Patent ID: 8024274

Claim:
A computer implemented method for conducting a verifiably correct auction, the method comprising the acts of: publishing, by an auction server, an encryption key for encrypting bid information; generating a computer interface for a bidder to submit encrypted bid information; receiving the encrypted bid information from a plurality of bidders over a communication network connected to the auction server, wherein the encrypted bid information includes a bid commitment for an encrypted bid, wherein the encrypted bid includes a bid amount encrypted using the published key; publishing the received bid commitment; closing the auction by the auction server wherein the act of closing includes: accessing, by the auction server, encrypted bids after bidding has closed, wherein the act of accessing includes at least one of: decrypting the encrypted bid information to obtain an encrypted bid, and receiving, by the auction server, the encrypted bid corresponding to the bid commitment, wherein closing the auction includes an act of determining, by the auction server, a winning bid according to the bid amount for each received encrypted bid; ordering the encrypted bids by a respective bid amount, wherein the ordering of encrypted bids identifies a winning encrypted bid without revealing the respective bid amounts; generating proof information by the auction server for verifying the ordering of the encrypted bids, publishing the proof information verifying the ordering of the encrypted bids, wherein publishing the proof information includes an act of publishing values used to generate a portion of the proof information.