Claims
- 1. A method for facilitating the sale of an item by a seller in an auction involving a plurality of buyers, comprising:
defining a plurality of transformation functions available for use in said auction; identifying a bid for said item, said bid made by one of said plurality of buyers; selecting, based at least in part on said bid or said buyer, at least one of said plurality of transformation functions; applying said selected transformation function to said bid to produce a transformed bid; and updating a state of said auction based on said transformed bid.
- 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
determining if said transformed bid is a winning bid of said auction; and notifying said buyer and said seller of said winning bid.
- 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
generating status data representing said state of said auction.
- 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:
receiving a status request; selecting a second transformation function based on said status request; and applying said second transformation function to said status data to produce a transformed status.
- 5. The method of claim 4, wherein said second transformation function is at least one of: a function which is the inverse of said transformation function over some range of said transformation function; a function which dependent on said transformation function; and a function which is independent of said transformation function.
- 6. The method of claim 4, wherein said status request is received from one of said plurality of buyers.
- 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
identifying at least a third transformation function associated with said bid; and wherein said applying includes applying both said transformation function and said at least third transformation function to said bid to produce said transformed bid.
- 8. The method of claim 7, wherein said at least third transformation function is identified based on at least one of: said item, said buyer, said bid, and said transformation function.
- 9. The method of claim 1, wherein said transformation function is comprised of a plurality of intermediate transformations.
- 10. The method of claim 9, wherein said plurality of intermediate transformations are based on at least one of: said bid, said offer, said buyer, said seller, said item, an identity of said seller, an identity of said buyer, a relationship between said buyer and said seller, information about said buyer, information about said seller, information about said item, information about the state of said auction, information about prices for items comparable to said item in other markets, a bid history in said auction, an offer history in said auction, a bid history in a second auction, an offer history in a second auction, information about commercial transactions conducted by said buyer, information about commercial transactions conducted by said seller, information about sales or purchase behaviors of said buyer, information about sales or purchase behaviors of said seller, information about the status of a supply chain, information about economy conditions, information about demand and supply balance, rules about the composition or interaction of transformation functions, rules about the conduct of said auction, a characteristic of said bid, and a characteristic of said offer.
- 11. The method of claim 9, wherein each of said intermediate transformations are applied in a sequence.
- 12. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said receiving a bid, said identifying a transformation function, and said applying said transformation function are performed by a buyer computing device operated by said buyer.
- 13. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said receiving a bid, said identifying a transformation function, and said applying said transformation function are performed by a service provider computing device operated by a service provider.
- 14. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said receiving a bid, said identifying a transformation function, and said applying said transformation function are performed by an auction administrator computing device operated by an auction administrator.
- 15. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving a bid, said identifying a transformation function, and said applying said transformation function are each performed by an auction administrator computing device operated by an auction administrator, by a buyer computing device operated by said buyer, or by a service provider computing device operated by a service provider.
- 16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
determining if said transformed bid is the current best bid of said auction; and updating a state of said auction to indicate that said transformed bid is the current best bid.
- 17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
verifying the accuracy of said transformation function.
- 18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
verifying the accuracy of said transformation function; and updating a state of said auction to indicate that said transformed bid is the current best bid.
- 19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
receiving at least a second bid for said item from a second buyer; comparing said second bid to said transformed bid to determine if said transformed bid or said second bid is the current best bid; and updating a state of said auction to identify the current best bid.
- 20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
awarding said item to said buyer for the terms set forth in said bid if said transformed bid is the current best bid at an end of a bidding period for said item.
- 21. The method of claim 1, wherein said bid includes at least one of: a bid price; a bid quantity; and a desired configuration.
- 22. The method of claim 21, wherein said transformation function modifies at least one of said bid price, said bid quantity, and said desired configuration.
- 23. The method of claim 1, wherein said transformation function includes at least one parameter whose value is determined based on data extrinsic to said auction.
- 24. The method of claim 23, wherein said at least one parameter includes at least one of: a foreign exchange rate; a shipping rate; an interest rate, an amount about the auction, a number about the supply chain status, and a market price of a component of said item.
- 25. The method of claim 1, wherein said auction is at least one of: an English auction, a Dutch auction, a Japanese auction, a sealed-bid auction, a double auction, a multiple-unit auction, a time interval auction, a call auction, a first price auction, a uniform second price auction, a combinatorial auction, and a multi-attribute auction.
- 26. A method for conducting an auction involving a plurality of buyers competing for an item offered by a seller, comprising:
defining a plurality of transformation functions available for use in said auction; receiving a request for a status of said auction from a buyer; selecting, based at least in part on said request for status, at least a first one of said plurality of transformation functions; applying said at least first transformation function to said status to generate a transformed status; and presenting said transformed status to said buyer.
- 27. A method for facilitating the sale of an item by a seller in a sell-side auction involving a plurality of buyers, comprising:
establishing a plurality of transformation functions available for application in said sell-side auction; receiving, from a first buyer, a bid on said item; selecting, based at least in part on said bid, a first transformation function from said plurality of transformation functions; applying said first transformation function to said bid to generate a transformed bid; updating a status of said sell-side auction to reflect said transformed bid; receiving, from a second buyer, a request for a status of said sell-side auction; selecting, based at least in part on said request, at least a second transformation function from said plurality of transformation functions; applying said at least second transformation function to said request to generate a transformed status of said sell-side auction; and presenting said transformed status to said second buyer.
- 28. A method for participating in an auction involving a plurality of buyers and at least one seller of an item, comprising:
registering to participate as a buyer in said auction; and establishing at least a first transformation function for use in said auction.
- 29. The method of claim 28, further comprising:
submitting a bid on said item, said bid operated on by said at least first transformation function to create a transformed bid; and receiving a status of said auction, said status reflecting said transformed bid.
- 30. An auction registration method, comprising:
receiving information identifying a buyer; and establishing, based at least in part on said information identifying said buyer, at least one transformation function for said buyer, said at least one transformation function for use in transforming bids made by said buyer in at least one sell-side auction.
- 31. The method of claim 30, further comprising:
communicating said at least one transformation function for said buyer to an administrator of said at least one sell-side auction.
- 32. A method for conducting a sell-side auction having a plurality of buyers competitively bidding for an item offered by a seller, the method comprising:
receiving, from a first buyer, a first bid for said item; identifying a transformation function associated with said first bid; applying said transformation function to said first bid to produce a first transformed bid; receiving, from a second buyer, a second bid for said item; identifying a second transformation function associated with said second bid; applying said second transformation function to said second bid to produce a second transformed bid; and comparing said first and second transformed bids and accepting the best one of said bids as the current best bid of said exchange.
- 33. A method for conducting an auction having a plurality of buyers competitively bidding for an item offered by a seller, the method comprising:
receiving, from a first buyer, a first transformed bid for said item, said first transformed bid produced by a first transformation function; receiving, from a second buyer, a second transformed bid for said item, said second transformed bid produced by a second transformation function; and comparing said first and said second transformed bids and accepting the best as the current best bid of said auction.
- 34. A method for bidding on an item in a sell-side auction, comprising:
generating a bid for said item; identifying at least a first transformation function for said bid; applying said at least first transformation function to said bid to generate a transformed bid; and forwarding said transformed bid to an auction administrator.
- 35. A personalized dynamic pricing method, comprising:
identifying a first bid for an item in an auction; applying a first transformation function to said first bid to generate a transformed first bid; and updating a status of said auction to reflect said transformed first bid.
- 36. The method of claim 35, further comprising:
generating a transformed status of said auction.
- 37. A device for facilitating the sale of an item by a seller in an auction involving a plurality of buyers, comprising:
means for defining a plurality of transformation functions available for use in said auction; means for identifying a bid for said item, said bid made by one of said plurality of buyers; means for selecting, based at least in part on said bid or said buyer, at least one of said plurality of transformation functions; means for applying said selected transformation function to said bid to produce a transformed bid; and means for updating a state of said auction based on said transformed bid.
- 38. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing steps, comprising:
defining a plurality of transformation functions available for use in said auction; identifying a bid for said item, said bid made by one of said plurality of buyers; selecting, based at least in part on said bid or said buyer, at least one of said plurality of transformation functions; applying said selected transformation function to said bid to produce a transformed bid; and updating a state of said auction based on said transformed bid.
- 39. A system for conducting an auction involving a plurality of buyers competing for an item offered by a seller, comprising:
a processor; a communications device, in communication with said processor, receiving
a request for a status of said auction from a buyer device; a request for a status of said auction from a buyer device; and a memory unit in communication with said processor and storing a program, wherein said processor is operative with said program to
define a plurality of transformation functions available for use in said auction; select, based at least in part on said request for status, at least a first one of said plurality of transformation functions; apply said at least first transformation function to said status to generate a transformed status; and forward said transformed status to said buyer.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is related to the following co-pending and commonly assigned U.S. patent applications (the content of each of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein for all purposes):
[0002] U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, filed (on even date herewith) for “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PERSONALIZED DYNAMIC PRICING” (Attorney Docket No. I01.50 and Client Docket No. YOR920010388US1);
[0003] U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, filed (on even date herewith) for “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONDUCTING A BUY-SIDE AUCTION” (Attorney Docket No. I01.52 and Client Docket No. YOR920010410US1);
[0004] U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, filed (on even date herewith) for “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONDUCTING A TWO-SIDED AUCTION” (Attorney Docket No. I01.53 and Client Docket No. YOR920010411 US1);
[0005] U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, filed (on even date herewith) for “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ESTABLISHING CUSTOMIZED LEASING TERMS” (Attorney Docket No. I01.54 and Client Docket No. YOR920010412US1);
[0006] U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, filed (on even date herewith) for “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FACILITATING TRANSACTIONS AMONG DISPARATE ENTITIES” (Attorney Docket No. I01.55 and Client Docket No. YOR920010413US1); and
[0007] U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, filed (on even date herewith) for “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR BUNDLING GOODS” (Attorney Docket No. I01.56 and Client Docket No. YOR920010414US1).