Patent ID: 7461024
Filing Date: 2008-12-02
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A method of automating an interaction between a bidder and an electronic, dynamic pricing online auction hosting service comprising: a. receiving a registration of a bidder at an online, computer-implemented, Internet-based, bidder-centric bidding automation services application site, wherein said bidder-centric bidding automation services application site is separate from any online auction hosting services site, by creating logon credentials that are used to at least one of authenticate and/or authorize the bidder's use of services of the bidder-centric bidding automation services application site; and receiving at least one auction hosting services site account associated with the bidder; b. receiving financial transaction instrument information of the bidder to fund said bidder-centric bidding automation services application site; c. receiving at least one auction and one of said at least one online auction hosting services sites associated with said at least one auction, and storing said at least one auction in a bid portfolio of the bidder for acquiring data using at least one scan agent and/or at least one bid proxy; d. providing monitoring, by the at least one scan agent, of temporal progression of the at least one auction, and notifying the bidder and/or the at least one bid proxy of any changes affecting the bidder's programmed bid parameters of the at least one auction, wherein said monitoring by the at least one scan agent is performed at least within a time of auction closing window (TACW), wherein TACW is a function of at least one of: a current bid, a relative differential bid value, a minimum valid bid increment, auction hosting services site performance parameters, auction site telemetry information computed based on recent response times and network latencies as determined by the scan agent, and/or delay close counter measures; e. enabling activating of the at least one bid proxy to programmatically bid on said at least one auction of said one of said at least one online auction hosting services site, by emulating the bidder's input, including navigation and command input, to said at least one online auction hosting services site, the at least one bid proxy placing at least one bid, driven by said programmed bid parameters, until said at least one auction is either won or lost by a time of auction close (TAC) of said at least one auction, wherein said bidding by the at least one bid proxy begins at a start of said TACW and ends at TAC, and wherein said at least one scan agent determines whether or not a competitive bid has outbid a most recent bid of the bidder; and f. activating the at least one bid proxy to programmatically place at least one counter bid by the emulating of the input of the bidder for said at least one online auction hosting services site, if said competitive bid is determined to have been placed and detected before the time of auction closing of said at least one auction, wherein said at least one counter bid comprises computing and executing a valid higher bid for a forward auction or a lower bid for a reverse auction, that is within said programmed bid parameters, if said competitive bid has been made and accepted by the auction site that is higher for the forward auction or lower for the reverse auction than the most recent bid detected by the at least one scan agent.