CA2343777A1 - System and method for conducting an auction over a communications network - Google Patents

Abstract

Methods of holding auctions over the Internet and telephone systems are know n in the art but generally share the following problems: it is difficult for t he auctioneer to identify bidders; telephone conferences are very noisy when th ey have a large number of participants; there is no method of ejecting a bidder who chooses to interfere with the auction; and it is difficult to enforce payment because it is difficult to verify the identity and creditworthiness of bidders. The invention provides for an auction system where bidders are identified using authentication or similar techniques, and their bids are filtered to reduce noise and eliminate unwanted bids or comments before bein g broadcast to the balance of the bidders. Other optional features are also described such as the recording and timestamping of bids.

Description

WO 00/19691 PCT/CA99/008'71 System and Method for Conducting an Auction over a Communications Network FIELD OF INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to communication networks and more particularly to a system for conducting an auction over a communications network.
BACKGROUND
Traditional auctions take the form of a physical gathering of bidders at an auction place. A major limitation associated with physical auctions is that bidders are forced either to travel or to appoint a representative for the auction.
Advance bidding may be done by mail or by facsimile so that bidders do not have to be physically present at the auction. However, advance bidding suffers a significant disadvantage as compared to real-time bidding since it lacks immediacy and fine bidders have no opportunity to increase a bid in quick response to competitive bids.
Several methods of conducting auctions over the Internet in real-time fashion are known. This requires, however, that all participants in the auction use an Internet-connected computer. Furthermore, auctioneers may find that it is more difficult to obtain a good price with an auction conducted over the Internet because it lacks the excitement that can be conveyed by voice.
Telephone conference systems are used today to share, in real-time, voice messages among persons in various locations. It is difficult, however, to hold an auction using a traditional telephone conferencing system, at least for the following reasons: the auctioneer may have difficulty identifying bidders by their voices;
telephone conferences are very noisy when they have a large number of participants;
there is no method of ejecting a bidder who chooses to interfere with the auction by making noise or pretending to be the auctioneer; and it is difficult to enforce payment because it is difficult to verify the identity and creditworthiness of bidders.

One known system for conducting an auction over a communication network is taught in Interactive call-handling, European Patent Application 620669A1 to Katz ("Katz").
Katz teaches a system having a plurality of telephone terminals within a telephone communication network that are connected to a receiving station by a plurality of processing systems. The system can be used to conduct auctions, whereby a plurality of bidders each use one of the telephone terminals to submit their bids by pushing buttons on their key-pads which generate DTMF tones that are sent to the processing systems. The bids are sorted and organized by the processing systems and presented to on a computer monitor to the auctioneer. Conversely, the auctioneer's messages to the bidders are presented either though a television link that runs concurrently to the system taught in Katz, or the auctioneer's messages are played on the earpiece of the bidder's telephone terminal. One drawback to Katz is that bidders do not submit their bids orally, and instead rely on DTMF tones to signal their intentions, which thus 15 reduces the overall excitement and energy that can exist in traditional auctions.
Concurrently, the bidders in Katz cannot 'hear' the bids being submitted by other bidders, which also reduces the applicability of Katz in substantially reproducing traditional,auctions. Overall, it can be-seen that Katz does not reproduce certain 'w aspects of traditional auctions that may be desi able.
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WO 00119691 PCTlCA99l00871 SUMMARY OF INVENTION
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improved auction system that overcomes totally or in part the limitations of the above-mentioned auction systems.
One aspect of the invention is defined as a bidder message processor comprising processing means for processing a bidder message entered through a bidder voice terminal into a bidder data signal, wherein said bidder data signal includes a bidder identifier, and output means for outputting the bidder data signals at an auctioneer terminal.
Another aspect of the inventionlis defined as a bidder message processor system comprising a bidder message processor and connecting means. The bidder message processor comprises processing means for processing a bidder message entered through a bidder voice terminal into a bidder data signal; wherein said bidder data signal includes a bidder identifier, and output means for outputting the bidder data signals at an auctioneer terminal. The connecting means connect the bidder message processor to the bidder voice terminal over a communications network.
Another aspect of the invention is defined as an auctioneer message processor system comprising an auctioneer voice transmitter for broadcasting auctioneer voice messages from an auctioneer terminal simultaneously to a plurality of bidder voice terminals, and connecting.means for connecting said bidder voice terminals to said auctioneer voice transmitter over a communications network.
A further aspect of the invention is defined as an auction system for use in an auction conducted over a communications network, the auction system comprising a bidder message processor, an auctioneer voice transmitter and connecting means.
The bidder message processor comprises means for processing a bidder message entered through any one of a plurality of bidder voice terminals into a bidder data signals, wherein said bidder data signal comprises a bidder identifier, and means for outputting the bidder data signals at an auctioneer terminal. The auctioneer voice transmitter broadcasts auctioneer voice messages from the auctioneer terminal simultaneously to selected bidder voice terminals. The connecting means connect said bidder voice terminals to the bidder message processor and to the auctioneer voice transmitter over the communications network.
A further aspect of the invention is defined as an auction system comprising auctioneer output means, a plurality of bid interpreters which in operation are connected to a plurality of corresponding bidders voice terminals, an auctioneer voice manager coupled to the bid interpreters, for receiving voice messages from an auctioneer voice transmitter over the communications network and for broadcasting the auctioneer voice messages simultaneously to all bidder voice terminals connected to the bidder interpreters. Each bid interpreter includes means for decoding bidder messages, means for attaching corresponding bidder identifiers to each decoded bidder message and forming data signals and means for transmitting the data signals to the auctioneer output means, over a communications network.
A further aspect of the invention is defined a.s a method of processing bidder messages for use in an auction conducted over a communications network, the method I S comps ising the steps of processing a bidder messages received entered through a voice terminal into a data (digital) signals, the processing step comprising attaching a bidder identifier to said data signal, and outputting said data signal at an auctioneer terminal;
A further aspect of the invention is defined as a method of conducting an auction over a communications network, the method comprising the steps of transmitting bidders messages over the communications network and transmitting auctioneer messages over the communications network. The step of transmitting bidders messages comprises receiving the bidder messages from a plurality of bidder voice terminals, processing bidders messages into data signals, forming output signals by attaching bidder identifiers to selected data. signals, and sending and outputting the output signals at an auctioneer terminal. The step of transmitting auctioneer messages comprises receiving the auctioneer messages from the auctioneer terminal and broadcasting the auctioneer messages to selected bidder voice terminals.

a BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
The present invention will be further understood from the following detailed description, with reference to the drawings in which:
Figure I presents a block diagram of an auction system in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;
Figure 2 presents a block diagram of a bidder message processor system in accordance with the embodiment in Figure 1; and Figure 3 presents a block diagram of an auction system in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention.
to DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMIENT
Figure 1 presents a block diagram of an auction system 1 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Auction system 1 is used to facilitate the participation, in real-time, of persons located at various physical locations in an 15 auction, by means of voice terminals 10. The communication takes place over a communications network 5, comprising the bidder voice terminals 10 and the auction system 1.
The auction system 1 comprises an auctioneer voice transmitter 50, a bidder messages processor 1S and connecting means 20 connecting the bidder voice 2o terminals 10 to the auctioneer voice transmitter 50 and to the bidder messages processor 15. The bidder messages processor 15 comprises processing means 30 and output means 40.
The bidder voice terminals 10 may be any one of cordline, cordless, wireless telephone sets or the like. Other voice terminals may also be used, as they emerge.
25 The connections between various components of the auction system 1, as well as between the bidder voice terminals 10 and the auction system, can be physical connections, wireless connections or a combination of both. Likewise, it will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art the elements of the auction system 1, such as the connecting means 20 and the processing means 30, can each comprise sub-3o elements distributed at various physical locations. Furthermore, they may be mainly software structures attached to existing hardware platforms available in existing AMENDED SHEET

communications networks, specially designed hardware platforms, or a combination of both, such as interface access cards. Moreover, the auctioneer's tasks may be performed by a person or by a data processor that may act on location or remotely, in analyzing the information on the output means 40 and commanding the auctioneer voice transmitter 50 to send voice messages to bidder terminals 10. Therefore, the communication Iinks and the blocks shown in the block diagram of Figure 1 should not be considered restrictive in a physical sense.
In operation, a bidder participating in an auction conducted using the auction system 1 of Figure 1, enters bidder messages through a bidder voice terminal 10. The 1o bidder messages are transnutted to the processing means 30 through connecting means 20. The bidder messages are processed into bidder data signals to be outputted at the output means 40 in order of arrival. The processed bidder data signals comprise information on the bidder message content as well as a bidder identifier.
Therefore, through the output means 40, the auctioneer acknowledges the content of bidder messages and the identity of bidders that originate the messages, in an orderly fashion.
This allows the auctioneer to identify the bidders, reducing ambiguity when more bids are received within a small time interval from various locations.
In order to communicate with the bidders, the auctioneer generates voice messages through the auctioneer voice transmitter 50. From the auctioneer voice 2o transmitter 50, the auctioneer voice messages are broadcasted simultaneously to the bidder voice terminals 10 through the connecting means 20.
The connecting means 20 comprises input/output (I/O) ports which allow messages from the bidder voice terminals 10 to pass through to the rest of the auction system 1 and allow messages from the auction system 1 to be transmitted to the bidder voice terminals 10. The connecting means can be any combination of hardware and software connecting means available in existing communication networks, such as wire circuits, fiber optics circuits, wireless circuits, virtual connections, with or without associated controls, such as manually operated switchboards or other interfaces, or through embedded logical systems, comprising multiplexers, flip-flops, latches and the like. Since the connecting means 20 regulates the flow of messages from and to the bidder voice terminals 10, the connecting means 20 maintains a record AMENDED SHEET

1 ~-10-2000 PCT/CA99/00871 of bidders participating in the auction, through the auction system 1. The record of participating bidders can be maintained in a list set-up for this purpose, or by simply maintaining the communication channels with participating bidders open, and ensuring that communication channels with non-participating bidders are blocked.
Preferably, the record of bidders participating to the auction is updated based on access conditions. Such an embodiment will be described in more detail hereinafter.
Figure 2 presents a detailed view of the bidder message processor 15 and the connecting means 20, according to an embodiment of the invention.
The bidder message processor 15 comprises processing means 30 and output 1o means 40.
In the embodiment in Figure 2, the processing means 30 comprises recognizing means 35, a bidder identifier appending block 34, an access control block 37 and a voice coder 36.
A bidder message entering the processing means 30 is routed to the 15 recognizing means 35, where its content is recognized. The recognizing means 35 selects the auction relevant messages from other bidder messages that a bidder may input through a bidder voice terminal 10. The auction relevant messages can be, for example, bids or access messages.
The valid bids can be numerical voice messages such as "One hundred and 2o fifty (150)", or " Two thousand(2000)". For simplicity, it is assumed that the price and the bids are represented by numerical values. However, it will be understood that an auction may be conducted by coding the implied trading means otherwise than in a numerical fashion, for example by a color code.
The access messages generally contain information which bidders are required 25 to provide in order to participate in various stages of the auction. The access messages may be passwords, credit information, confirmations of compliance with terms and conditions of the auction, and the like.
Through the bidder voice terminals 10, bidder messages can be entered in various ways. The bidder messages may be voice messages or digital signals.
Fox 30 example, if a bidder voice terminal 10 is a telephone set having the touch-toneTM

AMENDED SHEET

WO 00/19691 PCT/CA99l00871 option, bidder messages can be entered as Dual-Tone-Multi-Frequency (DTMF) signals.
The embodiment depicted in Figure 2 comprises a DTMF decoder 31 and a voice decoder 32, for decoding the bidder messages into data signals that are further filtered by a message selector 33. The DTMF decoder 31 and the voice decoder 32, may be any such decoders known in the art. Based on the decoded bidder messages coming from the DTMF decoder 31 or from the voice decoder 32, the message selector 33 selects the auction relevant bidder messages. The message selector may comprise, for example, a database comprising codes representing either auction relevant messages or parts of auction messages, such that bidder messages can be selected as being relevant to the auction being conducted or as being unintelligible with respect to the auction conducted. However, any other means known in the art for identifying a given signal as matching one of a plurality of predetermined codes, can be employed for the implementation of the message selector 33. Voice recognition I5 algorithms common in the art often comprise voice decoding means and selection means such as blocks 32 and 33 in Figure 2.
Message selector 33 may perform one of several tasks. Some of the auction relevant messages, such as bids, are sent to the bidder identifier appending block 34 which appends a bidder identifier, and sends the message, in this new form, to the output means 40. Other auction relevant messages, such as access messages, may be analyzed within an access control block 37. Bidder messages selected as being unintelligible with respect to the conducted auction rnay be discarded or may be sent to the access control block 37, as well.
The access control block 37 may perform one or more of several functions.
The access control block 37 may verify an access message such as a password or a credit card cumber, for example by accessing special databases such as a credit database 90. Also, in order to determine the access rights of a bidder to the auction, the access control block 37 may generate access infor~rnation requests as data signals 22 that are coded into voice messages by a voice coder block 3C and sent, through the connecting means 20, to targeted bidder voice terminal 10. Furthermore, upon determining whether a certain bidder may or may not participate in the auction, the access control block 37 may send control signals to the connecting means Z0, instructing the connecting means 20 to allow or to restrict the communication of said bidder with the auction system 2. In this way, the access control block 37 updates the record of bidders participating in the auction, which is maintained by the connecting means 20 as previously described.
Whenever the message selector 33 detects a bidder message that is not relevant to the auction, which may be just noise or a comment not pertaining to the auction, the message selector can either discard such a message or it can allow the auction system 1 to respond to such a message, by sending an indicative signal to the access control o Mock 37. Upon reception of such a signal, indicating the reception of a bidder message that is not relevant to the auction, the access control block 37 may generate an alert signal. Alert signals may be further processed in various ways. They may be stored within a memory component of the access control block 37 for further use.
Also, an alert signal may be sent through the voice coder block 36 and through the connecting means 20, to the bidder voice terminal 10 at wruch said message selected as being not relevant to the auction originated. Such an alert signal may, for example, inform the bidder that the message was not understood and it must be re-entered, or, that the bidder voice terminal 10 has to be disconnected from the auction system 1, because of the unacceptable transmission of repeated unintelligible messages.
2o The output means 40 are preferably, but not restricted to, visual display means such as a monitor screen, that permit an auctioneer to acknowledge the bidder messages and the identity of the bidders originating them.
A time compensation block 70 allows the auction system 1 to estimate propagation delays of signals in traveling within the communications network ~. The estimates may be used to compensate for the bias in favor of physically closer bidders, for whom the bidding signals have to travel a smaller distance. In deciding which bid was placed first in real-time, to compensate for these delays, the computer may subtract the round trip delay through network 5 from the time at which the bid was received at the output means. The estimates may also be used to alert the auctioneer 3o that a bidder had entered a bid before being able to hear the closing gavel, and that his bid should therefore be allowed.
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WO 00/19691 PCTlCA99100871 The time compensation block 70 can obtain the propagation delay estimates by any suitable technique known in the art. For example, they can be obtained from the controlling software of the network 5. Alternatively, round-trip estimates may be obtained by estimating the delay before receiving an echo from the bidder voice terminal 10 using a system identification algorithm based on the echo cancellation technique known in the art. Another option is to attach a time stamp to every message originated within the auction system 1 or at a bidder voice terminal 10.
In the embodiment in Figure 2, a voice conferencing block 80 is used to enable a voice conferencing system among the auctioneer and the participating bidders. The voice conferencing block 80 may use any of the common voice-conferencing techniques known in the art, preferably combined with techniques used to reduce the effect of combining background noise from many sources, such as the companding or squelch techniques.
In the embodiment depicted in Figure 2, the time compensation block 70 and I 5 the voice conferencing block 80 are shown as being connected to the connecting means 20, since preferably, either one of the routines achieved by these blocks involves only bidders participating in the auction. As previously described, a record of such bidders is maintained through the connecting means 20.
A controller 100 controls the overall operation of the components of the auction system I. For example, the controller 100 determines the output format on the output means 40 as well as various access control routines within the access control block 37. Preferably, the auctioneer may access the auction system 1 and determine the operation of its components through an auctioneer interface (not shown), linked to the controller 100.
The embodiment of the invention presented in Figures 1 and 2 addresses the problems noted in the Background section, as follows. The auction system in Figures 1 and 2 allows real-time communication among bidders and auctioneer, without requiring bidders to be physically present at air auction place, or to appoint a representative at an auction place. Through this system, bidders may communicate bidirectionally with the auctioneer by means of voice terminals. By allowing the auction to be conveyed by voice at least on the bidders side, the system described above is closer to recreating the atmosphere of physical auctions and thus can be found more entertaining or easier to use by potential bidders, leading to a potentially more competitive bidding process. Furthermore, voice terminals can be incorporated within personal computers or they can function as independent pieces of equipment.
In the latter case, they can be more accessible in terms of cost of use.
Furthermore, current voice terminals are usually wider spread and better connected to existing communication networks, than Internet connected computers used in prior-art systems. Even further, wireless voice terminals are smaller and lighter, thus easier to carry than personal computers.
In addition, the auction system 1 presented in Figures 1 and 2 overcomes the problems that would be encountered in conducting an auction using a traditional telephone conference system, mentioned in the background. Incoming messages from bidders are processed in a form that allows the auctioneer to identify corresponding bidders, through the output means 40. Messages from bidders are outputted in order of arrival. Through the time compensation block 70, the auction system 1 may account for delays over the communications network 5. Through the access control block 37, bidders without credit or bidders that choose to interfere with the auction by making noise can be ejected from the auction.
Figure 3 shows a block diagram of an auction system 1 in accordance with a 2o preferred embodiment of the invention. The auction system 1 comprises a plurality of bid interpreters 14, an auctioneer's computer 4S, an auctioneer s telephone set 50 and an auctioneer voice manager 18.
In operation, bidders participate, in real-time, in an auction using bidder telephone sets 10 connected to the auction system 1. Each bidder telephone set may establish a connection i6 through a telephony network 2, such as the Public Switch Telephony Network (PSTN), to a corresponding bid interpreter 14. The bid interpreters 14 process voice or DTMF bidder messages received through connections 16 from bidder telephone sets 20 into data packets. The data packets thus formed are passed through connections 24 and data network 3, such a,~~ the Internet, to be 3o summarized and displayed on the auctioneer's computer 45, in a summary form. The auctioneer analyzes the information on the auctioneer computer 45 and uses the AMENDED SHEET

WO 00/19b91 PCT/CA99100871 auctioneer telephone set 50 to enter a voice message to be broadcasted to the bidder telephone sets 10 of the participating bidders. The auctioneer's telephone set establishes a connection 17 through the telephony network 2 to an auctioneer voice manager 18. The auctioneer voice manager 18 passes the auctioneer's voice through connections 26 to bid interpreters 14. In turn, the bid interpreters 14 pass the auctioneer messages through the connections 16 to bidder telephone sets 10. In this embodiment, the selection of the bidder telephone sets 10 corresponding to participating bidders, and which, therefore, should receive auctioneer messages, is done at the level of the bid interpreters 14, as it will be explained in more detail later The bid interpreters 14 are microcomputers performing various operations.
One such operation is processing bidder messages into data packets to be sent to the auctioneer computer 45 for display or for further processing. Each data packet formed at a bid interpreter 14 and sent to the auctioneer computer 45, carries information identifying the bidder that entered the message or the corresponding bidder telephone set 10. For processing bidder voice messages into data packets, the bid interpreters 14 use suitable voice recognition algorithms known in the art. According to this embodiment, the bid interpreters 14 may also interpret DTMF signals received from bidder telephone sets 10 that have the touch-toneTM option.
Optionally, the bid interpreters 14 in Figure 3 also perform various authorization procedures. Authorization procedures comprise requesting access information and analyzing access messages from bidders in order to verify the identities of bidders, their creditworthiness, their compliance with predetermined ternls and conditions of the auction and the like. In order to perform the authorization procedures, the bid interpreters 14 use voice recognition and other decoding algorithms to recognize passwords or other access messages such as a credit card number. In this embodiment, the bid interpreters 14 may access credit databases in order to verify the credit information provided by bidders. Data packets informing the auctioneer computer 45 of the results of the authorization procedures carried at the bid interpreters 14 are sent through connections 24 to the auctioneer computer 45.
Upon failure to meet authorization conditions, the auctioneer's computer 45 may deny participation in the auction to unauthorized bidders, by sending back data packets through connections 24 to the corresponding bid interpreters 14, commanding them to shut down. Alternatively, the auctioneer computer 45 may disconnect the input ports for connections 26 to the bid interpreters 14 corresponding to unauthorized bidders.
Also, the auctioneer computer 45 may ignore the data packets coming through connections 24 from the bid interpreters 14 corresponding to unauthorized bidders.
The auctioneer computer 45 analyzes the data packets received from the bid interpreters 14. Selected data packets; such as those that captain bidding information, are outputted in a format that allows the auctioneer to acknowledge the content of the data packets and to identify the associated bidders. The data packets can be outputted 1o by any means known in the art, such as visual, using a monitor terminal connected to the auctioneer computer 45 or audio, using speakers attached to the auctioneer computer 45. The auctioneer may select the output means and a format of outputting data packets best suited to his or her needs, by means of a user interface (not shown) on the auctioneer computer 45.
The data packets are presented according to a predetermined scheme.
According to this embodiment, the auctioneer's computer 45 uses estimates of the different time delays for different bidders through networks 2 and 3 to compensate for the bias in favor of "closer" users, and uses these estimates in the predetermined scheme, in order to output data packets according to the time when the associated 2o bidder messages were actually entered. In this embodiment, the auctioneer computer 45 accomplishes the time compensation routine by subtracting the round-trip delay through networks 2 and 3 of each data packet it receives, from the time at which same data packet is received, before deciding which data packet came first. The same method may be used to alert the auctioneer that a bidder had entered a bid before being able to hear the closing gavel, and the bid should therefore be allowed.
The round-trip time estimates needed for this embodiment are obtained from the controlling software for the networks 2 and 3. Alternatively, the round-trip estimates could be obtained from the delay in receiving an echo from a bidder telephone set 10 using a system identification algorithm based on an echo cancellation technique known in the art.

AMENDED SHEET

In accordance with the embodiment in Figure 3, the auctioneer computer 45 may command the bid interpreters I4 to act as part of a voice conferencing system by sending data packets through connections 24 to the bid interpreters 14. With the voice conferencing system thus enabled, bidders participating in the auction can hear the voices of active bidders in addition to the voice of the aucd.oneer. Active bidders are herein defined as bidders participating in the auction and entering bidder messages representing valid bids through their telephone sets 10. Inactive bidders are bidders participating in the auction that remain silent on the line; bidders involved in a different auction process than a bidding process, such as in the process of obtaining authorization; or bidders who make comments that do not pertain to the auction. The distinction among active and inactive bidders is made at the level of bid interpreters 14, which use voice recognition or other suitable decoding algorithms, to recognize the content of the messages received from bidders.
In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, an auction may be conducted with bidders participating in the auction over a Communications network using voice terminals connected to an auction system such as described in any of Figures 1 to 3, for example, with other bidders being physically present to the auction, and yet with other bidders participating in the auction over the Internet.
The invention could also be implemented to a lesser extent on existing Internet . and PSTN networks. For example, Internet servers could be given much of the functionality of the invention similar to applications such as NetMeeting.
Alternatively, the invention could be implemented as an application program on the personal computers of end users interconnected over the Internet, although this allows the possibility of timestamps being inaccurate or falsified, and also makes it difficult to ensure that all garticipants are using current software. Qn the PSTN a specialized server could be attached to a class 5 switch. These implementations would not have ali the benefits of the invention, but could apply certain aspects of its teachings.
The method steps of the invention may be embodied in sets of executable machine code stored in a variety of formats such as object code or source code. Such code is described generically herein as programming code, or a computer program for simplification. Clearly, the executable machine code may be integrated with the code AMENDED SHEET

of other programs, implemented as subroutines, by external program calls or by other techniques as known in the art.
The embodiments of the invention may be executed by a computer processor or similar device programmed in the manner of method steps, or may be executed by an electronic system which is provided with means for executing these steps.
Similarly, an electronic memory means such computer diskettes, CD-Roms, Random Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory (ROM) or similar computer software storage media known in the art, may be programmed to execute such method steps.
As well, electronic signals representing these method steps may also be transmitted via a communication network.
Numerous modifications, variations, and adaptations may be made to the particular embodiments of the invention described above, without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims (23)

What is claimed is:

1. An auction system for use over a communication network (5) comprising:
an auctioneer voice transmitter (50) for entering auctioneer voice messages from an auctioneer;
a plurality of bidder voice terminals (10) each for entering voice bidder messages from a bidder respective thereto, each of said bidder voice terminals (10) also for presenting voice bidder messages from other bidders and said auctioneer voice messages;
a connecting means (20) interconnecting said transmitter (50) and said terminals (10);
a processing means (30) attached to said connecting means for converting said and voice bidder messages into a bidder data signal; and, an output means (40) connected to said processing means (30) for presenting said bidder data signals to said auctioneer.

2. The auction system according to claim 1 wherein said processing means (30) further comprises a message selector (33) for determining whether said voice bidder messages are active bidder messages or inactive bidder messages such that only said active bidder messages are presented at said output device.

3. The auction system according to claim 2 wherein said bidder voice terminals (10) are attached, via said connection means (20), to said message selector (33) such that only said active bidder messages are presented at said bidder voice terminals (10).

4. The auction system according to claims 2 or 3 wherein said inactive bidder messages are returned to an originating bidder voice terminal (1) each accompanied by a message that said each bidder message was determined to be inactive.

5. The auction system according to claim 1 further including a time compensation means (70) attached to said connection means (20) for determining propagation delays of signals within said network (5) and utilizing said propagation delays for ordering said bidder messages at said output means (40) according to a real-time order in to which of said bidder messages was placed.

6. The auction system according to claim 5 wherein said time compensation means (70) further utilizes said propagation delays for alerting said auctioneer that one or more of said bidders entered one of said bidder messages before hearing that bidding was closed.

7. The auction system according to claim 5 or 6 wherein said propagation delay estimates are obtained by estimating the delay before receiving an echo from each bidder voice terminal (10).

8. The auction system according to claim 1 further comprising a means for reducing background noise.

9. An auction system for use over a communication network (5) comprising:
an auctioneer voice transmitter (50) for entering auctioneer voice messages from an auctioneer;
a plurality of bidder voice terminals (10) each for entering voice bidder messages from a bidder respective thereto, each of said bidder voice terminals (10) also for presenting voice bidder messages from other bidders and said auctioneer voice messages;
a connecting means (20) interconnecting said transmitter (50) and said terminals (10);
a processing means (30) attached to said connecting means (20) for converting said voice bidder messages into a bidder data signal, said processing means including a message selector (33) for determining whether said voice bidder messages are active bidder messages or inactive bidder messages;
a time compensation means (70) attached to said connecting means (20) for determining propagation delays of signals within said network (5) and utilizing said propagation delays for ordering said active bidder messages according to a real-time order in which said bidder messages were entered; and, an output means (40) connected to said processing means (30) and said time compensation means (70) for presenting, in order, said active bidder data signals to said auctioneer.

10. The auction system according to claim 9 wherein said bidder voice terminals (10) are attached, via said connection means (20), to said message selector (33) such that only said active bidder messages are presented at said bidder voice terminals (10).

11. The auction system according to claim 9 wherein said time compensation means (70) further utilizes said propagation delays for alerting said auctioneer that one or more of said bidders entered one of said bidder messages before hearing that bidding was closed.

12. The auction system according to claim 9 or 11 wherein said propagation delay estimates are obtained by estimating the delay before receiving an echo from each bidder voice terminal (10).

13. The auction system according to claim 9 further comprising a means for reducing background noise.

14. The auction system according to claim 9 wherein said inactive bidder messages are returned to an originating bidder voice terminal accompanied by a message that said bidder message was determined to be inactive.

15. A processing means (30) for use in an auction system (1) for use over a communication network (5), said auction system having an auctioneer voice transmitter (50) for entering auctioneer voice messages from an auctioneer; a plurality of bidder voice terminals (10) each for entering voice bidder messages from a bidder respective thereto, each of said bidder voice terminals (10) also for presenting voice bidder messages from other bidders and said auctioneer voice messages; a connecting means (20) interconnecting said transmitter (50) and said terminals (10), said processing means (30) comprising:
recognizing means (35) for converting said and voice bidder messages into a bidder data signal; and, a message selector (33) for determining whether said voice bidder messages are active bidder messages or inactive bidder messages such that only said active bidder messages are presented at an output means (40).

16. The processing means (30) according to claim 15 wherein said bidder voice terminals (10) are attached to said message selector (33) such that only said active bidder messages are presented at said bidder voice terminals (10).

17. The processing means (30) according to claim 16 wherein said inactive bidder messages are returned to an originating bidder voice terminal accompanied by a message that said bidder message was determined to be inactive.

18. A method of conducting an auction over a network (5) comprising the steps of:
receiving, from an auctioneer, an auctioneer voice message at an auctioneer voice terminal (50) connected to said network (5);
presenting said auctioneer voice message at a plurality of bidder voice terminal (10) connected to said network (5);
receiving a voice bidder message from a bidder, said bidder voice message being responsive to said auctioneer voice message, said voice bidder message received at one of said bidder voice terminals (10) respective to said bidder;
presenting said received voice bidder message at a remainder of said bidder voice terminals (10);
converting said voice bidder message into a bidder data signal;
presenting said bidder data signal to said auctioneer at an output means (40);
and, repeating the foregoing steps until said auctioneer closes bidding.

19. The method according to claim 18 further comprising the step of determining whether said voice bidder message is active or inactive and only presenting said bidder data signal at said output means (40) if said voice bidder message was active.

20. The method according to claim 19 further comprising the step of only presenting said voice bidder message at said remainder of said bidder voice terminals (10) if said voice bidder message was active.

21. The method according to claim 19 further comprising the step of returning said voice bidder message to an originating bidder voice terminal (10) if said voice bidder message was inactive.

22. The method according to claim 21 further comprising the step of sending a notification to said originating bidder voice terminal (10) that said voice bidder message was inactive.

23. The method according to claim 18 further comprising the steps of:
receiving at least one additional bidder voice message;
determining propagation delays of signals within said network (5); and utilizing said propagation delays for presenting said bidder messages at said output means (40) according to a real-time order in which of said bidder messages was placed.