Method for providing vehicle information at a live auction

Abstract

Detailed information about a particular used motor vehicle is quickly provided to a potential buyer having a personal digital assistant equipped with a receiving means. To provide the information, it is first necessary to obtain standard information about used motor vehicle values in digital form from a provider of such information. It is then necessary to obtain specific information about an inventory of used motor vehicles from the owner or seller of the vehicles. The standard information and the specific information are then integrated on a server computer and transmitted to the potential buyer.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving by a server specific information including an inventory of used motor vehicles that are to be sold at an auction where the vehicles are temporarily stored at a location at the auction and are sequentially placed on one or more auction blocks for sale, which specific information also includes the location of the vehicles at the auction site and the time at which each vehicle will be auctioned;   obtaining by the server standard information for all of the entire inventory of vehicles at the auction from an information provider;   transmitting by the server all of the specific information and the standard information for the entire inventory to a potential buyer's wireless handheld device and integrating the specific information and the standard information to display the information on the potential buyer's apparatus, the buyer being physically present at the auction site.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  additionally comprising: receiving wirelessly from the potential buyer by the server and transmitting by the server to a seller an interest in bidding on a specific motor vehicle. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  additionally comprising: transmitting wirelessly by the server to the potential buyer a notification when the specific motor vehicle is about to be placed on an auction block. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  additionally comprising: receiving bid information from the potential buyer by the server and transmitting the bid information to the seller. 
     
     
         5 . A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed by a processor perform the method comprising:
 receiving specific information including an inventory of motor vehicles that are to be sold at an auction site where the vehicles are temporarily stored at a location at the auction and are placed on one or more auction blocks for sale;   transmitting the specific information to a potential buyer's wireless handheld device wherein the potential buyer is physically present at the auction site;   receiving from the wireless handheld device, a selection of one or more particular vehicles from the specific information;   receiving from the wireless handheld device a selected information provider from a plurality of information providers from which to obtain standard information about motor vehicle values;   transmitting standard information for the one or more selected particular vehicles from the selected information provider; and   providing the specific information and the standard information to display on the potential buyer's wireless handheld device.   
     
     
         6 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 5  further comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed perform the method comprising: receiving from the wireless handheld device and transmitting to a seller wirelessly an interest in bidding on a specific motor vehicle. 
     
     
         7 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 5  further comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed perform the method comprising: transmitting wirelessly a notification when the specific motor vehicle is about to be placed on an auction block. 
     
     
         8 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 5  further comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed perform the method comprising: receiving bid information from the potential buyer and transmitting the bid information to the seller.