Patent ID: 7788133

Claim:
A system for allocating resources, comprising: a network server communicatively coupled to a network; and a buying agent communicatively coupled to the network, wherein the buying agent comprises: a processor; and data storage comprising data and programming instructions for: transmitting one bid to the network server in the form of a resource demand function, wherein the resource demand function is a positive, decreasing function that expresses the buying agent's demand for an allocable resource at a variable price; and receiving from the network server an allocated quantity of the allocable resource as calculated by the server and a charged price for the buying agent as calculated by the server, wherein the allocated quantity is the resource demand function of an equilibrium price, wherein the charged price is less than or equal to the equilibrium price, and wherein the server calculates the charged price, C i , for a buying agent i according to the equation: C i = ∑ j ≠ i ⁢ ⁢ ∫ a j s a j 0 ⁢ 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.