Patent ID: 7467111

Claim:
A computer-implemented method useful in enabling a bidder in an auction of two or more types of items to vary its bidding among the items within a group of items offered in said auction, said group of items including two or more said types of items, where price-related information is provided to bidders and bid-related information is received from bidders, each on plural occasions, said method comprising: providing price-related information, including a price for each said type of item within said group of two or more said types of items, to at least one bidder at two or more times including at least one time subsequent to receiving bid-related information from said bidder, receiving bid-related information, including a quantity for each said type of item within said group of types of items, from said bidder, an instance of said receiving occurring after an instance of said providing, and applying, at a computer, a constraint to the bid-related information on a plurality of occasions to require, on each occasion, that a sum of the quantities over said group of types of items is no greater than a sum of the quantities over said group of types of items contained in bid-related information received from said bidder at an earlier time in the auction.