Patent Publication Number: US-2007100739-A1

Title: Method and system for implementing a target group for integrated auction services on a seller&#39;s e-commerce site

Description:
COPYRIGHT NOTICE  
      A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office, patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.  
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention relates to a method and system for providing integrated auction services through a seller&#39;s e-commerce site. In particular, the present invention relates to restricting access to integrated auction services through target groups in an internal auction system.  
     BACKGROUND  
      Businesses traditionally look for effective ways in which to make their products available to potential buyers. In addition to sales through physical “brick and mortar” stores, innovative ways to sell products are often used especially to dispose of old or excess inventory. The advent of the Internet along with the accompanying revolution in computer and network technology has created new sales paradigms and allowed businesses to establish their own electronic commerce (“e-commerce”) presence through the use of, for example, Internet Web sites. E-commerce sales have steadily grown and now account for a significant portion of business-to-consumer as well as business-to-business sales. Auctions make up a significant portion of e-commerce sales and have grown into an increasingly more important sales paradigm.  
      The revolution in network and computer capability along with the mass availability and development of the Internet facilitates alternative methods of sales such as auctions. Network-based electronic auctions, such as for example those conducted over the Internet, may allow a seller considerable control over an auction and may increase auction participation. For example, a seller may want to limit participation in the auction where the potential pool of potential customers is limited or where allowing an open auction may, in some manner, hinder the auction process. In another example where an auction may be open to all potential bidders it is often beneficial to maximize the number of people participating in the auction in order to extract the greatest price for the product or lot being auctioned. The Internet and network-based computing provide the ability to aggregate large numbers of bidders for an auction in an easier and generally less costly manner than through traditional auctions. Though network-based auctions (e.g., Internet based auctions) provide significant advantages, the reliance on third party auction providers has limited a seller&#39;s control in a number of ways including through rules on the conformance of auction procedures and the loss of control over restricting auction participation and bidding.  
      Third party auction providers provide a large scale e-commerce community portal that brings together large numbers of buyers and sellers who gather to trade in goods and services. Everyday, millions of items across thousands of categories are available on third party auction providers for sale by auction and for a fixed price, enabling trade on a local, national, and international basis with customized Internet Web sites in markets around the world. These third party auction providers may provide auction services for the seller as well as access to a ready pool of potential buyers but in exchange they may require a seller to conform their auctioning processes and procedures. In addition, a third party auction provider typically takes a fee that may be fixed or proportional to the value of the auctioned goods and/or services. In both cases, the seller loses some degree of control over the auction process in exchange for using the third party auction service.  
      In addition to the limitations on auction procedures and processes imposed by a third party auction provider, a business may not be able to make maximum use of its business information in providing and generating auctions through a third party auction service. Businesses have typically kept their information, including information regarding their assets and inventory they wish to sell or auction off, in database systems that are part of their corporate information systems. Conventional systems provide limited linking between these business information management systems and online Web auction services, and, therefore, manual involvement with the Web auction service is required for each auction or sales posting conducted. These problems may be overcome and the limitations of third party auction services avoided by providing auction services through a seller&#39;s own e-commerce site. In this manner, full advantage may be taken by linking a seller&#39;s business information management systems with its e-commerce site allowing greater automation of the auction submission, tracking, and post-auction processing. An integrated internal auction system solves these problems in a novel manner providing considerable advantages to a seller. In this manner, a seller may be able to control customer access to an auction on a seller&#39;s internal auction system. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1   a  is a diagram illustrating the integrated internal auction system according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 1   b  is a diagram illustrating a general integrated auction process according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 2  is a flowchart illustrating the auction creation process using an internal auction application where the designation of a target group may be made according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 3  is a flowchart illustrating the process for making available an auction with a defined target group on a seller&#39;s e-commerce site according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 4   a  is an example data architecture for implementing a bidder restriction for an auction using a target group according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 4   b  is an example data architecture for implementing a bidder restriction for an auction using a customer identifier instead of a target group according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 5  is a screen shot from an internal auction application illustrating an auction listing screen from which a seller may choose to create a new auction with a bidder restriction according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 6  is a screen shot from an internal auction application illustrating an auction creation screen from which a bidder restriction may be specified according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 7  is a screen shot from an internal auction application illustrating the change rules screen presented to a seller during the auction creation process according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 8  is a screen shot from an internal auction application illustrating the auction creation screen with general auction information entered according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 9  is a screen shot from an internal auction application illustrating the initiation of a bidder restriction on the auction by designating target groups according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 10  is a screen shot from an internal auction application illustrating the target group designation screen of the auction creation process where a bidder restriction may be created according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 11  is a screen shot from an internal auction application illustrating a business partner search results screen for selecting bidder restrictions on an auction during the auction creation process according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 12  is a screen shot from an internal auction application illustrating an invitation list containing the selected customers in the bidder restriction or target group for the auction according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 13  is a screen shot from an internal auction application illustrating a verification screen for the saved auction information from the auction creation process according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 14  is a screen shot from a seller&#39;s e-commerce site illustrating auction information that a customer may view if they are part of a target group for a bidder restriction on the auction according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 15  is a block diagram illustrating the platform on which the method and system for controlling a customer&#39;s access to an auction for a product in an internal auction system using an internal auction application may operate according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
      According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method and system for providing an integrated auction capability through a seller&#39;s e-commerce site is provided through an internal auction system. The internal auction system may include a seller-side application to allow a seller to generate an auction using an available seller business information management system, publish the auction on a seller&#39;s e-commerce site, process an auction winner, and monitor ongoing auctions in a manner leveraging a seller&#39;s existing business information management systems and e-commerce sites. The internal auction system may also include a buyer-side application to provide a buyer functionality on a seller&#39;s e-commerce site to view and participate in published auctions, to monitor auctions and bidding, and to perform any necessary checkout procedures on winning an auction. The internal auction system serves as the conduit between seller&#39;s business information management system(s) and e-commerce site(s) while providing seller and/or buyer functionality to implement an integrated auction capability under the seller&#39;s internal control (i.e., without using an external third party auction provider or facilitator).  
      In one embodiment of the present invention, the seller may designate a target group of customers allowed to access the auction thereby creating a bidder restriction on the auction where customers not in this target group are not allowed to see the auction and its details as well as not being allowed to participate in the auction. The target group may be designated by the seller when the auction is first created or it may be specified during the modification of the auction. The example embodiments described below relate to the auction creation process but they may equally apply with appropriate modification to the editing and updating of a saved auction in the internal auction system according to one embodiment of the present invention. In addition the term “target group” is used herein to refer to a designated target group containing already specified customers as well as to individually identified customers or business partners that may be selected by the seller. A target group may be defined by using business partner (i.e., customer) selection options provided by or through an internal auction application. In addition, a target group may be defined and/or edited using customer relationship management (CRM) components and/or a CRM-based system that is part of the seller&#39;s business information management system(s). Selecting a target group for the auction creates a bidder restriction preventing other potential bidders from viewing any auction information and/or participating in the auction. In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, a separate first bidder restriction may exist to control which customers may view the auction information and a second bidder restriction containing a subset of the first bidder restriction set of customers may be used to limit which of the customers who are allowed to view the auction may participate in the auction.  
      The example embodiment discussed herein is for a private auction where access is limited to customers defined in the target group. In an alternative embodiment of the present invention for a public auction, the target group may be used to identify which customers are notified about the auction but the target group is not used to restrict participation in the auction. The changes necessary to implement this embodiment over the example embodiment discussed herein should be evident to those skilled in the art.  
      According to one embodiment of the present invention, the internal auction application links a seller&#39;s e-commerce site with a seller&#39;s existing business information management system(s) in order to provide auction services to buyers through the seller&#39;s e-commerce site. A seller&#39;s e-commerce site according to this embodiment may be any electronic business presence that a seller provides to potential buyers. For example, a seller&#39;s Web site on the Internet that offers information on or purchase of seller&#39;s products can be considered a seller&#39;s e-commerce site. A seller&#39;s business information management system according to this embodiment may be any seller information system containing product and/or sales and marketing information that may be used in the provision of products to a buyer. For example, a seller&#39;s inventory system that tracks the availability of seller&#39;s products may be considered one form of many potential seller&#39;s business information management systems. A seller&#39;s business information management system implies business applications using a programming and/or program interface working with a database to accomplish one or more tasks. However, according to this embodiment a seller&#39;s business information management system may be considered either the database and the interface to access the database by itself as well as this database and associated interface in conjunction with associated applications. The internal auction application according to this embodiment provides the functionality to implement the auctioning of seller products (i.e., products sold by the seller) on the seller&#39;s e-commerce site in conjunction with using at least one of the seller&#39;s business information management systems.  
       FIG. 1   a  is a diagram illustrating the integrated internal auction system according to one embodiment of the present invention. A seller  110  may create an auction using an internal auction application  120  residing on the seller&#39;s information technology hardware environment  135 . For example, the internal auction application  120  may consist of one or more software applications, programs, modules, procedures, or other computer code to include firmware and may additionally include data that resides on one or more servers, computers, or other hardware platforms that make up the seller&#39;s information technology hardware environment  135 . The internal auction application  120  may be conceptualized as containing a seller-side application  121  handling the seller interaction  154  with the integrated internal auction system  100  through the internal auction application  120 . The seller-side application  121  may provide the functionality allowing the seller  110  to create, monitor, and manage one or more auctions. The internal auction application  120  may also be conceptualized as containing a buyer-side application  122  handling the buyer interaction  155  with the integrated internal auction system  100  allowing buyer interaction  155  with the internal auction application  120  and the seller&#39;s business information management system(s)  140  through a seller&#39;s e-commerce site  115 . The buyer-side application  122  may provide the functionality allowing the buyer  105  to view auctions, participate in active auctions, monitor auctions, and perform the checkout process on won auctions. Though conceptually the functionality provided by the seller-side application  121  and the buyer-side application  122  of the internal auction application  120  are different, both may share data sets, procedures, libraries, and other elements of software code or data. In one embodiment of the present invention, all the elements of the internal auction application  120  may either be contained in both the conceptual subsets-seller-side application  121  and buyer-side application  122 -or in an alternative embodiment the internal auction application  120  may contain additional elements of software code and/or data in addition to these conceptual subsets  121 ,  122 . The internal auction application  120  uses data that may be contained in a seller&#39;s business information management system(s)  140  and/or may be stored in a local database  130  for the internal auction application  120 . This local database  130  may be considered part of the internal auction application  120  in this embodiment of the present invention even if the database is stored separately in a memory or storage system.  
      An internal auction application  120  may communicate  152  with the local database  130 ; communicate  153  with the seller&#39;s business information management system(s)  140 ; and communicate  151  with the seller&#39;s e-commerce site  115  using a communication network that is part of the seller&#39;s information technology hardware environment  135 . For example, the seller&#39;s e-commerce site  115 , internal auction application  120 , local database  130 , and business information management system(s)  140  may be located on servers or other computers that are part of a communication network-such as a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN)-controlled by the seller. In an alternative embodiment, the seller&#39;s information technology hardware environment  135  may include a communication network that is shared by the seller with other network users. For example, the seller&#39;s e-commerce site  115 , internal auction application  120 , local database  130 , and business information management system(s)  140  may be located on servers or other computers that are part of at least one internal seller communication network (e.g., a LAN and/or WAN) as well as a shared (i.e., shared by seller with other non-seller related entities) communication network such as the Internet. In either embodiment regardless of the network used for communication between the elements of the integrated auction system  100 , seller communication  154  and buyer communication  155  with the integrated auction system  100  may occur over an external network (i.e., a network external to the seller and not under the seller&#39;s direct control), such as for example, the Internet. In an alternative embodiment, seller and buyer communication  154 ,  155  with the integrated auction application  100  may occur over a seller-controlled network (such as a seller-controlled wide area sales network) and/or may involve a combination of at least one seller-controlled network and at least one external network.  
      The integrated auction system  100  integrates a seller&#39;s business information management systems(s)  140 , which serves as a backend system(s), with a seller&#39;s e-commerce site  115 , serving as a front-end system, using an internal auction application  120  in order to provide auction services to the seller  110  and the buyer  105  according to one embodiment of the present invention. A seller business information management system  140  is a an application with at least one associated database  141  typically using a database management system (DBMS) that provides data storage and associated programming support for that data (e.g., a query system such as an SQL editor, optimization routines, program interfaces). For example, a seller may have an inventory control system  140  with its own inventory database. The business information management system(s)  140  may contain product information and availability information used in generating an auction and performing order generation to fulfill a winning bidder&#39;s order according to one embodiment of the present invention. The seller&#39;s e-commerce site  110  allows a buyer  105  to participate in an auction over a communication network. For example, a seller Web site on the Internet offering goods and/or services (electronic commerce) is one example of a seller e-commerce site  115 . An auction in the integrated auction system  100  is made available to the buyer  105  through the seller e-commerce site  115  which may serve as the buyer portal to the integrated auction system  100  according to one embodiment of the present invention. The seller  110  creates and manages auctions through the internal auction application  120  which integrates  153  information from the business information management system(s)  140  and provides the interaction processing  151  with the buyer  105  through the seller e-commerce site  115 .  
       FIG. 1   b  is a diagram illustrating a general integrated auction process according to one embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 1   b  is similar to  FIG. 1   a  but adds arrows to indicate the steps in this general integrated auction process. The illustration simplifies the process and is shown to further illustrate how the elements of the integrated auction system interact according to this embodiment. When a seller  110  creates an auction using the seller-side application  121  of the internal auction application  120 , the internal auction application  120  integrates  161  information from the seller&#39;s business information management system(s)  140  in order to facilitate the auction creation process and to leverage the already existing asset(s) of the seller. In addition, the seller business information management system(s)  140  may be used to identify and/or determine a target group to associate with an auction in order to create a bidder restriction on the auction. The seller&#39;s business information management system(s)  140  may include CRM components or may be CRM-based facilitating the target group identification process with the inherent CRM tools available. This first step  161  is the integration of the business information management system(s)  140  information to facilitate the generating of the auction according to this embodiment of the present invention.  
      The second step may have three distinct components  166 - 168  according to this embodiment of the present invention. The first part  166  of the second step is to save the created auction in the local database  130  of the internal auction application  120 . The auction may be saved for later editing by the seller  110  if the auction is not published or activated (i.e., made available to the buyers). The publication and/or activation of the auction is the second part  167  of the second step according to this embodiment. Publication may be considered making the auction available to a customer  105  at a particular start time specified during the auction creation process. Activation may be considered immediately making the auction available to a buyer  105  regardless of a specified start time-the immediate publication of the auction. Both terms are used interchangeably throughout this document and should not be considered a particular distinction unless specifically noted. The publication and/or activation  167  of the auction makes the auction available to the buyer  105  through the seller&#39;s e-commerce site  115  if the customer  105  is authorized access to the auction by being included in the target group (i.e., bidder restriction) for the auction.  
      The third step may be viewed as having two components  171 - 172  according to this embodiment. The customer  105 , if allowed in the bidder restriction, bids  171  on the available auctions through the seller e-commerce site  115  in the first component  171  of the third step. The bids and bidding information are sent  172  from the seller e-commerce site  115  to the internal auction application  120  in the second component  172  of the third step. At the conclusion of the bidding for the auction which may be manually concluded by the seller or automatically concluded according to a guideline such as for example a specified end date and time or upon reaching a price threshold, the internal auction application  120  in a fourth step  176  may determine the winner automatically or through seller  110  intervention and sends notification  176  to the winning bidder  105  while updating the auction information in database  130  and on the seller e-commerce site  115 . The winning buyer  105  may then perform any necessary checkout procedures  181  in the first part of the fifth step  181  in this embodiment. The checkout may be performed through the seller e-commerce site  115  and provides the internal auction application  120  any necessary information for completing the order for the goods and/or services. The second part  182  of the fifth step is the internal auction application  120  sending the necessary information for the generation or completion of the order to the appropriate seller business information management system(s)  140  so that the order for the auction winner  105  may be completed and processed by the seller.  FIG. 1   b  shows a simplification of the interaction between the components of the integrated auction system  100  according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 2  is a flowchart illustrating the auction creation process using an internal auction application where the designation of a target group may be made according to one embodiment of the present invention. The process begins  200  when a seller  110  using the seller-side application  121  of the internal auction application  120  selects an option  205  (e.g., from a pull-down menu, button, copying an existing or previously created auction, etc.) to create an auction. This seller initiation of the auction creation process  205  not only allows a seller  110  to define auction parameters, it may also allow the seller  110  to include a restriction on accessing the auction according to this embodiment. An auction may be created from a “blank slate” where all auction parameters need to be specified by the seller  110  or an auction may be created using default values for the auction parameters. For example, if a new auction is created by copying another already created auction the auction parameters for the new auction may contain as default values the auction parameter values from the copied auction. In another example, a seller  110  may establish an auction profile in the seller-side application  121  of the internal auction application  120  according to one embodiment of the present invention. This auction profile may include default values (e.g., auction rules) that may be used for a newly created auction. Whether an auction is created using default values or whether auction parameters are empty and await seller specification, the seller  110  may decide to update auction parameters  210  during the auction creation process. If the seller attempts to modify an auction parameter  210 , any rules regarding valid values for those auction parameters may be used to verify the values before the auction parameter is modified  215 . The modification of auction parameters  215  may be an iterative process that can occur many times throughout the auction creation process.  
      In addition to modifying auction parameters  210 , a seller  110  may also choose to modify any bidder restrictions  220  the seller has placed on the auction. If the seller chooses to modify a bidder restriction on an auction  220 , a determination may be made whether a bidder restriction on the auction already exists  225 . If a bidder restriction doe not already exist on the auction  225 , a seller  110  may define a target group for the auction  245 . A target group may consist of one or more customers  105  that the seller wants to provide access to the auction according to this embodiment of the present invention. A target group may be defined by linking a customer relationship management (CRM) system as one of or part of a seller&#39;s business information management system  140  with the internal auction application  120  seller-side application  121  in order to allow the seller  110  to define customer parameters to search for and/or select the one or more customers to include into the target group. In this manner the target group may be chosen using a combination of either one or more searches in a seller&#39;s CRM business information management system in a CRM component of a seller&#39;s business information management system, and/or with the manual selection of customers according to this embodiment.  
      Once a target group is defined  245 , the target needs to be associated with the auction  250  according to this embodiment of the present invention. In an example embodiment, the target group is defined  245  using the seller-side application  121  of the internal auction application  120  to access a CRM component in a seller&#39;s business information management system  140  or a CRM-based seller&#39;s business information management system  140  and, as a result, when the seller  110  saves the target group in the seller-side application  121  the association of the target group with the auction  250  is automatically made. In other words according to this embodiment, the target group is saved in a database  130 ,  141  in a manner where it is associated with the auction shown, for example, in  FIGS. 4 &amp; 5  discussed later herein. After the seller  110  defines the target group  245  and associates the target group with the auction  250 , a seller  110  may decide to exit from or continue with the auction creation process  255 .  
      If a seller  110  decides to modify a bidder restriction  220  and a bidder restriction already exists for the auction  225 , the type of modification  230  the seller  110  is attempting to make determines the resulting action according to this embodiment. If the seller  110  is not attempting to eliminate the bidder restriction  230 , the seller  110  may modify the bidder restriction  240  by adding and/or removing customers  105  from the target group. If the seller  110  is attempting to remove the existing bidder restriction  230 , the bidder restriction may be eliminated  235  by the appropriate means. For example in an embodiment where the data for the auction includes a target group identifier (discussed later in association with  FIG. 4   a ) and where one particular target group identifier is used to indicate no restrictions on the auction (i.e., open to everyone), eliminating the bidder restriction on the auction  235  may be implemented by at least in part changing the target group identifier to this no restriction target group identifier value. The information for the target group itself associating seller&#39;s customers with the target group (e.g., lookup table entries for the target group) may or may not be deleted in various embodiments depending upon whether there is any utility in saving the defined target group for later use. In another example where there is no target group identifier and the target group consists of customers  105  directly associated with the auction (discussed later in association with  FIG. 4   b ), eliminating the bidder restriction on the auction  235  may be implemented by at least in part deleting the auction-to-customer association creating the restriction. Where a lookup table is used (discussed in  FIG. 4   b  below), the records/tuples/rows associating the auction with a customer  105  may be deleted according to this embodiment. Depending upon how a bidder restriction is implemented in the internal auction application  120  and/or the seller&#39;s business information management system(s)  140  and/or their associated databases  130 ,  141 , eliminating the bidder restriction  235  needs to be consistent with this implementation. After the seller  110  either modifies the bidder restriction  240  or eliminates the bidder restriction  235 , a seller  110  may decide to exit from or continue with the auction creation process  255 .  
      A seller  110  may decide to exit from the auction creation process  255  at any point by making the appropriate selection from the seller-side application  121  of the internal auction application  120  according to one embodiment of the present invention. As long as the seller  110  does not exit from the auction creation process, he/she may be able to make additional modifications to the auction parameters  215 , define a target group  245  and associate it with the auction  250 , eliminate a bidder restriction on the auction  235 , and modify an existing bidder restriction  240  according to this embodiment. If the seller  110  exits from the auction creation process  255 , he/she may save the defined auction information  260  as part of exiting  255  or he/she may abandon the created auction information. If the seller  110  decides to save the created auction information  260 , the auction information may be saved  265  in the internal auction application database  130  and/or in a seller&#39;s business information management system(s)  140  database  141  before the auction creation process concludes  270  according to this embodiment. If the seller  110  abandons the created auction information  260 , the auction information and the auction creation process according to this embodiment concludes  270  without the auction information being saved.  
       FIG. 3  is a flowchart illustrating the process for making available an auction with a defined target group on a seller&#39;s e-commerce site according to one embodiment of the present invention. The process begins  300  when an auction is received  305  by a seller e-commerce site  115  from a seller&#39;s internal auction application  120  as part of the internal auction system  100  according to this embodiment of the present invention. The receiving step  305  may include the auction (created using the internal auction application  120 ) becoming available to the seller e-commerce site  115  so that the auction may be displayed to a customer  105 , who may be able to participate in the auction, in addition to the receiving step  305  including the potential actual receipt of the auction information in a message or object sent to the seller&#39;s e-commerce site  115 . In this embodiment, the receiving step  305  represents the possible availability of the auction to a customer  105  through the seller e-commerce site  115  rather than just the receipt of an auction object or other auction information. The receiving step  305  may be initiated by the publication or activation of the auction. The publication of an auction may occur when a designated start date and time for the auction is reached resulting in the auction becoming available through the seller e-commerce site  115 . The activation of an auction may also occur when a seller  110  designates that the auction become immediately available through the seller e-commerce site  115  regardless of what any designated start date and time may be (if one exists).  
      Once an auction is received  305  (i.e., available), the auction may be integrated  310  into the seller e-commerce site  115  by including the auction in the display of data on the site  115 . Unlike the receiving step  305  where an auction becomes available to the seller e-commerce site  115  so that it may be displayed, the integration step  310  actually includes adding the now available auction into the data displayed in the seller e-commerce site  115  according to this embodiment. This integration  310  may occur, in one embodiment, by including the auction in a listing of auctions available for display to customers  105  on the seller e-commerce site  115 . In another embodiment, the integration step  310  may occur by storing the auction information in a database local to or otherwise linked and/or accessed by the seller e-commerce site  115 .  
      A customer  105  may be allowed to access the seller e-commerce site  315  by some means of customer identification according to this embodiment. For example, a customer  105  may have a username and password they enter to access the seller e-commerce site  115 . Entering the username and password may associate the customer  105  with a customer identifier similar to the customer identifier used in designating the target group for an auction having a bidder restriction. A determination  320  may be made when a customer  105  accesses the seller e-commerce site  115  or when the customer  105  attempts to view or participate in auctions whether or not the customer  105  is allowed access  320  to a particular auction. If the customer  105  is not allowed access to an auction  320 , the auction information is not displayed  325  to the customer on the seller e-commerce site  115 . The customer  105  will not be allowed to view information  325  regarding auctions with a bidder restriction where the customer  105  is not included in the target group (i.e., within the bidder restriction) for the auction. The customer  105  may not even know the auction exists. If the customer  105  is included in the target group for an auction  320  and is therefore allowed accessed to the auction, the auction information may be displayed  330  to the customer  105  on the seller e-commerce site  115 .  
      A customer  105  viewing an auction  330  may decide to participate in the auction  335 . If the customer  105  is allowed to view an auction  330  and attempts to participate in the auction  335 , a determination may be made  340  regarding whether the customer  105  is allowed to participate in the auction  340  in addition to viewing the auction  330 . If the customer  105  is allowed to participate in the auction  340 , the customer  105  may participate in the auction  355  and this process is concluded for that customer  105 . For example, the customer  105  may enter a bid for the auction  355 . If the customer  105  is not allowed to participate in the auction  340 , the customer  105  may be prohibited from participating in the auction  345 . For example if the customer  105  tries to click on an auction link in one of the seller e-commerce site  115  screens, the link may be inactive with no resulting access to the auction details. In another example if the customer  105  tries to enter a bid for the auction, there may be no active “enter bid” button and/or other implementation means (e.g., pull-down menu option, etc.) or the bid may not be registered for the auction. In addition, a warning message may be provided  350  to the customer  105  informing the customer  105  that they are not permitted to participate in the auction but are allowed only to view the auction. After this warning  350  and any prevented participation  345  by the customer  105 , this process may conclude  360  for this customer  105 . If a customer  105  viewing an auction  330  decides not to participate in the auction  335 , this process may also conclude  360  for this customer  105 .  
      In one embodiment of the present invention, a customer  105  that is allowed access to an auction may both view and participate in the auction. Therefore, the determination first made regarding whether a customer  105  is allowed to access an auction  320  also determines whether the customer  105  may participate in the auction  340  and as a result the steps  340 ,  345 , and  350  are no longer needed according to this embodiment. Allowing the customer  105  to participate in the auction  355  occurs whenever the customer  105  decides to participate in an auction  335  he/she is allowed to access  320 . In an alternative embodiment shown in  FIG. 3 , two different bidder restrictions may be implemented to first allow customers  105  to be able to view auctions and second to allow customers  105  to participate in auctions.  
       FIG. 4   a  is an example data architecture for implementing a bidder restriction for an auction using a target group according to one embodiment of the present invention. The data row  400  is a simplified example (which is not normalized) of the data fields that may exist for an auction according to one embodiment of the present invention. This data row  400  may be stored in at least one of the seller&#39;s business information management system(s)  140  databases  141  and/or the internal auction application  120  database  130  and the data row  400  may provide the basic information associated with the auction. In the example shown in  FIG. 4   a , the data row  400  contains an auction identifier field  401  containing a unique auction identifier, a target group identifier field  402  containing a unique target group identifier, a product field  403 , a quantity field  404 , and it may contain other potential fields indicated by the “Etc.” field  405 . In addition to this data row  400 , an auction may also use lookup tables and/or include data rows in other tables in order to indicate additional auction information. For example, a target group data row  410  may exist in a target group lookup table that associates a target group identifier  411  with a customer identifier  412  uniquely identifying a customer  105  on the seller&#39;s e-commerce site  115 . This target group lookup table allows the target group to be defined with its constituent customers  105  by including a single row for each customer  105  associated with the target group. During the selection of the target group using the seller-side application  121  of the internal auction application  120 , the seller  110  may use a CRM component in or CRM-based business information management system(s)  140  to provide customer  105  selection tools. Once the auction is saved, each selected customer  105  may be associated with the target group using a target group data row  410  in a target group lookup table (not shown). In addition, the target group may be saved in the data row  400  containing the main auction information. In addition to the target group lookup table, any value that may have multiple associations with the auction may be represented in a separate lookup table using known data normalization techniques. For example, multiple products  403  may be part of an auction so a separate lookup table associating an auction with a product may be used linking the main auction information in the data row  400  with the product information in the seller&#39;s business information management system  140  database  141 . The term record, row, and tuple are used interchangeable herein to refer a record/row/tuple of data, the terms table and file are used interchangeably herein to refer to a table/file of a database, and the terms field and cell are used interchangeably herein to refer to a field/cell in row. These terms are not intended to imply a particular database structure (e.g., a hierarchical database or a relational database) for an embodiment of the present invention. Embodiments of the present may work effectively using any known database type and the present invention is not limited to a particular database structure.  
       FIG. 4   b  is an example data architecture for implementing a bidder restriction for an auction using a customer identifier instead of a target group according to one embodiment of the present invention. The data row  450  containing the main auction information does not include a target group identifier field  402  as shown in  FIG. 4   a . The example data row  450  contains an auction identifier field  451  containing a unique auction identifier, a product field  453 , a quantity field  454 , and it may contain other potential fields indicated by the “Etc.” field  455 . Instead of using a target group identifier  402 , the embodiment shown in  FIG. 4   b  directly associates the auction identifier  461  with a customer identifier  462 , uniquely identifying a customer  105  on the seller&#39;s e-commerce site  115 , in a lookup table (not shown). This auction-customer lookup table identifies the customers  105  allowed to access the auction in one more auction identifier  461  to customer identifier  462  associations in an auction-customer row  460  of this lookup table. The seller  110  may still use a CRM component or CRM-based business information management system(s)  140  to provide customer  105  selection tools. Once the auction is saved, each selected customer  105  may be associated with the auction using a separate auction-customer row  460  of the lookup table (not shown). The principle difference between the embodiments for the data structures as shown in  FIGS. 4   a  and  4   b  is that when a target group is defined, it may be used for multiple auctions. For example, a target group “X” comprising customers “A”, “B”, and “C” may be used for multiple auctions. This may be advantageous where certain target groups will likely be used for several auctions. In this case, the seller  110  may select an already defined target group during auction creation or editing to quickly provide a bidder restriction. In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 4   b  where no target group identifier is used, the seller  110  must define the target group for each auction having a bidder restriction even if the target group is the same for multiple auctions.  
       FIG. 5  is a screen shot from an internal auction application illustrating an auction listing screen from which a seller may choose to create a new auction with a bidder restriction according to one embodiment of the present invention. According to this embodiment, the internal auction application  120  may link a seller&#39;s existing business information management system(s)  140  with a seller&#39;s e-commerce site  115  in order to provide internal auction services. The internal auction application  120  may be a component-based multi-tier application developed according to the Java® 2 platform, enterprise edition standard (J2EE®) and running on top of a web application. This embodiment is only one example of the platforms and software that may be used for the internal auction application  120 .  
      A seller  110  may use the seller-side application  121  of the internal auction application  120  to create or generate an auction. This may be accomplished by selecting a create option link  505  on an appropriate screen  500  of the internal auction application  120 , such as the auction listing screen  500  shown, or through the use of menu items (not shown), buttons (not shown), or other known means (not shown). An auction may also be created by selecting an existing auction and then selecting (e.g., clicking on) a “Copy” link  510 , button (not shown), menu option (not shown), or other selection means (not shown). Once the seller  110  initiates the create auction process, an auction creation screen may be displayed.  
       FIG. 6  is a screen shot from an internal auction application illustrating an auction creation screen from which a bidder restriction may be specified according to one embodiment of the present invention. The auction creation screen  600  includes an auction creation table  605  containing three tabs  611 - 613  for the auction information. The first tab  611  is the “General Info” tab and contains the general auction information that a seller  110  may specify according to this embodiment. An auction name  621 , auction description  622 , start date and time  623 , end date and time  624 , reservation expiration date and time  625 , terms and condition  626 , and auction rules  627  may be specified in this “General Info” tab  611 . If the auction is created by copying an already created auction, these fields  621 - 627  may initially be populated with data from the copied auction. If the auction is not being created from a copied auction, these fields  621 - 627  may contain default values and/or may be empty. For example, the auction rules  627  may be a default setting for the seller  110 . If the seller  110  wants to change thee rules, he/she  110  may select the “Change Rules” link  631  or other provided option to make the appropriate changes.  
       FIG. 7  is a screen shot from an internal auction application illustrating the change rules screen presented to a seller during the auction creation process according to one embodiment of the present invention. When a seller  110  initiates the “Change Rules” option, the change rules screen  700  may be displayed with the selected rules shown. For example, an auction type  710  may be selected such as a standard auction  711  and a live auction  712 . A lot type  715  may also be selected such as the full lot type  716  shown. A full lot may indicate that the entire contents of the auction are sold together to a winning bidder rather than a broken lot auction where the highest bidder may bid on and win a portion of the auction up to the specified auction quantity with the next highest bidder winning part or all of the remaining portion of the lot, etc. Other system rules  720  are indicated in a radio field of rule combinations which a seller  110  may select. The rules shown in the radio field  720  may be broken down into more detailed selection options (not shown) and other rules may also be included (not shown). The seller&#39;s changes to these auction rules may be saved  725  or they may be canceled  726  with the internal auction application  120  returning to the auction creation screen  600  and the auction creation table  605 .  FIG. 8  is a screen shot from an internal auction application illustrating the auction creation screen with general auction information entered according to one embodiment of the present invention. Auction information in the “General Info” tab  811  of the auction creation table  805  has been entered in this embodiment in the auction name field  821 , auction description field  822 , start date and time fields  823  (default data), end date and time fields  824  (default data), reservation expiration date and time fields  825  (default data), terms and condition field  826 , and auction rules table  827 . At any time during the auction creation process, the seller  110  may cancel  842  the auction creation process without saving the auction information already entered by selecting the Cancel button  842  or by other appropriate means (not shown). The seller  110  may also save  843  the auction data by selecting the Save button  843  or by other appropriate means (not shown). The seller  110  may continue entering information for the auction by selecting (clicking on) the Continue button  841  or by selecting another tab  812 ,  813  of the auction creation table  805 .  
       FIG. 9  is a screen shot from an internal auction application illustrating the initiation of a bidder restriction on the auction by designating target groups according to one embodiment of the present invention. In addition to entering general auction information in the “General Info” tab  911  of the auction creation table  905  and product information for the auction in the “Products” tab  912 , the seller  110  may also designate target groups for the auction thereby creating a bidder restriction on the auction by using the “Target Groups/Business Partners” tab  913  of the auction creation table  905 . When the seller  110  selects the “Target Groups” tab  913 , existing target groups may be displayed (not shown) or if no target groups are defined for the auction a message stating so  915  may be displayed in this embodiment. The term “target group” refers to one or more customers  105  that may be designated using search and/or selection parameters for example as part of a CRM component in or CRM-based seller business information management system  140 . The term “business partner” refers to an individual customer  105  that is designated by the seller  110  with or without the use of search and/or selection parameters. The term “target group” is used herein interchangeably to refer to both even though the may be differentiated in how the seller  110  selects each. The seller  110  may add a target group by selecting (e.g., clicking on) the “Add” button  921 .  
       FIG. 10  is a screen shot from an internal auction application illustrating the target group designation screen of the auction creation process where a bidder restriction may be created according to one embodiment of the present invention. The auction creation table  1005  allows the seller  110  to select either a single business partner  1015  (i.e., a single customer) at one time or to select a target group  1016  at one time (i.e., one or more customers at one time) through the displayed radio field in this embodiment. The selection fields  1021 - 1027  shown in the auction creation table  1005  relate to the selection of a single business partner  1015  as indicated. The seller  110  may enter values including wild card values in one or more of the displayed fields  1021 - 1027 -the last name field  1021 , the first name field  1022 , the customer identifier field  1023 , the organization field  1024 , the P.O. Box field  1025 , the region field  1026 , and the country field  1027 -and conduct a search by selecting the search button  1031  to retrieve matching business partners (customers) to choose from. The seller  110  may also clear the values in these fields  1021 - 1027  by selecting (e.g., clicking on) the clear button  1032 . An invitation list  1035  is also shown (empty) which is a listing of the selected business partners and target groups associated with the auction. When the seller  110  conducts a search for a business partner, a search results screen is displayed.  
       FIG. 11  is a screen shot from an internal auction application illustrating a business partner search results screen for selecting bidder restrictions on an auction during the auction creation process according to one embodiment of the present invention. A business partner  1115  search is selected with a search conducted for any customer  105  having a last name  1121  of “Smith”  1122 . The search results  1140  are displayed in a search results table  1140  in the search results screen  1105 . The seller  110  may select one or more customers  105  from the search results  1140  (by for example clicking on the associated radio field  1145  box) and may add  1141  them to the invitation list  1135  (i.e., the target group or bidder restriction list for the auction) by selecting the add button  1141 . The selected customers (i.e., business partners) are displayed in the invitation list  1135  which may be edited by selecting the associated Continue  1142  button.  FIG. 12  is a screen shot from an internal auction application illustrating an invitation list containing the selected customers in the bidder restriction or target group for the auction according to one embodiment of the present invention. The detailed view of the invitation list  1210  contains a listing of the selected (i.e., invited) business partners and target groups that make up the bidder restriction on the auction. The seller may add  1221  to the selected target group in this screen  1205  and may also remove  1222  from the selected customers  105  in the listing  1210 . As previously stated, the seller  110  may save the auction information by selecting the save button  1225 .  FIG. 13  is a screen shot from an internal auction application illustrating a verification screen for the saved auction information from the auction creation process according to one embodiment of the present invention. The verification screen  1305  contains the general auction information  1311 , the product information  1312 , and the target groups  1313  identified by the seller  110  during the auction creation process. The seller  110  may continue to edit the information by selecting the edit button  1323 , cancel the auction creation process deleting the entered information by selecting the cancel button  1322 , and the seller may save the auction information by selecting the submit button  1321  according to this embodiment.  
       FIG. 14  is a screen shot from a seller&#39;s e-commerce site illustrating auction information that a customer may view if they are part of a target group for a bidder restriction on the auction according to one embodiment of the present invention. A customer  105  authorized to participate in a bidder restricted auction may view the auction information through the seller e-commerce site  115 . General auction information  1411  and product information  1412  are shown on the auction information screen  1405  of the seller e-commerce site  115  according to this embodiment. In one embodiment of the present invention, an authorized customer  105  that is part of the target group for the bidder restricted auction may be allowed to both view the auction information and participate in the auction. The customer  105  may participate in the auction by placing bids in the bid box  1415  and selecting the bid button  1425  and reviewing the bid history in the “Bids-history” tab  1420  on the screen  1405 . In an alternative embodiment, a customer is separately authorized to view auction information and to participate in the auction so a customer  105  may only see auction information  1411 ,  1412  and not be presented with a bid box  1415  allowing the customer  105  to participate. A customer who is not authorized to view or participate in an auction will not be allowed to see any auction information according to this embodiment so will not be able to find the auction.  
       FIG. 15  is a block diagram illustrating the platform on which the method and system for controlling a customer&#39;s access to an auction for a product in an internal auction system using an internal auction application may operate according to one embodiment of the present invention. Functionality of the foregoing embodiments may be provided on various computer platforms executing program instructions. One such platform  1500  is illustrated in the simplified block diagram of  FIG. 15 . There, the platform  1500  is shown as being populated by a processor  1510 , a memory system  1520  and an input/output (I/O) unit  1530 . The processor  1510  may be any of a plurality of conventional processing systems, including microprocessors, digital signal processors and field programmable logic arrays. In some applications, it may be advantageous to provide multiple processors (not shown) in the platform  1500 . The processor(s)  1510  execute program instructions stored in the memory system. The memory system  1520  may include any combination of conventional memory circuits, including electrical, magnetic or optical memory systems. As shown in  FIG. 15 , the memory system may include read only memories  1522 , random access memories  1524  and bulk storage  1526 . The memory system not only stores the program instructions representing the various methods described herein but also can store the data items on which these methods operate. The I/O unit  1530  would permit communication with external devices (not shown).