Bidding engine for intention-based e-commerce among buyers and competing sellers

Apparatus, comprising:

• one or more hardware processors;
• computer memory storing transaction processing computer program code adapted to be executed in the one or more hardware processors to:
• receive a first data set from a first entity, the first data set defining a product or service that the first entity desires to obtain, and a value the first entity is willing to pay to obtain the product or service;
• receive a second data set from each of one or more of a set of second entities, a respective second data set being uniquely associated with a respective second entity and including a range of prices that the respective second entity is willing to accept for providing the product or service, and a bid strategy defining how the respective second entity desires to bid to obtain a right to provide the product or service;
• execute a bid process by applying, iteratively, a bidding algorithm against the second data sets to generate, on a continuous basis, a set of active bids, wherein each active bid in the set of active bids is generated by a distinct processing thread and identifies a given second entity and a price within the range of prices offered by the given second entity as determined at least in part by the given second entity's bid strategy, and wherein each active bid in the set of active bids is generated asynchronously with respect to at least one other active bid such that the set of active bids are generated in a manner that avoids continuous processing by the apparatus even as a number of processing threads increase, thereby providing an improved operation of the apparatus and avoiding undesired pricing equilibria wherein respective second entities are driven to minimum prices within their respective price ranges as a result of bidding;
• provide the active bids, together with any update to an active bid that results from an iteration of the bid process, to the first entity, wherein updates are provided to the first entity via an asynchronous data interchange mechanism that does not interfere with a display behavior of the active bid;
• upon receipt of data indicating a selection from the set of active bids by the first entity, wherein the selection may occur without reference to a predefined bidding deadline, taking an action to facilitate the online transaction between the first entity and a given one of the second entities associated with the selection;
• the transaction processing computer program code providing for an improved online transaction processing mechanism that operates without destructive bidding cycles among the set of second entities.