Auction redemption system and method

An auction processing server for allowing a plurality of bidders to bid on at least one item, comprising:

• an account database with account records in which points, including credit points, are maintained in encrypted form, the points being redeemable and representing payment units, wherein the credit points comprise attention points adapted for bids for an auction which are issued by a merchant for viewing an advertising of the merchant, wherein for each group of one or more points there is an expiration date at which unredeemed points are eliminated, wherein each account record is associated with a bidder, and wherein the credit points are not owned by but made available to any of the bidders who is qualified;
• first logic that receives bids from the plurality of bidders for an item to be auctioned by the merchant, where each bid is associated with a bidder-selected number of points and an automated maximum number of points;
• second logic that reserves each bidder's automated maximum number of points from the respective bidder's account record if the bidder's automated maximum number of payment units is available in that account record;
• and
• third logic that redeems the reserved points of a winning bid for the item.

A point based auction system comprising:

• a database with accounts for holding points in encrypted form the points including credit points not owned by but made available to users who are qualified and any number of incentive points awarded to such users, wherein the credit points comprise attention points adapted for bids for an auction which are issued by a merchant for viewing an advertising of the merchant, the accounts including a first account for a first user and a second account for a second user, wherein for each group of one or more points there is an expiration time;
• a processor;
• a communications port connected to clients associated with the first user and the second user, respectively;
• a memory embodying a computer program for taking as an input bids for an item to be auctioned by the merchant received from the first user and the second user through the communications port, each bid constituting a number of points and relating to an item being auctioned, said computer program having program instructions for causing the processor to perform the steps of:
• (a) validating each bid by checking it against the database to confirm that the user submitting the bid owns at least the number of points specified in the bid, (b) storing information identifying the current high bid, (c) reserving a number of points equal to the current high bid from the account of the user who submitted that bid to prevent use of the points for any other purpose unless and until unreserved, (d) unreserving reserved points once a higher bid is received and validated, (e) at the end of the auction, awarding the item to the user with the highest bid at that point, (f) subtracting the number of points representing the winning bid from the account of the user who submitted the winning bid, and (g) discarding from the accounts any unredeemed points whose time has expired.

An auction method performed by a networked computer system, comprising:

• instantiating in a server a database with a plurality of accounts for holding points in an encrypted form, the points in each account of a user including credit points not owned by but made available to such user if qualified and incentive points if any are awarded to such user, wherein the credit points comprise attention points adapted for bids for an auction which are issued by a merchant for viewing an advertising of the merchant, wherein for each group of one or more points there is an expiration time;
• operating an auction server for:
• (a) initiating an on line auction for an item to be auctioned by the merchant, including specifying a minimum number of points required for an opening bid;
• (b) receiving a first bid from the first user via a web server;
• (c) comparing the first bid against the minimum number and rejecting the first bid if the first bid is lower than the minimum number;
• (d) comparing the first bid against the number of points available in the first account and rejecting the first bid if the first bid is higher than the number of points available in the first account;
• (e) if the first bid has not been rejected, storing an indication that the first bid is the current high bid and reserving out of the first account a number of points for the first bid;
• (f) receiving a second bid from the second user via the web server;
• (g) comparing the second bid against the current high bid and rejecting the first bid if the first bid is lower than the current high bid;
• (h) comparing the second bid against the number of points available in the second account and rejecting the second bid if the second bid is greater than the number of points available in the second stored account;
• (i) if the second bid has not been rejected, storing an indication that the second bid is the current high bid, reserving out of the second account a number of points for the second bid, and unreserving the points previously reserved out of the first account;
• (j) after receipt of n additional bids, closing the auction;
• and
• (k) awarding the item to the user who submitted the highest valid bid by the close of the auction and removing from that user's account the number of points reserved for that bid, whereby the number of points reserved for the bid are redeemed for the item;
• and
• removing by the server any unredeemed points from the first and second accounts in the database if their time has expired.

A computer system comprising:

• a first database with at least a first of three entries of points for each user of which the first entry is of points, including incentive points, which are held for such user, the second entry is of points which are reserved for a bid, if made, out of the first entry of points, and the third entry is of credit points not owned but available as a credit to such user if the user is deemed qualified, wherein the credit points comprise attention points adapted for bids for an auction which are issued by a merchant for viewing an advertising of the merchant, wherein for each group of one or more points there is an expiration time;
• a second database including entries of items to be auctioned on which users are capable of submitting a bid of a number of points, wherein the item is to be auctioned by the merchant, wherein if a user's bid for one of the items is a winning bid reserved points from the user's second entry are redeemable for the item;
• means for adding incentive points to a user's first entry when the first user performs actions for which incentive points are awarded;
• means for adding incentive points to a user's second entry when the user submits a valid bid higher than any other bid submitted in an auction;
• means for deleting incentive unreserving points from a user's second entry when a valid bid is received from another user which is higher than the user's valid bid;
• and
• means for removing any unredeemed points from entries in the first database whose time has expired.

A point-based computerized auction system comprising:

• a database with accounts, each account being associated with a user and having points, including credit points not owned by but made available to the user if qualified and any number of incentive points awarded to the user, wherein the credit points comprise attention points adapted for bids for an auction which are issued by a merchant for viewing an advertising of the merchant, the points being maintained in encrypted form, wherein for each group of one or more points there is an expiration date;
• a communications port connected to one or more clients, wherein a client is associated with a user;
• a processor;
• and
• a memory embodying a computer program having program instructions for causing the processor to perform the steps of:
• (a) taking as inputs reserve amounts and bids for an item to be auctioned by the merchant received from users through the communications port, each reserve amount representing a maximum number of points to be reserved for an auction from a respective users account, each bid submitted by a user for one or more items consisting of a number of points to be redeemed from the respective user's account, (b) checking each reserve amount against the database to confirm that the user submitting the bid owns at least the number of points specified in the respective reserve amount, (c) for each reserve amount, subtracting that reserve amount from a respective user's account, (d) checking each bid against the database to confirm that the bid is lower than the reserve amount associated with the bid, (e) storing information identifying the current high bid, (f) unreserving the reserve amount once a higher bid is received and validated, (g) at the end of the auction, awarding the item to the user with the highest bid at that instant, and (h) removing any unredeemed points whose time has expired.

A method performed by a computer system, comprising:

• instantiating a database in a computer with a communication port for receiving bids from users, the database being instantiated for maintaining a plurality of accounts that hold points in encrypted form, wherein in each account for a user the points include incentive points if any are awarded to the user and credit points not owned by the user but made available to such user if qualified, wherein the credit points comprise attention points adapted for bids for an auction which are issued by a merchant for viewing an advertising of the merchant, and wherein for each group of one or more points there is an expiration time;
• awarding a quantity of incentive points to a first user, including accessing the database for adding that quantity to a first one of the accounts associated with the first user;
• awarding a quantity of incentive points to a second user, including accessing the database for adding that quantity to a second one of the accounts associated with the second user;
• automatically removing incentive points from the first and second accounts if not redeemed by the expiration time;
• initiating by the computer an on-line auction for an item to be auctioned by the merchant, including:
• specifying a minimum number of points required for an opening bid;
• receiving on-line a first bid from the first user;
• comparing the first bid against the minimum number and rejecting the first bid if it is lower than the minimum number;
• and
• comparing the first bid against the number of points in the first one of the accounts and rejecting the first bid if it is higher than the number of incentive points in that account.