Process and apparatus for conducting auctions over electronic networks

Abstract

An apparatus and process for conducting auctions, specifically municipal bond auctions, over electronic networks, particularly the Internet, is disclosed. The auctioneer maintains a web site from which information about bonds to be auctioned can be obtained. A user participates in the auction by accessing the web site via a conventional Internet browser and is led through a sequence of screens that perform the functions of verifying the user's identity, assisting the user in preparing a bid, verifying that the bid conforms to the rules of the auction, displaying to the user during the course of the auction selected bid information regarding bids received and informing the bidder how much time remains in the auction. The user may be given the option of confirming the accuracy of his bid before submitting the bid. The auctioneer is able to review bidding history, determine the winner and notify the winner over the network, and display selected auction results to bidders and observers over the network.

1 - 64 . (canceled) 
   
   
       65 . In an electronic auction system including an issuer's computer having a display and at least one bidder's computer having an input device and a display, said bidder's computer being located remotely from said issuer's computer, said computers being coupled to at least one electronic network for communicating data messages between said computers, an electronic auctioning process for auctioning fixed income financial instruments comprising:
 (a) receiving data associated with at least one bid for at least one fixed income financial instrument from said bidder's computer;   (b) automatically computing at least one interest cost value based at least in part on said received data, said automatically computed interest cost value specifying a rate representing borrowing cost associated with said at least one fixed income financial instrument;   (c) receiving said bid by receiving at least some data from said bidder's computer over said at least one electronic network; and   (d) communicating at least one message associated with said submitted bid to said issuer's computer over said at least one electronic network and   thus (e) enabling the display on said issuer's computer of information associated with said bid including said computed interest cost value,   wherein at least one of the receiving step (a), the automatically computing step (b), the bid receiving step (c), the communicating step (d) and the enabling step (e) is performed using a web browser.   
   
   
       66 . The process of  claim 65  additionally comprising the step of verifying that each bid is in conformance with predetermined bid parameters before accepting said bid. 
   
   
       67 . The process of  claim 65  additionally comprising the step of requesting, from the bidder, a confirmation before submission of said bid. 
   
   
       68 . The process of  claim 65  wherein said process further includes accepting bid submissions only during a predetermined time period. 
   
   
       69 . The process of  claim 65  wherein said process further includes providing a centralized time indication and transmitting said time indication to said bidder's computer over said electronic network, and said displaying step includes the step of displaying said transmitted time indication on said bidder's computer display. 
   
   
       70 . The process of  claim 65  wherein said system further includes at least one observer's computer coupled to said electronic network, said observer's computer including a display, and said process further includes communicating at least some of said data inputted by said inputting step to said observer's computer over said at least one electronic network for display on said observer's computer display. 
   
   
       71 . The process of  claim 65  wherein said computing step comprises computing the true interest cost. 
   
   
       72 . In an electronic auction system including plural bidders' computers and an issuer's computer located remotely from said plural bidders' computers, each of said plural bidders' computer including an associated input device and a display, said issuer's computer including a display, at least one electronic network communicating data messages to and from said plural bidders' computers and to and from said issuer's computer, an electronic auctioning process for auctioning fixed income financial instruments comprising:
 receiving data from at least one of said plural bidders' computers associated with at least one bid for fixed income financial instruments;   automatically computing at least one interest cost value based at least in part on said inputted data, said automatically computed interest cost value specifying a rate representing borrowing cost associated with said fixed income financial instruments;   ordering the interest cost values associated with said inputted data;   transmitting said interest cost values over said at least one electronic network to said issuer's computer; and   enabling the display of said interest cost values on said issuer's computer's display,   wherein at least one of the receiving step, the automatically computing step, the ordering step, the transmitting step and the enabling step is performed using a web browser.   
   
   
       73 . The process of  claim 72  wherein said ordering step includes ranking said interest cost values, and said displaying step comprises displaying said interest cost values in an order determined by said ranking. 
   
   
       74 . The process of  claim 72  wherein said process further includes accepting bid submissions only during a predetermined auction time period. 
   
   
       75 . The process of  claim 72  wherein said process further includes providing a centralized time indication and transmitting said time indication to each of said plural bidders' computers over said electronic network, and said process further includes displaying said transmitted time indication on each of said plural bidders' computer displays. 
   
   
       76 . The process of  claim 72  wherein said system further includes at least one observer's computer coupled to said electronic network, said observer's computer including a display, and said process further includes communicating at least some of said data inputted by said inputting step to said observer's computer over said at least one electronic network for display on said observer's computer display. 
   
   
       77 . The process of  claim 72  wherein said computing step comprises computing the true interest cost. 
   
   
       78 . The process of  claim 72  additionally comprising the step of requesting, from at least one bidder, a confirmation before submission of a bid by said at least one bidder. 
   
   
       79 . In an electronic auction system including an issuer's computer having a display and at least one bidder's computer having an input device and a display, said bidder's computer being located remotely from said issuer's computer, said computers being coupled to at least one electronic network for communicating data messages between said computers, an electronic auctioning process for auctioning fixed income financial instruments comprising:
 receiving data associated with at least one bid for at least one fixed income financial instrument from a web browser at said bidder's computer;   automatically computing at least one interest cost value based at least in part on said received data, said automatically computed interest cost value specifying a rate representing borrowing cost associated with said at least one fixed income financial instrument;   receiving said bid by receiving at least some data from said web browser at said bidder's computer over said at least one electronic network; and   communicating at least one message associated with said submitted bid to said issuer's computer over said at least one electronic network,   thus enabling the display on said issuer's computer of information associated with said bid including said computed interest cost value.   
   
   
       80 . The process of  claim 79  additionally comprising the step of verifying that each bid is in conformance with predetermined bid parameters before accepting said bid. 
   
   
       81 . The process of  claim 79  additionally comprising the step of requesting, from the bidder, a confirmation before submission of said bid. 
   
   
       82 . The process of  claim 79  wherein said process further includes accepting bid submissions only during a predetermined time period. 
   
   
       83 . The process of  claim 79  wherein said process further includes providing a centralized time indication and transmitting said time indication to said bidder's computer over said electronic network, and said displaying step includes the step of displaying said transmitted time indication on said bidder's computer display. 
   
   
       84 . The process of  claim 79  wherein said system further includes at least one observer's computer coupled to said electronic network, said observer's computer including a display, and said process further includes communicating at least some of said data inputted by said inputting step to said observer's computer over said at least one electronic network for display on said observer's computer display. 
   
   
       85 . The process of  claim 79  wherein said computing step comprises computing the true interest cost. 
   
   
       86 . In an electronic auction system including plural bidders' computers and an issuer's computer located remotely from said plural bidders' computers, each of said plural bidders' computer including an associated input device, a display and a web browser, said issuer's computer including a display, at least one electronic network communicating data messages to and from said plural bidders' computers and to and from said issuer's computer, an electronic auctioning process for auctioning fixed income financial instruments comprising:
 receiving data from at least one of said plural bidders' computer web browsers associated with at least one bid for fixed income financial instruments;   automatically computing at least one interest cost value based at least in part on said inputted data, said automatically computed interest cost value specifying a rate representing borrowing cost associated with said fixed income financial instruments;   ordering the interest cost values associated with said inputted data;   transmitting said interest cost values over said at least one electronic network to said issuer's computer; and   enabling the display of said interest cost values on said issuer's computer's display.   
   
   
       87 . The process of  claim 86  wherein said ordering step includes ranking said interest cost values, and said displaying step comprises displaying said interest cost values in an order determined by said ranking. 
   
   
       88 . The process of  claim 86  wherein said process further includes accepting bid submissions only during a predetermined auction time period. 
   
   
       89 . The process of  claim 86  wherein said process further includes providing a centralized time indication and transmitting said time indication to each of said plural bidders' computers over said electronic network, and said process further includes enabling display of said transmitted time indication on each of said plural bidders' computer displays. 
   
   
       90 . The process of  claim 86  wherein said system further includes at least one observer's computer coupled to said electronic network, said observer's computer including a display, and said process further includes communicating at least some of said data inputted by said inputting step to said observer's computer over said at least one electronic network and enabling display on said observer's computer display. 
   
   
       91 . The process of  claim 86  wherein said computing step comprises computing the true interest cost. 
   
   
       92 . The process of  claim 86  additionally comprising the step of requesting, from at least one bidder, a confirmation before submission of a bid by said at least one bidder.