Patent ID: 7702540
Filing Date: 2010-04-20
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A computer-implemented method for conducting auctions on the Internet, the method comprising: receiving over a communication network, by a communication handler program executing on a networked market maker computer, information from a remote computer of a first entity corresponding to an item for auction, the information received via the communication network from the remote computer of the first entity including (i) a designation of an item category, selected from a list of item categories presented at the remote computer of the first entity, under which the item for auction is to be listed, and (ii) input relating to scheduling an auction for the item; processing, by a mapping module at the networked market maker computer, at least a portion of the received information from a database format into a world wide web presentation format, the presentation format including an indication of the selected designation of the category of the item for auction; based at least in part on the selected category designation and the auction scheduling information previously received from the remote computer of the first entity, automatically initiating an instance of an ascending-bid auction process to conduct an ascending-bid auction for the item over the Internet from the networked market maker computer; wherein the automatically initiated auction process conducts the auction to completion by performing operations including: terminating the auction after a predetermined time.