Patent ID: 8447662

Claim:
A system useful for enabling a bidder to participate in a clock auction of two or more types of items, said system comprising a computer, one or more user interfaces and a network interface, said system comprising: means for conveying prices to the bidder via at least one of the user interfaces, said prices associated with each of a plurality of the types of items; means for receiving one or more bids from the bidder via at least one of the user interfaces, said bids each comprising an indicator of quantity for at least one of the types of items at an associated price; means for applying one or more constraints to the received bids at the computer and entering only those bids that satisfy said constraints, wherein one of said constraints is an inequality constraint involving a weighted sum of the quantities indicated by a bid; means for communicating entered bids via the network interface; means for conveying further prices to the bidder via at least one of the user interfaces, said further prices associated with each of a plurality of the types of items, said conveying of further prices occurring subsequently to the communicating of entered bids, said prices differing from said further prices for at least one of the types of items; and means for receiving one or more further bids from the bidder via at least one of the user interfaces, said receiving of further bids occurring subsequently to the communicating of entered bids, said further bids each comprising an indicator of quantity for at least one of the types of items at an associated further price.