bidder 120. In some implementations, Participants may be limited to single roles. For example, an auctioneer 118 may be prevented from bidding in an auction event even when not in control of the current item auction. For another example, the auction host 122 may be prevented from bidding in the auction event.
A user of online auction system 100 is presented with a home page for browsing the available public auctions.
A visiting user's home page may include information regarding popular auctions and a search option for finding auctions by category or by, for example, auction host 122 or auctioneer 118.
A visiting user may join online auction system 100 and become a member. Joining an auction includes at least entering identifying information and potentially one or more payment options. Members may, among other things, customize their home pages, enter bids, join auctions, be an auctioneer 118, and host auctions. Members may also send and receive messages to/from other members, and view the sent and received messages on their home pages. System 100 may provide many other options to members in addition to those described.
A member's home page may include a browse tab, a bid tab, and if applicable, auctioneer or auction host tabs. In one implementation, the browse and bid tabs are combined into one tab. More tabs may be added as desired to organize the information on the home page.
Examples of further options that may be displayed on a member browse page include auctions invited to, auctions being watched, favorite categories, and an option to write reviews of other members.
A member's home page may be visible to other members unless the page or portions of the page are marked as private. The member has the option to change the privacy settings. Returning to the example of
Any user at any time may report a concern to online auction system 100, for example, a concern that an item is a counterfeit, violates a copyright, is prohibited, is offensive, is stolen, or other concern. A member home page may include an option to report a concern.
As mentioned, auction host 122 is a user that creates an auction and publishes the auction information. Auction host 122 accesses his or her member home page in online auction system 100 to customize a default auction template. In some implementations, a user must pay a fee into online auction system 100 to create an auction. An auction may be a forward or reverse auction. A forward auction strives to achieve the highest price, and is used, for example, for selling individual items, item lots, or services. A reverse auction strives to achieve the lowest price, and is used, for example, for procuring services such as design or manufacturing at a minimum price. The examples herein describe forward auctions, but the concepts apply equally to reverse auctions. The auction host 122 may identify the auction as a forward or reverse auction by, for example, selecting the applicable option in an auction template or by selecting the appropriate auction template.
Auction host 122 may further select persons to invite to the auction. If invitation capability is provided within the auction template, invitees may be entered into the auction template directly or may be selected from a contact list. For example, any contact list available on terminal 112, 114, 116 such as contact lists for email or for social networking sites may be accessed and individuals may then be selected from the contact lists as invitees.
Items to be auctioned may be categorized and sub-categorized to allow for searching within and between auctions. For example, an item may be categorized as personal goods, then sub-categorized in a hierarchical structure such as [clothing[sport[shoe[running[Nike]]]]]. After a user finds an item in a sub-category, the user may then have the option for searching the sub-category for similar items. For example, if [clothing[sport[shoe[running]]]] was a first sub-category searched for [Nike], then a user may select to see all items in sub-category [clothing[sport[shoe[running]]]] and not just [Nike] items. The user may also have the option to search only within the same auction, or across all private auctions to which the user is invited and/or across all public auctions.
An auction may include keywords to further enable searching, such as “moving sale” or “collectibles.”
When auction host 122 has completed configuring the auction, auction host 122 may then publish the auction. Prior to publication, auction host 122 may wish to preview the display of the auction.
Note that in the example of
Another point to note is that James Smith designated Willis Johnson as auctioneer 118 in
A member may publish an auction by selecting the publish option on the member home page in online auction system 100. In some implementations, a user must pay a fee into online auction system 100 to publish an auction. Until the auction is published, the auction is not accessible to any user other than auction host 122. After publication, a private auction is accessible only to invitees of the auction; however, any user may access a public published auction.
After the auction is published, the auction host 122 may cancel the auction. In this case, the auction is unpublished and canceled, and pre-bidders are released from their obligations on pre-bids placed. The auction host 122 may then edit the auction and re-publish it as a new auction. In one implementation, auction host 122 may edit an auction without canceling by accessing the published auction through the host's member home page. Edits may include adding or deleting items for sale, changing starting or reserve prices, adding or deleting audiovisual information, changing the sale order of the items to be auctioned, converting from a private to a public auction or vice-versa, adding or deleting invitees, etc. In such an implementation, the online system 100 may release pre-bidders on their obligations on pre-bids placed when a published auction is edited.
If auction host 122 cancels or edits the auction after receiving a response (RSVP) from an invitee, online auction system 100 may notify the invitee that auction host 122 made edits to the auction, and may further provide details of the edits to the invitee. In one implementation, online auction system 100 notifies only pre-bidders that the auction was edited or canceled, and may not provide details of edits.
As mentioned above, a user may search for auctions on the online auction system 100. For example, a user may search by one or more of auction host 122, auctioneer 118, auction invitee, category or sub-category, keyword, and date. The user may select to conduct the search across all public auctions and/or all private auctions to which the user has been invited. The user may alternatively view a scrollable list of all private auctions to which the user has been invited, all public auctions, or all auctions.
From an auction list, the user may select an auction to view. Viewing the auction includes viewing, for example, the date and time of the auction, a countdown to the auction, information about the invitees or the invitees that have submitted an RSVP, information about auctioneer 118, and information about the items for sale in the auction. The items for sale may be arranged in a Gallery, accessed from a link on the web page.
A user may ask auction host 122 questions and auction host 122 may respond, and may also post the question and the response on the auction page. Users may view the posted questions and responses. In
A user may be offered many options while viewing a Gallery. Some examples include, as shown in
A user may place a pre-bid on an item or items in the Gallery by entering a dollar amount into a data entry area on the auction web page. Later users may be able to see that there is a pre-bid and may additionally be able to see the amount of the pre-bid, and may place their own pre-bids if they so choose. The highest pre-bid is carried forward as the starting price in the Live Auction. Pre-bidding is allowed until the auction event begins.
In some implementations, a user must pay a fee into online auction system 100 to place a pre-bid.
As noted above, an auction event may begin with a Lobby phase followed by a Live Auction phase. The Lobby at the auction event opens starting at a predefined time before the Live Auction is scheduled to begin. Online auction system 100 may provide an option for setting the Lobby start time and Live Auction start time separately or set one start time and set the other time relatively. Alternatively, online auction system 100 may allow for setting one of the Lobby or the Live Auction start times, with the duration of the Lobby phase being predefined by system 100.
Some examples for selecting to join an auction are double-clicking on the icon representing the auction, right-clicking the icon and selecting the appropriate link, or selecting the auction icon and then selecting a “join” option. Each user in the Lobby is visually depicted in some manner, and the depiction may change depending on user interaction within the Lobby, as discussed below. In the example of
In the example of
The ability to view information regarding users in the Lobby may be limited to those users who have taken a further step to “enter” the Lobby. A user may enter the Lobby by selecting his or her visual representation, for example by clicking on the user's avatar. A user may “move” around the Lobby by selecting his or her visual representation and dragging it around the page. In the example of
When users are proximate each other, they may be provided the ability to communicate with each other. Communication may be through live text entered at a terminal 112, 114, 116, live audio or live video possibly accompanied by live audio exchanged through input devices 124 and output devices 130 at user terminals 112, 114, 116, and/or some other form of communication. Some examples of other forms of communication may include transferring files, links, emoticons (icons that depict emotion), bar codes, or tactile messages such as a vibration command for a smart phone.
Audio communication between users may be at a higher volume when the users are closer and at a lowering volume as the users move away from each other. In this way, the users may experience the feeling of moving around and joining conversations in the Lobby to enhance the sense of the Lobby as a social event. The visual representation 822 of a user may enlarge or otherwise change appearance when the user is communicating, to provide focus on the communicating user and further enhance the feeling of being present in a social event.
Auctioneer 118 may communicate with any user present in the Lobby, and may also broadcast a message to the Lobby area to be received by all users present.
Each user in the Lobby may view the items to be sold in the Live Auction. Upon entering the Lobby, a user may be presented with the first item to be auctioned and may choose to see different views of that item or to see other items in the auction. In
In another implementation, some or all of the items to be auctioned may be displayed around the Lobby and users may congregate around an item and discuss that item.
At any time a user may elect to view the auction Gallery for more information regarding the items for sale, including pre-bids already placed and starting prices for the items. However, as mentioned above, the auction may be closed to bidding once the Lobby phase of the auction begins. The Lobby may include a link to the Gallery, or the user may open a new browser window or tab and access the Gallery through the online auction system 100 web site.
The Lobby may include visual representations of auction host 122 and the first auctioneer, with name, score and/or rating. Scoring and rating are discussed below in detail. The Lobby may also include the name of the auction as defined by auction host 122 during auction creation. The Lobby may include a countdown indicator to notify the users in the Lobby how long it will be until the Live Auction begins. The countdown indicator may count down with varying resolution. For example, the countdown indicator may count down in increments of minutes at the beginning of the Lobby phase and then count down in seconds during the last minute before the Live Auction begins. As another example, the indicator may indicate both minutes and seconds throughout the duration of the Lobby phase.
The auction event may be paused during the Lobby phase by auction host 122 or by the first auctioneer 118. For example, auction host 122 may pause the Lobby if expecting more attendees or if answering questions. When the Lobby phase is paused, the countdown indicator stops counting down. When the Lobby phase resumes, the countdown indicator resumes counting down where it stopped. Online auction system 100 may limit the number of pauses available in an auction event, and may limit the length of a pause.
After the predefined Lobby period has expired, the Live Auction phase of the auction event begins. In an alternative implementation, the auction host 122 or auctioneer 118 may start the Live Auction at any time during the Lobby phase.
Users who enter the auction event during the Lobby phase automatically enter the Live Auction phase when it begins. If a user does not enter the auction event during the Lobby phase, the user may enter the Live Auction phase directly by selecting the auction from the online auction system 100 web page, for example by double clicking on the auction icon. In some implementations, a user must pay a fee into online auction system 100 to participate and/or to bid in a Live Auction.
Any user present in the Live Auction is a Participant of the Live Auction. A Participant may further be acting in the role of auction host 122 or auctioneer 118, and may enter the Live Auction as a bidder 120 that placed a pre-bid. During the Live Auction, any Participant may become a bidder 120 by placing a bid, except that an auctioneer 118 may not bid on an item while he or she is auctioneer 118 of that item and a seller may not bid on any item the seller is selling. The online auction system 100 may prevent additional Participants from bidding. For example, the auction host 122 may be prevented from bidding on any item.
Online auction system 100 may present a standard Live Auction display that a user sees when entering an auction event during the Live Auction phase. Alternatively, if system 100 provides display configuration capability during auction creation, the Live Auction display may appear as personalized by auction host 122.
As illustrated in the example of
As also illustrated in the example of
The Live Auction display includes a bid entry area and a countdown gauge (Gauge). In the example of
Auctioneer 118 has several options during the Live Auction to control the progression of the auction. Auctioneer Controls are discussed below in detail.
As mentioned above, the Showcase varies depending on the progression of the Live Auction. Examples of how the Showcase may vary are described with reference to the flow diagrams of
In
At 1035, if a first live bid is received, then at 1040 the display of the item is moved from the Showcase to elsewhere on the Live Auction display. The process continues at 1045 for a determination of whether the reserve value for the item was met by the live bid. If the reserve value was met, at 1050 “Reserve Met” or the like is optionally displayed within the Showcase for a short time as defined by online auction system 100, and then at 1055 “Reserve Met” or the like is added to the display. If the reserve value was not met at 1045, then at 1060 “Reserve Not Met” or the like is added to the display. In either case, process 1000 then ends and process 1100 begins at connector X.
Returning to the decision at 1035, if no live bid is received, process 1000 at 1065 determines whether a countdown threshold has been crossed. The countdown threshold is a predefined period measured from the beginning of the item auction. If the threshold has not been crossed, then process 1000 returns to 1035 to determine if a live bid has been received. If the threshold has been crossed, meaning that no live bids were received during the predefined threshold period, process 1000 continues at 1070, moving the display of the auction item from the Showcase to elsewhere on the Live Auction display. Then, at 1075, a blank avatar is displayed in the Showcase. A blank avatar may be, for example, an outline of a human head in profile. At 1080, if the auction for the item has ended, for example by the countdown completing or by auctioneer ending the item auction early, process 1000 ends and the Live Auction continues with the next item following an optional intermission. If the auction for the item has not ended, process 1000 continues at 1085 to determine if a live bid has been received. If a live bid has been received, the process continues at 1045. If a live bid has not been received, process 1000 continues at 1075, checking for live bids until the auction for the item ends.
In the exemplary implementation of
Process 1100 continues at 1110 when a bid is received at a higher value than the first live bid. It should be noted that if no higher bid is received before the countdown is finished (not shown) then process 1100 ends after 1105. At 1115 it is determined whether the higher bid was received from the first bidder 120 or a second bidder 120. If received from the first bidder 120, the process continues at 1105, such that the first bidder's 120 visual representation remains displayed in the Showcase. If, however the higher bid was received from a second bidder 120, process 1100 continues at 1120, wherein a large representation of the second bidder 120 is displayed in the Showcase. Continuing at 1125, a visual representation of the first bidder 120 is then displayed adjacent to the Showcase in the first position 970 in a second size smaller than the large size. The second size is referred to herein as a medium size. Thus, after 1125, the highest bidder 120 (now, the second bidder) is shown large-sized in the Showcase and the next highest bidder 120 (now, the first bidder) is shown medium-sized adjacent to the Showcase.
Continuing with the example of
Returning to 1140, if the higher bid was not from the first bidder 120, it is determined at 1155 if the higher bid was from the second bidder 120. If yes, process 1100 continues at 1120 such that the display remains unchanged with the highest bidder 120 (the second bidder) shown large-sized in the Showcase and the next highest bidder 120 (the first bidder) shown medium-sized in the first position 970. If, however, at 1155 it is determined that the higher bid was also not from the second bidder 120, then the higher bid was from a third bidder 120 and the process continues at 1160. At 1160, a large-sized visual representation of the highest bidder 120 (now, the third bidder) is displayed in the Showcase. Then, at 1165, a medium-sized representation of the previous high bidder 120 is shown in the first position 970, and at 1170, a small-sized representation of the bidder 120 previously in the first position 970 is shown in the second position 975. Process 1100 continues at 1175. If at 1175 it is determined that the auction for the item has ended, process 1100 ends. If at 1175 the auction for the item has not ended, process 1100 continues when a higher bid is received, at 1180.
Upon receiving a higher bid, process 1100 continues at 1185 wherein the highest bidder 120 is shown in the Showcase. Next, at 1190, if the identity of the highest bidder 120 changed, meaning that the higher bid in 1180 was received from someone other than the current highest bidder 120, then the previous highest bidder 120 is displayed at the first position 970. The second position 975 is filled as appropriate at 1195, such that the first, second and third highest bidders 120 at any time are shown on the display. Note that each bidder 120 may sequentially bid multiple times even if the bidder 120 is the highest bidder 120 already, but each bidder 120 may only be displayed once on the Live Auction display. Thus, “first, second and third highest bidder” does not refer to the three highest bids, but rather refers to bidders 120 who have been shown on the display and not yet displaced by other bidders 120.
Following 1195, process 1100 continues at 1175, such that the three highest bidders 120 are always displayed and the hierarchy is updated at every higher bid until the auction for the item ends.
Not shown in
Included on the Live Auction display is a countdown Gauge. The Gauge 955 in
For the ring illustrated in the example of
In one alternative implementation, the Gauge depletes color by gradually reducing the brightness or tone of the color or changing the color until it appears depleted. For example, the color may start as a vivid dark red and deplete by progressing through lighter and lighter shades of red until the Gauge appears white; or by progressing through orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet; or by any other way to indicate a gradual depletion. No matter the method of showing color depletion, in a color-depletion implementation, the Gauge is completely depleted of its starting color at the end of the item auction countdown.
Instead of a color-depletion implementation, the Gauge may instead use a size-depletion visual indication for the countdown, or a movement-related indication for the countdown. Some representative examples of alternative Gauges include: a sphere that shrinks as the item auction progresses, a pair of curtains that close; a ball that drops; an auctioneer's hammer that approaches a table; and a vehicle progressing across the screen.
If no live bids are received during an item auction and the auction is not paused or stopped by auctioneer 118, the Gauge will progress to depletion or other indication of countdown completion without stopping. If auctioneer 118 chooses to pause the item auction, the Gauge halts its progression until the pause is finished, and then restarts its progression where it stopped. A pause may have a predefined duration, and the number of pauses available to auctioneer 118 in an auction event may be limited.
The Gauge indicates remaining duration value of an item auction. The remaining duration value at each instant is the calculated amount of time that the item auction will last if no bids are received and no auction parameters are changed going forward. The remaining duration value thus indicates an amount of time, but does not necessarily linearly relate to time, as will become clear from the discussion below. The initial remaining duration value may be a standard value in online auction system 100, or auction host 122 may have an option to define the value during auction creation. The initial value may alternatively be indirectly defined, for example by providing selectable options for a fast, medium, or slow auction, or by providing a sliding scale of auction paces. Online auction system 100 may translate the desired auction pace into an initial value for remaining duration. In the depletion ring example including the illustrations of
Auctioneer 118 may be provided with controls to modify the remaining duration value during a Live Auction, by speeding up or slowing down the Live Auction. For example, if there are few bidders 120 and a lot of time between bids in an item auction, auctioneer 118 may speed up the auction to get to the next item more quickly, or to add excitement into the auction. Conversely, in a very active item auction, auctioneer 118 may want to slow down the auction to encourage the highest bid possible by providing more time for the competition to continue. When the Live Auction is sped up, the Gauge appears to speed up. For example, in a color-depletion implementation, if the remaining duration was indicated as 75% of the initial duration value before a speed-up, it will still be 75% immediately after the speed-up. However, going forward the color is depleted more rapidly. Conversely, color is depleted more slowly after an auction slow-down.
The pace of a Live Auction or a constituent item auction may, instead of being constant, vary according to formula. For example, a Live Auction may speed up or slow down; may be fast at the beginning and end and slow in the middle; or may speed up and slow down in some other fashion. Online auction system 100 may provide an option for auction host 122 to configure an auction pace profile during auction creation. For example, auction host 122 may be provided controls to adjust the coefficients in a mathematical equation, or may be provided a visual method for modification such as the ability to change the slope or curve of a line on a graph. Alternatively or additionally, auctioneer 118 may be provided with controls to dynamically set or change the profile during the Live Auction.
In one exemplary implementation, the progression of an item auction is defined with a quadratic equation, shown in Equation 1, wherein “x” represents elapsed time since the start of the item auction and “f(x)” represents the remaining duration value. Equation 2 shows the first derivative of Equation 1, representing the velocity of the countdown at any point in the countdown. Equation 3 shows the second derivative of Equation 1, representing the acceleration of the countdown, wherein acceleration indicates change of pace either in a positive or negative direction. Thus, by changing the equation coefficients a, b, and c, the character of the item auction may be changed.
f(x)=mx2+nx+p (1)
v(x)=2mx+n (2)
a(x)=2m (3)
Solving Equation 1 for initial conditions (i.e., at x=0, the start of the item auction) results in an initial value for “f(x)” of “p” as shown in Equation 4.
f(x=0)=p (4)
Coefficient “p” may be positive, negative, or zero. Generally, coefficient “p” would be zero so that the expected duration of an item auction as represented by the initial remaining duration value would be equal to the countdown. However, other coefficient values are also possible. For example, a negative coefficient “p” would cause the remaining duration value to reach zero prior to the end of the full countdown. The Gauge in this case would indicate that the auction for the current item had ended even though the countdown was not actually complete, and the extra time in the countdown could be used to include a post-auction period. A post-auction period, for example, could provide time for negotiation between the auctioneer 118 and the highest bidder 120 when the reserve is not met on an item.
Solving Equation 2 for initial conditions (i.e., at x=0) results in the initial velocity “n” as shown in Equation 5.
v(x=0)=n (5)
Coefficient “n” may be positive, negative, or zero, to set the initial velocity of the countdown. Generally, coefficient “n” would be a positive value so that initial velocity of the countdown is positive, meaning that the countdown is progressing toward the end of the item auction at a velocity “n”. Note that the term “countdown” itself represents progression toward the end of the Live Auction, but does not necessarily involve the concept of mathematically counting down. Thus, if coefficient “n” was set to a negative number, conceptually the countdown would progress away from the end of the item auction such that the duration of the item auction would be increased.
Considering acceleration as in Equation 3, it is seen that the coefficient “m” may be positive, negative, or zero, making the countdown accelerate, decelerate, or remain constant, respectively.
As mentioned, online auction system 100 may provide configuration options to auction host 122 during auction creation to create a profile for the auction progression. Configuration options may include selection of fast, medium, or slow pace and/or selection of fast, medium, or slow acceleration, where selection may be made through radio buttons or the like or through a sliding scale selection. Other configuration options may include options to directly modify the coefficients of Equation 1. Note that profiles may be defined for individual item auctions or over the whole of the Live Auction. Auctioneer 118 may also be provided with selectable pace and/or acceleration options for modifying the progression profile before or during the Live Auction.
If no live bids are received during an item auction, the countdown progresses according to the pace and acceleration profile of the item auction or Live Auction. If a valid live bid is received during the item auction, meaning that the live bid is higher than the current bid of record by at least a predefined amount, then the higher bid is considered to be a trigger bid that triggers modification of the remaining duration value. If multiple bids are received at a same valid bid value, the first bid received at that bid value is the trigger bid. When a trigger bid is received, the variable “x” of Equation 1 is decreased, effectively taking a step backward in time. Correspondingly, the value of the function “f(x)” will change to reflect the change in “x” according to Equation 1. Conceptually, the countdown is set back. The Gauge is updated to indicate that more of the countdown now remains. If the Gauge is, for example, a ring around Showcase 960 as illustrated in
The amount of Recoil to use depends on the desired style of the Live Auction. A one hundred percent 100% Recoil would restart the countdown each time a higher live bid was received, whereas a zero percent 0% recoil would not modify the countdown when a higher live bid was received. Some percentage Recoil could introduce an excitement factor into the Live Auction, but a 100% Recoil could cause a Live Auction to extend too long.
Online auction system 100 may include a standard Recoil feature with a set Recoil value, or may provide auction host 122 a configuration option during auction creation to include the Recoil feature and set the Recoil value. Additionally or alternatively, auctioneer 118 may be provided options during the Live Auction to turn the Recoil feature on and off and to set the Recoil value. Setting the Recoil value could include selecting between predefined percentages, such as 30%, 50%, or 70%, and/or selecting a percentage on a sliding scale from, for example, 0% to 100%.
Recoil may be implemented according to a formula or a look-up table in a memory. In one exemplary implementation, Recoil is defined using a linear relationship, shown in Equation 6, wherein “x” represents the elapsed time since the start of the item auction and “x=0” represents the start of the item auction, as was the case for Equation 1 above. In Equation 6, the value of the function “g(x)” represents the amount of Recoil as a function of how far the item auction has already progressed.
g(x)=rx+s (6)
Coefficients “r” and “s” may be any value, but generally will be positive values between zero 0 and one 1 to extend the duration of the item auction without increasing beyond the initial duration value. For example, if “s” is equal to zero and “r” is equal to one, then the value of the function “g(x)” will be equal to the value of the elapsed time in the item auction, or 100% Recoil, for every trigger bid received. If, however, “s” is equal to zero and “r” is equal to “1.1”, then the value of the function “g(x)” will be greater than the elapsed time in the item auction, and the Recoil will extend the duration beyond the initial duration value, and as such, the Live Auction could continue for a very long time. Negative values for “r” or “s” could shorten the duration. For example, if “s” is equal to zero and “r” is equal to “−0.5”, then every trigger bid would shorten the duration of the Live Auction by one half of the elapsed time in the item auction, or 50% Recoil. Although in these examples, coefficient “s” has been zero, “s” may be used to further shape the Recoil.
Visually, the exemplary Gauge 955 illustrated in
In one implementation, the amount of Recoil may also be affected by the current bid amount. More expensive items represented by a current bid amount may be given more time in an auction in terms of Recoil as compared to inexpensive items. Merely by way of example, the Recoil amount may be calculated according to Equation 6 and then multiplied by a value of 1.1 for items where the current bid is over $100 and by a value of 1.2 for items where the current bid is over $1000, with the total adjusted Recoil value not exceeding the difference of the initial remaining duration value minus the current remaining duration value. Thus, bid amount or other variables may also affect the Recoil function.
Note that references to elapsed time do not refer to actual time elapsed in the item auction because each trigger bid may cause the elapsed time to be modified. Thus, elapsed time actually refers only to the current value of “x” in Equations 1-6.
The Recoil function may change throughout the Live Auction. As noted above, the coefficients of a formula may be modified during a Live Auction. Alternatively or additionally, a new formula may be used for stages within an item auction. For example, for a time equal to 25% of the initial duration value no Recoil is used, then 30% recoil is initiated for the remaining duration of the item auction.
As can be seen from the above discussion, the Gauge is updated as an item auction progresses. For example, in the implementation of
The Live Auction display includes a bid entry area. In the example described with respect to
When a Participant selects to submit a bid, for example by pressing the bid button 940 in the example of
When a bid is submitted on an auction item that is higher than the current bid, the bid value, as shown adjacent to the bid button in
In the Live Auction bid entry area, there is an area that may be occasionally offered to the Participant to place a user-defined bid. The user-defined bid includes a significantly larger increase over the current high bid than the predefined increment would be, and so is referred to herein as a Monster Bid. The Monster Bid may be limited as to its upper and lower values. For example, the Monster Bid may be limited to a minimum of 10% and a maximum of 200% over the current high bid.
A Participant may earn the opportunity to place a Monster Bid. After a bidder 120 has submitted a predefined number of bids in an item auction, the Monster Bid option is presented to the bidder 120. While earning the Monster Bid option, the bidder 120 may see a progress indicator. In
A Monster Bid temporarily disrupts the item auction by halting all action to let other Participants see the new bid and adjust their bidding strategies accordingly. The disruption feature may encourage higher bidding activity as bidders 120 attempt to earn the power to disrupt the auction.
Disruption may include visual and audio bomb-like effects, for example, explosion sounds, circles shown emanating out from the Showcase, color bursts, pulsations, and fireworks, and may cause tactile effects such as vibration in a smart phone or hand-held input device. Disruption may further include graphics such as showing the visual representations of the three high bidders 120 flying off the display, followed by displaying in The Showcase the visual indication of the bidder 120 who submitted the Monster Bid. The Monster Bid may cause changes to the item auction progression. For example, following a Monster Bid, the countdown may restart from the beginning and the Gauge may correspondingly indicate the initial remaining duration value.
A Monster Bid may override bids received from other bidders 120. For example, as discussed above a bid may cause a Recoil according to Equation 6, whereas a Monster Bid will interrupt the calculation of Equation 6 and the display of the updated Gauge, and set the remaining duration value to a new value and update the Gauge accordingly.
Following a Monster Bid, the item auction progresses as per the flow diagram of
In some implementations, the Live Auction display may provide a warning that a bidder 120 is contemplating placing a Monster Bid. For example, when a bidder 120 begins pressing the plus and minus buttons to select a Monster Bid value, the other Participants may see a visual representation or the name of the bidder 120. The warning may function to heighten the competition between the bidders 120.
During the Live Auction, the current auctioneer 118 has the option to control various aspects of the auction through the use of selection options on a control panel. Auction host 122 may also have a control panel including some or all of the control options that auctioneer 118 has. Auction host 122 may have additional controls. Thus, although the controls are discussed in some cases below in terms of availability to auctioneer 118, the descriptions may apply equally to controls available to auction host 122.
The control option “message” 1510 in the example of
The control option “notes” 1515 in the example of
The control option 1520 in the example of
The microphone control option 1535 in the example of
The control options “pause” 1540 and “resume” 1545 in the example of
The control option “skip” 1550 in the example of
The control options “speed up” and “slow down” in the example of
The control option “autopilot” 1560 in the example of
The control option “chat” 1605 in the example of
The control option “eject” 1610 in the example of
The control option “flag” 1615 in the example of
The control option “pass the microphone” 1620 in the example of
A control panel may provide options, not shown in the examples of
A control panel may provide more options or fewer options than those described above. Online auction system 100 may provide a standard control panel for display. Alternatively, an auction host 122 may be provided the option during auction creation to configure the control panel by, for example, adding selection options, changing the layout, and changing text formatting.
The control panel remains visible to the current auctioneer 118 as long as the Participant retains the role of auctioneer 118, including during the transition between items for sale.
The transition between items in the Live Auction is the intermission. At the end of an item auction, a winning screen displays the winner's visual representation and/or name and winning bid in or near the Showcase for a predefined amount of time, generally a few seconds. During this time, the winning bidder 120 may see a different winning screen than do the other Participants in the Live Auction. For example, the winning bidder 120 may see a message “You Won!” or the like and picture of the item won, whereas the other Participants may see only the name of the winner and the winning bid. Intermission begins following the winning screen.
During intermission, a scoreboard is displayed to all Participants. Scoring is discussed in detail below. The scoreboard identifies some number of the Participants. For example, the scoreboard may display the ten bidders 120 with the highest number of points in the last item auction or in the Live Auction, or any bidders 120 with more than a certain number of points. Alternatively, all Participants may be displayed on the scoreboard, and there may be scroll options to allow for viewing the entire list of Participants. The scoreboard may include the name of the Participant, the Participant's score and rating, a category identifier for the auction, such as “winner” or “pusher”, and a category identifier for the user across all auctions, such as “master” or “apprentice”. The scoreboard may include other information regarding the Participants such as familial, business, or collegiate relationship.
In another exemplary implementation of a Live Auction display during intermission, the item to be auctioned next may be displayed in or near a Showcase. Also displayed in or near the Showcase may be the starting bid value for the item, either as set by auction host 122 during auction creation or as set by pre-bids. If there is no starting bid value, meaning that no starting bid was set by auction host 122 and no pre-bids were received, then no bid value is displayed.
During intermission, Participants may browse the Gallery. During intermission, auctioneer 118 or auction host 122 may exercise any available controls, for example may modify the pace or profile of the Live Auction, may send voice or text messages to Participants, switch the order of the items to be auctioned, eject Participants, pass control to another Participant, pause the auction event, make notes, or select any other options available on the control panel. At the end of intermission the auction of the next item automatically begins by providing a bid entry area to the Participants.
In an alternative exemplary implementation for transitioning between items, after the winning screen of an item auction, a scoreboard may be displayed for a predefined time, followed by a display of the next item to be auctioned and a bid entry area. In this implementation, as soon as the next item is displayed, bidding may begin on the item.
The progression of the intermission and the format of the intermission display may be a standard set by online auction system 100. Alternatively, auction host 122 may have options for configuring the intermission during auction creation. For example, auction host 122 may have an option to set the duration, to determine the contents of the displays, and to determine what auctioneer 118 controls will be allowed for the intermission.
Participants in a Live Auction may earn points during the Live Auction. In some implementations, points may be earned only by bidders 120 in the Live Auction. Points are accumulated during each item auction in a Live Auction, and updated point totals may be displayed on the scoreboard during intermissions and at the end of the Live Auction. The total points earned in a Live Auction are added to a cumulative score (Score) of the user. The Score accumulates in one implementation across all auctions in which the user is a Participant although they may expire such as if unclaimed after a period of time. A user may have separate Scores for each of the roles Participant, host 122, and auctioneer 118.
Points and Score serve multiple functions in online auction system 100. Awarding points induces competitiveness during a Live Auction and encourages users to participate in multiple auctions. A user may “play” an auction like playing a game, learning to maximize points, and thus there is entertainment value for the user. The user also earns social status through high points earned in a Live Auction and through a high Score. Further, the user may build credibility as an auction Participant, bidder 120, host 122, or auctioneer 118, as applicable.
An auction host 122 may use the point totals in a Live Auction to determine the Participant with the highest point count, and reward that person with a host gift. Online auction system 100 may provide incentive to increase Scores, by providing for an exchange of points. For example, a user may cash in one thousand points for one free entry into an auction event, or system 100 may allow only those users with at least 100,000 points to join special “preferred participation” auction events. As another example, system 100 may provide for a user to donate points to charity, such that system 100 would donate some amount of currency to charity proportional to the amount of donated points. Points and Scores may provide many other benefits and uses in addition to those described.
In addition to Participant points, an auction point bucket (Bucket) for the Live Auction is increased proportionally each time a Participant in that Live Auction earns points. For example, if the proportion is one-to-two (1:2), then for every two points earned by a Participant, the Bucket is increased by one point. Thus, at the end of the Live Auction, the sum of all of the Participants' points is proportional to the total of the points in the Bucket. There may additionally be a Bucket for each item auction. In an implementation in which there are item auction Buckets, the winner of the item may be awarded a number of winner points equal to the points in the Bucket and a pusher in the item auction may be awarded a number of points equal to a portion, for example half, of the points in the Bucket. A pusher may be, for example, a bidder that pushes the selling price by submitting multiple bids in a bidding war against the winner. A pusher may simply be the second highest bidder or may be defined in a more complex way according to the timing and/or frequency of bids.
A Live Auction with a large number of bidders 120 may tend to have more bidding activity than a Live Auction with a small number of bidders 120 and thus the points earned may be vastly different. To account for this, the points for a Live Auction are normalized using a factor (Bidder Factor) related to the number of Participants in the auction, or the number of bidders 120 in the auction. The Bidder Factor may be determined formulaically, for example by multiplying a fractional number by the number of bidders 120. In this example, if the fractional number was 0.1 and the number of bidders 120 was 20, then the Bidder Factor would be 2.0 and a Participant's point total in the Live Auction would be multiplied by 2.0 before being added to the Participant's user Score. Normalization using a Bidder Factor also reduces the scoundrel influence on the scoring system, meaning that users conducting many small mock auctions to drive up Scores will be discouraged by the Score reduction from the Bidder Factor.
In one illustrative implementation, the Bidder Factor is set by category instead of being set formulaically. For example, there may be only three Bidder Factor categories: a category for one to three bidders 120 with a Bidder Factor of 0.5; a category for four to eight bidders 120 with a Bidder Factor of 0.75; and a category for nine or more bidders 120 with a Bidder Factor of 1.0. In this implementation, the scoundrel auction effect is minimized, while at the same time recognizing that beyond a certain number of bidders 120, additional bidders 120 may not make the auction more competitive.
Having described points, Scores, the Bucket, and the Bidder Factor, an exemplary award plan is now discussed. Table 1 includes a list of exemplary actions that may result in points being awarded to a Participant in a Live Auction. Tables 2 and 3 include exemplary points awarded for being an auction host 122 or auctioneer 118, respectively. Note that each table is in terms of points that will be added to the Score, meaning that the raw auction points are adjusted by the Bidder Factor (shown as BF) where applicable.
In some implementations, to encourage live bidding, a user does not earn points by submitting pre-bids.
Because points are awarded according to type of Participant activity and the timing of the activity, the Participant with the highest point count may be any bidder 120 in the Live Auction, including a bidder 120 who did not win any item. In the example of Table 1, this is illustrated by awards for the activities “Earn more points in an item auction than the winner of the item” and “Earn the most points in the Live Auction.”
An adjustment factor may account for differences in item value between auctions. For example, there may be a multiplying factor of two 2 for auctions with items valued over one thousand dollars $1,000, such that auction points are multiplied by two before being added to the user's Score.
Points and Scoring allow online auction system 100 to provide objective feedback to Participants based on activity within Live Auctions. Additionally, Participants may provide subjective feedback to auctioneer 118, auction host 122, and other Participants.
One example of Participant feedback is applause. During a Live Auction, a Participant may want to let auctioneer 118 know that the Participant is enjoying the auction, or that the Participant approves of the way auctioneer 118 is conducting the auction. The Participant may therefore select to applaud auctioneer 118. Applause is generated by selecting an applause button on the Live Auction display.
An auctioneer 118 may appreciate the applause but find it to be distracting, and therefore auctioneer 118 may be provided with a control option to mute applause. Applause may be automatically muted if auctioneer 118 selects to speak to the Participants.
Applause may be indicated additionally or alternatively to the sound of hands clapping together, by visually showing hands clapping together, or by displaying a lighted “APPLAUSE” sign or the like.
Another example of Participant feedback is ratings. After a Live Auction, Participants may be given the option to rate one or more of auctioneer 118, auction host 122, and the other Participants. As noted above, the rating and the Score are different: the Score is an objective mathematical evaluation and the rating is a subjective peer evaluation. Ratings may be input on a sliding scale, selected from a set, or entered into a field. For example, a Participant may be offered discrete options for submitting a rating of one (1) through five (5) wherein each of the ratings is described by some characteristic related to the auction. An auctioneer 118 rating of five could be described as “auction was organized and fun” and a rating of one as “auction was disorganized and/or boring”. As a further example, a Participant rating of five could be described as “participant contributed to the auction in a positive manner” and a rating of one as “participant was disruptive”.
The ratings submitted for a Participant are averaged to provide an auction rating for the Participant for the Live Auction just ended. The auction rating may then be, for example, weighted by multiplying the rating by the Bidder Factor or other factor and averaging the result with the Participant's cumulative user rating.
A Participant may also receive a separate auctioneer 118 rating and/or auction host 122 rating if applicable to the Live Auction. Auctioneer 118 and host 122 ratings may be averaged and weighted similarly to Participant ratings.
Ratings identify how each user of online auction system 100 is viewed by peers who attended auctions with the user. When a user first begins to use system 100, the user's rating may be skewed. Over time, however, a user's rating becomes more indicative of the user's peer approval rating. By looking at both the Score and the rating, an auction host 122 creating an auction may determine whether a user has an appropriate experience level and acceptable peer approval in determining whether to invite the user. Similarly, an invitee may look through the list of invitees who accepted invitations and determine if the experience level of the invitees is acceptable and if the invitees generally have high peer approval or low peer approval, to determine whether or not to join an auction. An invitee may look only at the Scores, selecting an auction to attend because, judging by the high Scores, the auction should be interesting. An invitee may look only at the ratings, preferring to avoid auctions that include multiple users with low ratings as it may be overly-competitive and not entertaining.
As can be appreciated by reading the foregoing descriptions of the auction from creation to Live Auction to rating, and later to fulfillment, an online auction system 100 may be quite expensive to implement and maintain.
To provide the auction service, and to further provide entertainment value by including components such as Monster Bid, Recoil, and Scoring in the auction, online auction system 100 must have a source of funding. In one exemplary implementation, online auction system 100 may sell advertisement space on the auction creation webpage, the auction home pages, and the Live Auction display. Advertisements, however, limit the useable space of a display and distract from the auction experience. In another exemplary implementation, the users of online auction system 100 may be charged a minimal fee to participate in various aspects of the auction, for example, ninety-nine cents (99¢) to create an auction or join an auction. In this way, users of the service pay for the service but the cost is low enough that it will not prevent users from creating and attending auctions. As discussed above, many components are included in system 100 to provide entertainment value in fun competition. Thus, for the example in which the cost is 99¢ to create an auction and 99¢ to join an auction, a group of four friends could create and participate in an auction for five dollars, providing a cheap evening of entertainment for the whole group.
Once an auction event is completed, the accounts of the Participants are tallied. There may be charges to auction host 122 for auction creation and charges to Participants for entry fees. Further, items won must be paid for. Payment for fees and items may be automatically deducted from an account or charged to an account. Alternatively, a user may be prompted to submit payment into online system 100. Accounting and payment are known in ecommerce applications.
When an item has been paid for, the seller is notified, for example via an email message or a message on a user account page. The seller must then package and send the item to the buyer. As discussed above, there may be multiple sellers, multiple items sold, and multiple buyers for one auction. Thus, unlike other online auctions that have one seller, one item sold, and one buyer, online auction system 100 must have the capability to provide communication between and monitor the interactions between the multiple buyers and multiple sellers, as well as provide status information to auction host 122 for all of the items sold in the auction. The system 100 must further have the capability to provide purchase and sale reports to buyers and sellers that have accounts in system 100, and the capability to provide auction reports to auction host 122.
User access to online auction system 100 may be implemented on any terminal 112, 114, 116. For a terminal 112, 114, 116 with a smaller screen such as a handheld smart phone, the graphical user interface (GUI) must be adjusted to fit the screen while still being viewable to a reasonable degree. As such, the GUI must be modified for display on the smaller screen. Modifications may entail, for example, removing visual components from displays, combining options into scrollable lists, and using hiding screens which appear only when a user selection tool approaches a certain area on the display. Views from an exemplary GUI for a small screen are illustrated in
The online auction system 100 may be implemented at least in part as computer-readable instructions (e.g., software) on one or more computing devices (e.g., servers, personal computers, etc.).
Computing devices generally include computer-executable instructions. In general, a processor (e.g., a microprocessor) receives instructions from a computer-readable medium and executes these instructions, thereby performing one or more processes, including one or more of the processes described herein. Such instructions and other data may be stored and transmitted using a variety of known computer-readable media.
A computer-readable medium (also referred to as a processor-readable medium) includes any tangible medium that participates in providing data (e.g., instructions) that may be read by a computer (e.g., by a processor of a computer). Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, DVD, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EEPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, or any other medium from which a computer can read. Instructions may be transmitted by one or more transmission media, including coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that comprise a system bus coupled to a processor of a computer. Transmission media may include or convey acoustic waves, light waves, and electromagnetic emissions, such as those generated during radio frequency (RF) and infrared (IR) data communications.
Computer-executable instructions may be compiled or interpreted from computer programs created using a variety of well-known programming languages and/or technologies, including, without limitation, and either alone or in combination, Java™, C, C++, Visual Basic, Java Script, Perl, PL/SQL, etc.
In general, computing systems and/or devices may employ any of a number of well-known computer operating systems, including, but by no means limited to, known versions and/or varieties of the Microsoft Windows® operating system, the Unix operating system (e.g., the Solaris® operating system distributed by Sun Microsystems of Menlo Park, Calif.), the AIX UNIX operating system distributed by International Business Machines of Armonk, N.Y., and the Linux operating system. Examples of computing devices include, without limitation, a computer workstation, a server, a desktop, notebook, laptop, or handheld computer, or some other known computing system and/or device.
Databases, data repositories or other data stores described herein may include various kinds of mechanisms for storing, accessing, and retrieving various kinds of data, including a hierarchical database, a set of files in a file system, an application database in a proprietary format, a relational database management system (RDBMS), etc. Each such data store is generally included within a computing device employing a computer operating system such as one of those mentioned above, and are accessed via a network in any one or more of a variety of manners, as is known. A file system may be accessible from a computer operating system, and may include files stored in various formats. An RDBMS generally employs the known Structured Query Language (SQL) in addition to a language for creating, storing, editing, and executing stored procedures, such as the PL/SQL language mentioned above.
With regard to the processes, systems, methods, heuristics, etc. described herein, it should be understood that, although the steps of such processes, etc. have been described as occurring according to a certain ordered sequence, such processes could be practiced with the described steps performed in an order other than the order described herein. It further should be understood that certain steps could be performed simultaneously, that other steps could be added, or that certain steps described herein could be omitted. In other words, the descriptions of processes herein are provided for the purpose of illustrating certain implementations, and should in no way be construed so as to limit the claimed invention.
Accordingly, it is to be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative and not restrictive. Many implementations and applications other than the examples provided would be apparent upon reading the above description. The scope of the invention should be determined, not with reference to the above description, but should instead be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. It is anticipated and intended that future developments will occur in the technologies discussed herein, and that the disclosed systems and methods will be incorporated into such future implementations. In sum, it should be understood that the invention is capable of modification and variation.
All terms used in the claims are intended to be given their broadest reasonable constructions and their ordinary meanings as understood by those knowledgeable in the technologies described herein unless an explicit indication to the contrary in made herein. In particular, use of the singular articles such as “a,” “the,” “said,” etc. should be read to recite one or more of the indicated elements unless a claim recites an explicit limitation to the contrary.
Reference in the specification to “one example,” “an example,” “one approach,” “an application,” “an implementation” or similar language means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the example is included in that example; however, multiple instances of such phrases does not necessarily refer to the same example.
Reference in the specification to “software” includes “firmware”, instructions built in to the hardware.
Nothing in this specification should be read to preclude an online auction system 100 implemented as a peer-to-peer application.
