Patent ID: 8095429

Claim:
A method for providing an auction of a plurality of similar items, the method comprising: (a) announcing an ask price for each of a plurality of similar items in an auction; (b) receiving a bid from at least one of a plurality of bidders, each bid comprising an identification of a desired quantity of the item; (c) determining a priority order for a plurality of bids received in (b); (d) automatically determining, by at least one processor, one or both of the following if a sum of desired quantities for the plurality of bids received in (b) is greater than a total number of items available: (1) which of the plurality of bidders are currently winning the auction based on the priority order and (2) which of the plurality of bidders are currently losing the auction based on the priority order; (e) informing the plurality of bidders of a result of (d); (f) incrementing the ask price; and (g) repeating (a)-(f) until no bids are received for the ask price, wherein the auction does not have a scheduled end time, wherein each bid further comprises an acceptable minimum quantity of the item, and wherein (d) comprises automatically determining which of the plurality of bidders is currently winning his desired quantity of the item and which of the plurality of bidders is currently winning at a quantity less than his desired quantity but greater than or equal to his acceptable minimum quantity, the step of automatically determining which of the plurality of bidders is currently winning his desired quantity of the item and which of the plurality of bidders is currently winning at a quantity less than his desired quantity but greater than or equal to his acceptable minimum quantity comprising: (d1) for a bid of the highest priority, allocating its desired quantity of the item; (d2) for a bid of the next highest priority: (i) if there are enough unallocated items, allocating its desired quantity of the item; (ii) if there are not enough unallocated items to satisfy its desired quantity of the item but there are enough unallocated items to satisfy its minimum quantity, allocating the unallocated items to the bid; and (iii) if there are not enough unallocated items to satisfy its desired quantity of the item and there are not enough unallocated items to satisfy its minimum quantity, allocating no items to the bid.