Patent ID: 6449601
Filing Date: 2002-09-10
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
A system for allowing remote bidders to participate by computer in a live auction conducted by a human auctioneer in the presence of on-site bidders, the system comprising:an auction console program which runs on a computer at a site of the auction, the auction console program providing an interface for a human proxy to communicate with the remote bidders in real time about the live auction, the interface providing functionality for the human proxy to receive bids from the remote bidders for communication to the auctioneer, and further providing functionality for the human proxy to enter information about a current state of the auction, including information about successful bids from on-site bidders; an auction server which communicates with the console program and with computers of the remote bidders, the auction server programmed to maintain a real time auction state which reflects the information entered by the human proxy and bids submitted by the remote bidders, the auction server further programmed to communicate information about the real time auction state to the remote bidders to allow the remote bidders to monitor the auction in real time; and a plurality of physical network nodes coupled between the auction server and the computers of the remote bidders, the nodes programmed to pass the real time auction state information from the auction server to the remote bidders, and programmed to pass bid messages from the remote bidders to the auction server for processing; wherein at least some of the plurality of nodes are further programmed to filter bid messages from the remote bidders based on auction state information received from the auction server, to thereby prevent at least some of the bid messages that represent invalid bids from unnecessarily being passed to the auction server.