Patent ID: 7769639

Claim:
A method for allocation of a resource comprising: receiving via a computer network interface one bid from each of a plurality of buying agents in the form of a resource demand function, wherein the resource demand function is a positive, decreasing function that expresses a buying agent's demand for an allocable resource at a variable price; calculating at a server computer an equilibrium price, wherein the equilibrium price is the price at which a total resource demand function equals a total quantity of the allocable resource, wherein the total resource demand function is a sum of all of the resource demand functions of the plurality of buying agents; allocating to each individual buying agent an allocated quantity of the allocable resource, wherein the server computer sets the allocated quantity equal to the individual buying agent's resource demand function at the equilibrium price; calculating a charged price for each individual buying agent, wherein calculating a charged price for each individual buying agent comprises the server computer calculating a price, C i , for each buying agent i according to the equation: C i = ∑ j ≠ i ⁢ ⁢ ∫ a j s a j o ⁢ s j - 1 ⁡ ( p ) ⁢ ⁢ ⅆ p wherein a s j expresses the quantity allocated to buying agent j in the presence of buying agent i and a 0 j expresses the quantity that would have been allocated to buying agent j had buying agent i been absent and s j −1 represents the inverse of the resource demand function of buying agent j; and charging the charged price for an individual buying agent to that individual buying agent.