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Method and system for maintaining the integrity of electronic auctions using a configurable bid monitoring agent
| Details |
Inventors: Alaia, Marc; Becker, David J.; Kinney, Jr., Sam E.; Rago, Vincent F.; Rupp, William D.; Stevens, Robert G.;
Assignee: FreeMarkets, Inc. (Pittsburgh, PA)
Primary Examiner: Millin; Vincent
Assistant Examiner: Patel; Jagdish N
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
A method and system for conducting electronic auctions is described. A dynamic lot closing extension feature avoids collisions in closing times of multiple lots by dynamically extending the closing time of a subsequent lot if a preceding lot's closing time is extended to be too close to the subsequent lot's then-currently scheduled closing time. Scheduled closing times can be extended with a flexible overtime feature, in which the properties of the event triggering the extension and the duration of the overtime period(s) can be tailored to a particular auction, particular lots of products within an auction, and to the particular time within an auction process. The bidding status of a lot can be set to a "pending" status after the nominal closing time for submission of bids to allow bidders to alert the auction coordinator of technical problems in submission of bids. This allows the possibility for a lot to be return to open status for further bidding by all bidders. The auction may be paused by the auction coordinator to correct technical, market and miscellaneous problems that may arise during the course of an auction. Individual bid ceilings can be set for each bidder so that they are required to bid lower than certain thresholds determined in advance of the auction. Failsafe error detection is performed to prevent erroneous bids from entering the auction. The auction coordinator has the ability to override any erroneous bids that are entered to prevent prejudice to the auction. |
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION The problems encountered with the operation of the prior auction system are overcome by the auction system of the invention, which enables flexible dynamic alterations of market closing times, line item decision rules, auction pause, bidder-specific bid limits, and the ability to detect and prevent erroneous bids.
The amount of overtime added each time a relevant new bid is received can be adjusted to suit the complexity and size of the market lots involved in the bidding event.
This permits bidders to have more overtime to respond to each new bid if the commodity complexity or market lot size require additional bid calculation time.
The trigger for additional overtime can be flexibly set to include a range of behind-market bidding activity.
The type of behind-market activity that would trigger additional overtime includes bids or bidders of a defined rank behind market and bids of a defined absolute or relative (percentage) quantity behind the market.
Additional trigger parameters can also be flexibly created to suit particular industrial markets.
This ensures that extra overtime is triggered when certain bids upset the market dynamic.
In multi-market, or multi-lot bidding events, where prior market lots run into overtime, the closing times of subsequent market lots are dynamically altered during the course of an event to maintain a minimum time period between market closings.
When market closings have been altered to accommodate this market dynamic, the market status is referred to as "Extended.
" This ensures that markets do not "collide" or run on top of one another when overtime from an earlier market lot continues past the scheduled closing time for a subsequent market lot.
Bidders are guaranteed that markets close one at a time, so they are not placed in the position of having to bid for different market lots at the same time.
Once bidding activity has ceased, a lot is placed into "Pending" status prior to closing the lot.
The lot closing time can be dynamically altered to meet the time period required to resolve any technical disruptions experienced by bidders
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Finance 
