The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 08, 2011
Filed:
Mar. 23, 2007
Gunter Dueck, Neckargemuend, DE;
Oliver Mark, Ludwigshafen, DE;
Stefan Pappe, Heidelberg, DE;
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A solution for conducting an auction, such as an online auction, is provided, which includes provisions for sharing with bidders a portion of a bid. A method for conducting the auction includes identifying an item for auction; receiving a first bid for the item placed at a first time; receiving a second bid for the item placed at a second time, wherein the second bid exceeds the first bid by a bid increment and the second time is different than the first time by a time increment; and assigning a portion of the second bid for distribution to at least one participant of the auction. In various embodiments, the portion may be assigned to all bidders, the winning bidders, only the non-winning bidders, and/or the like. The distribution of the portion may be time and/or bid amount related.