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US 11,769,197 B2Granted
Interest gauge based auction
AssigneeXcira, Inc
InventorsNancy J. Rabenold, James A. Simmons
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Information about participants in an auction are received and analyzed along with information about products to be auctioned and other information to generate an interest gauge. The interest gauge may reflect the interest of a buyer, a seller, an auction house or any other entity in the auctioning event. Based on the interest gauge, the operations of the auction can be augmented and/or modified to be optimal in view of revenue generation, products moved, and a balance between the two. For instance, the buyer interest gauge could be used to create packages of items to be auctioned in a combinatorial auction.
Claims24
A computer-implemented method for dynamically adjusting and directing a live auction in real-time as an auctioning event is active, the method comprising the actions of:
- a server executing a first algorithm to obtain from a first data source existing on a network accessible system, a plurality of participant entities for an active auctioning event and to query network accessible content associated with each of the plurality of participant entities and extracting information that is related to each of the plurality of participant entities;
- the server executing a second algorithm to obtain descriptive information pertaining to a plurality of items to be auctioned during the auctioning event from a second data source existing on the network accessible system;
- the server generating a buyer interest gauge for each of the plurality of participant entities, and updating the buyer interest gauge in real time, each buyer interest gauge being based at least in part on the obtained information for each participant entity, wherein at least a portion of the obtained information is obtained by the server executing an algorithm to query and scrape a website associated with either the first data source or the data source over the network;
- the server modifying the live auction in real-time based on the buyer interest gauge for one or more of the plurality of participant entities by:
- accessing the inventory of items for an auction site;
- identifying combinations of the plurality of items based at least in part on the descriptive information pertaining to the plurality of items to be auctioned in the auctioning event and the buyer interest gauge for each of the plurality of participant entities;
- selecting in real-time a particular combination of items for bidding during the auctioning event if the buyer interests gauge for one or more of the plurality of participant entities indicates that the particular combination would result in higher bids from the one or more of the plurality of entities;
- and
- interfacing to the auctioning system to modify the auctioning event in real-time by causing the auctioning system to present the selected particular combination of items for bidding during the auctioning event.
6 more elements
A computer-implemented auction system comprising:
- a first machine readable data source containing participant entity profile information for a plurality of participant entities that are anticipated to participate in an auctioning event, the first machine readable data source existing on a network accessible system;
- a second machine readable data source containing descriptive information pertaining to a plurality of items to be auctioned during the auctioning event, the second machine readable data source existing on a network accessible system;
- and
- a server communicatively coupled to the first machine readable data source and the second machine readable data source over a network and configured to modify the auctioning event in real-time based at least in part on information received from the first machine readable data source and the second machine readable data source by:
- generating a buyer interest gauge for each of a plurality of participant entities that are anticipated to participate in an auctioning event, each buyer interest gauge being based at least in part on participant entity profile information for each participant entity, wherein at least a portion of the profile information is obtained by the server executing an algorithm to query and scrape a website associated with either the machine readable first data source or the second machine readable data source over the network;
- obtaining descriptive information pertaining to a plurality of items to be auctioned during the auctioning event, wherein at least a portion of the descriptive information is obtained by the server executing an algorithm to query and scrape a web site associated with either the first machine readable data source or the second machine readable data source over the network;
- accessing the inventory of an auction site and identifying combinations of the plurality of items to be auctioned based at least in part on the descriptive information pertaining to the plurality of items to be auctioned in the auctioning event and each of the buyer interest gauges;
- and
- causing an auctioning system hosting the auctioning event to modify the auctioning event in real-time by offering a particular combination for bidding during the auctioning event if the buyer interest gauges indicate that one or more participant entities would provide higher bids on the particular combination rather than a different combination or the items individually.
6 more elements
A computer-implemented auction server comprising:
- an interface to a first data source accessible on a network and containing participant entity profile information for a plurality of participant entities that are participating in a live auctioning event and to a second data source accessible on the network and containing descriptive information pertaining to a plurality of items to be auctioned during the live auctioning event;
- a server configured to:
- analyze the participant entity profile information in real-time to generate a buyer interest gauge for each of the plurality of participant entities, each buyer interest gauge being based at least in part on the participant entity profile information, wherein at least a portion of the profile information is obtained by the server executing an algorithm to query and scrape a website associated with either the first data source and/or the second data source over the network;
- when a particular items comes up to be auctioned, create a package consisting of a combination of particular items selected from the plurality of items to be auctioned, wherein the created package is based at least in part on information obtained over an interface with the first data source and the second data source in real-time during the auctioning event and the generated buyer interest gauge;
- identify one or more additional items from the plurality of items based on the generated buyer interest gauge;
- include the one or more additional items in the created package wherein at least one service related to the one or more of the items in the package is included in the created package;
- and
- dynamically modify the live auctioning event in real-time by changing the flow of items through the auctioning event by offering the created package with the one or more additional items for auctioning rather than the particular item.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.