Patent ID: 7584111

Claim:
An article of manufacture comprising computer-readable media having computer-readable code embodied therein, wherein the computer-readable code is configured to cause one or more processors to perform acts of: determining a spectrum of participants in a market, the spectrum comprising consumers of goods of a particular type; defining a gamut of goods of the particular type; including ranges of value units over which respective products related to the gamut command; and invoking a convex program to determine a particular number of value units for a specific product related to the gamut, at which a market in which the spectrum participates will clear; the convex program is represented by: ∀ j ⁢ : ⁢ ⁢ ∑ i ⁢ x ij = 1 ∀ i , j ⁢ : ⁢ ⁢ x ij ≥ 0 ∀ i , j ⁢ ⁢ such ⁢ ⁢ that ⁢ ⁢ u ij > 0 : ⁢ LOGp i - LOGp j ≤ log ( ∑ k ⁢ u ik ⁢ x ik u ij ) ; wherein x ij is the amount of goods j consumed by a participant i, wherein u ij is the number of goods j that is wanted by a participant i, wherein u ik is the number of goods of i that is wanted by k, wherein x ik is the amount of goods of k consumed by a participant i, wherein p j is the price of j th goods, and wherein p i is the amount of money spent by i.