Patent ID: 7133841
Filing Date: 2006-11-07
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A method for conducting a progressive, price-driven, combinatorial auction of items over a communications network, the method comprising: (a) receiving at a computer site bids for the items being auctioned from a plurality of bidders wherein each of the bids represents at least one bundle of items and at least one associated offer price; (b) calculating an interim allocation of bundles to the bidders that maximizes or approximates a total value of winning bids; (c) calculating an interim winning price for each bundle in the interim allocation based on a k-bundle price algorithm which ensures that the bidders can determine whether they are winning the auction from the interim winning prices; (d) transmitting the interim allocation and the interim winning prices to the bidders; (e) receiving upwardly-revised bids from the bidders at the computer site in response to step (d); (f) calculating a revised, interim allocation of bundles to the bidders and a revised, interim winning price for each bundle in the revised, interim allocation based on the revised bids; (g) transmitting the revised, interim allocation and the revised, interim winning prices to the bidders; (h) repeating steps (e) through (g) until a termination criterion is satisfied; and (i) declaring the last revised, interim allocation and the last revised, interim winning prices as an auction result after termination of the bidding process.