Estimating the total sales over streaming bids

An apparatus for computing an estimation of maximum total sales over streaming items, the apparatus comprising:

• memory comprising computer-executable instructions;
• and
• a processor executing the computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
• receiving items with associated item values as bids on the items received;
• individually designating each item having an associated value as an item value pair;
• establishing value ranges to place item value pairs, wherein the value ranges are distinct and the value ranges are respectively designated from a first value range through a last value range, where the first value range is a lowest value range, the last value range is a highest value range, and other value ranges are in between the first value range and the last value range;
• performing an iteration comprising:
• respectively adding each of the item value pairs into the value ranges according to each of the associated values for the item value pairs;
• removing repeated item value pairs associated with a same item that are in same ones of the value ranges;
• randomly selecting a number of the item value pairs to remove from each of the value ranges, the number based on an error factor;
• computing an estimate of a total maximum value of the bids for the item value pairs in all of the value ranges based on summation of all the value ranges and a scale factor.