Internet auction system

Abstract

A web based auction system interface is configured for performing I/O operations between a bidder and an auction system through a browser. The web based interface includes an auction query interface and an auction bid entry interface; the latter permits users to specify bids in format that includes a bid price and a bid ranking for any auction item.

1 . A method for matching bids in an auction system, the method being accomplished by one or more computing devices, the method comprising:
 receiving, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, at least one user query from a user computing device;   in response to the at least one user query, transmitting, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, information to the user computing device, the information being usable by the user computing device to allow the user to view auction items for an auction conducted by the auction system;   receiving, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, multiple user bids from the user computing device, each of the user bids being for at least one of the auction items, each of the user bids including a data structure having a bid price entry field and a bid ranking field, wherein the bid ranking field represents a desired order in which the bids are to be resolved by the auction system compared to the other bids made by the user;   determining, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, a rank order of the user bids based on the bid ranking fields; and   resolving, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, the user bids in the rank order.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising storing the rank order in a data structure. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the resolving step comprises;
 (a) tagging the user bid having the highest order in the ranking as an active bid;   (b) if the active bid is not a winning bid, tagging the user bid having the next highest ranking as an active bid; and   repeating step (b) until an active bid is a winning bid to thereby conditionally accept lower ranked user bids if the user bid having the highest rank is not fulfilled.