JPS6234192A - Price value auctioning for automatic auctioning apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Industrial Field of Application The present invention allows multiple buyers to compete on price, and sells goods if the final price is acceptable to the exhibitor (seller). The present invention relates to an automatic auction device that automatically carries out so-called "auction" sales by machine.

Conventional technology An example of a conventional automatic auction device will be explained using FIG. 9.

This figure shows an example in which an automatic auction device is applied to a used car auction venue. Of course, the item to be exhibited is not limited to used cars, but may be any other item.

In the figure, used cars 1a, 1b, and 1c are exhibited.
gradually moves from the right side of the figure to the left side. Exhibits 1a-I
While C is moving, a price/value display device 3 placed in front of the so-called purchasing waste 2, where the buying + side gathers, is equipped with an operation room 5.
Price values are displayed based on commands from a console 6 placed on the screen, which is controlled by a control device 7 having a built-in computer. The bidder (not shown) in Purchasing Obsolete 2 looks at the price value and decides that the desired item is the subject of one auction, and that the auction price is basically within the limit that the bidder can purchase. When the desired value is reached, a bid button (not shown) on the terminal device 4 is operated.

A signal indicating that the bidding button has been operated is manually input to the control device 7. Additionally, a successful bid acceptance signal, which is a signal indicating that the exhibited item may be sold at the discretion of the exhibitor, is separately sent to the control device 7 from the operation console 6. The control device 7 compares the signal from the bidding button with the successful bid acceptance signal and displays a lost bid or a contract. These displays may be performed using a part of the price/value display device 3, or a separate display device for this purpose may be provided.

In the conventional automatic auction device having the above-mentioned configuration, when an "auction" action is started for one "auction" object (specifically, the start button on the operation console 6 is pressed),
Regardless of whether the bidder operates the bidding button or not, the displayed price value on the price value display device 3 automatically increases. In this case, the rate of price increase is relatively fast.

When the displayed price reaches a predetermined set value (specifically, a value that is an appropriate amount lower than the selling price desired by the seller), the slowdown button (see Fig. ) is pressed, which slows down the rate of price increase. The bidders who see this know that the displayed price displayed on the display device 3 has finally approached the seller's desired bid price, and those who wish to make a successful bid operate the bid button.

If only one bid button is operated, the display price stops increasing, and if there is a signal to accept the bid from the seller within a certain period of time, a successful bid will be concluded between the person who operated the bid button and the seller. If there are multiple bidders operating the bid button, the displayed price will continue to rise, and when only one bid button remains, the price will stop increasing, and the success or failure of the bid will be determined as described above. be judged. In other words, the bidder who bids until the end will be selected. On the other hand, if there is no successful bid acceptance signal within the certain period of time, the item being auctioned is immediately determined to have been sold, and the item to be auctioned is replaced with the next item. Generally, in order to carry out the "auction" act smoothly, the above-mentioned fixed time is usually limited to a short time.

In this way, in the conventional "auction" method, the seller judges whether or not it is okay to sell based on the displayed price when one bidder remains, and if there is a case where the seller decides not to sell. If this is the case, many bidders will be eliminated due to a slight difference in the timing of button operations.

Furthermore, since the above-mentioned fixed period of time for issuing the successful bid acceptance signal is short, there is little time for the seller to decide whether or not to sell.

From the above, the conventional "auction" method requires buyers and sellers to make instantaneous decisions, and there is a possibility of losing the purchase or selling, thus reducing the closing rate of successful bids. was there.

In view of the above points, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for raising prices that can improve the contract rate.

The above objective is achieved by performing the following operations by the control device. That is, when the displayed price increases to a predetermined set value -, the rate of increase in price is slowed down, and after the rate of increase in price has slowed down, the price increases if at least one bidder operates the bid button. Increase the speed,
When none of the bidding buttons are operated, the display price stops increasing, and after confirming that the successful bid acceptance button has been operated within a certain period of time, a successful bid is made.

Example The present invention will be explained below with reference to Examples.

Description will be made by taking as an example the case where the present invention is implemented at the "auction" venue shown in FIG. 9 used in the explanation in the "Prior Art" column.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the electrical control system. In the figure,
Reference numeral 3 is a price display device, 4 is a terminal, 6 is an operation console, and 7 is a control device. These are the same as those shown with the same reference numerals in FIG.

The price display device 3 displays the price using an electronic display section 8, as shown in FIG. 2, for example. In addition, in the embodiment, there is an exhibition number display section 9, an exhibition car model year number display section 10,
It is equipped with an evaluation point display g11% and a successful bidder number display section 12. Reference numeral 13 is a contract indicator lamp that lights up when a successful bid is made, and reference numeral 14 is a flow hole indicator lamp that lights up when a successful bid is not made. Reference numerals 15a, 15b, and 15c are lamps (hereinafter referred to as progress lamps) that display how many people are pressing the bidding button (described later).
15a lights up when there are two people, 15b lights up when there are two people, and 15c lights up when there are more than 3 Å. In order to make the display easier to understand, it is convenient to color-code each item in red, white, green, etc.

Each display WI8-12 and each lamp 13-15 operate based on a command from the control device 7.

As shown in FIG. 3, the operation console 6 includes an auction start button 16 that is pressed to start the auction, a slowdown button 17 that is pressed to slow down the rate of increase in the displayed price in response to a signal from the seller. A successful bid acceptance button 18, which is operated when the seller accepts a successful bid, and an auction stop button 30
Various buttons are provided, including a flow hole button 19 that is pressed when the flow hole is determined after pressing to shift to the auction stop mode (described later). Reference numerals 20 and 21 indicate the price value display device 3
This is a group of keys used when displaying numerical values on each of the display sections 8 to 12, etc.

Operation signals from the buttons 16 to 19 and the key group 20.21 are input to the control device 7.

The terminal device 4 includes a bidding button 22 and a card reading section 23, as shown in FIG. The bidding button/22 is a button that is pressed by bidders participating in bidding, and when pressed, a signal is sent to the control device 7 via the relay box 24. A card 25 brought by the bidding elders is inserted into the card reading section 23. A different number for each bidder is stored in the card 25 by an arbitrary storage means. For example, various methods can be considered, such as a binary code created by cutting off appropriate conductive lines among a plurality of conductive lines formed on a printed circuit board, or magnetic storage. The card reading section 23 reads the number stored in the card 25 and sends the read signal to the control device 7. Thereby, the control device 7 can confirm what number of buyers are participating in the bidding (or pressing the bidding button 22).

The printer 26 in FIG. 1 prints the auction results on a predetermined sheet of paper based on instructions from the control device 7.

The above is the hardware configuration of the automated cashier according to this embodiment. The software configuration for operating these hardware configurations, that is, the work program stored in the memory of the control device 7 will be described below. FIGS. 4 to 8 are flowchart 1 showing the contents of the program.

First, bidders enter the ``auction'' venue (Figure 9), insert the card 25 received at the reception desk into a terminal, and wait for the ``auction'' to start. The "auction" is started when a conductor in the operation room 5 presses the "auction" start button 16 on the operation console 6.

When the "auction" begins, the price displayed on the display section 8 increases relatively quickly. At the same time, the progress lamps 15a to 15C of the display device 3 are turned on randomly.

The speed at which the price increases can be adjusted using the increase time adjustment knob 27 on the console 6. Further, the amount of increase in the price can be adjusted using the amount of increase adjustment knob 28. The reason why the progress lamp is turned on is to make it appear as if several bidders are pressing the bidding button.

When the increasing price reaches a predetermined set value, for example, a value appropriately lower than the selling price desired by the seller, the contactor activates the slowdown button 1 on the operation console 6 upon a signal from the seller.
Press 7. Then, the speed at which the displayed price increases will slow down.

When the displayed price becomes late, bidders will know that the price has finally approached the seller's desired price, and therefore those who wish to buy the item currently subject to "seishi" will press the bid button 22 (Figure i1). ). Conventionally, when the bid button 22 is pressed once, the displayed price stops increasing, and if the price at this time satisfies the seller, the bid is accepted, and if not, the bid is made immediately. It was a flow hole. However, this method significantly lowers the success rate of successful bids, which is inconvenient for both buyers and sellers.

Therefore, in this embodiment, after the slowdown button 17 is pressed and the slowdown mode is entered, one bidding button 2 is pressed.
When 2 is pressed, the price does not stop rising, but rather increases faster. Further, the number of progress lamps 15a to 1 is equal to the sum of the number of bidders and the number of random lighting portions set by the machine.
5C lights up. As a result, buyers feel as if there are more bidders than the actual number of bidders, and if the purchase price exceeds their desired purchase price, they can freely stop bidding and avoid bidding. It can come off.

The price displayed on the display unit 8 stops increasing when the number of bidders reaches zero, that is, when no one presses the bidding button 22 (FIG. 6). If the seller is willing to sell at that price, he signals the conductor in the operation room 5 to that effect, and based on that signal, the conductor accepts the successful bid.
Press 8. As a result, after a certain predetermined period of time has passed since the price value stopped, a successful bid is established, and the completed contract display lamp 13 of the display device 3 lights up.

As described above, in this embodiment, the displayed price increases until the number of bidders becomes zero. In other words, bidders can freely participate in bidding until a certain period of time has elapsed. Therefore, there is less risk of making a purchase loss as in the past. Further, the seller can determine whether the displayed price is satisfactory while checking the number of bidders using the progress lamps 15a to 15c. Unlike the conventional method, where the decision is made only when a single bid button is pressed and the displayed price suddenly stops, the decision can be made with plenty of time. Therefore, there is little risk of selling at a loss.

If the number of bidders becomes zero and the display price stops increasing, and the successful bid acceptance button 18 is still not pressed even after the above-mentioned predetermined period of time has passed, the flow hole lamp 14 (second
(Fig. 6) lights up, indicating that the item to be exhibited has become a flow hole (Fig. 6).

In addition, instead of making a flow hole as described above, as shown in Figure 8, instead of making a flow hole immediately after a certain period of time has passed, check whether the displayed price value is within the guidance range, and then If so, you can slowly increase the displayed price again and repeat the flow from FIG. 5, and if it exceeds the guidance width, then you can open the flow hole for the first time. Here, the guidance width refers to the price range from when the slowdown button 17 is pressed until the displayed price reaches the maximum allowable value. In this case, the highest price is determined depending on the situation, taking into account speeding up of transactions, etc.

The selection of the ROM in the control device 7 determines whether the flow hole is to be raised again after a certain period of time has elapsed or whether the flow hole is to be opened immediately.

The above-mentioned fixed period of time from when the displayed price value on the display section 8 stops until the successful bid or flow hole is determined is adjusted by the time adjustment knob 29 shown in FIG.

In addition, in Figure 4, although the "auction" has started,
When it is necessary to stop the auction, such as when the value of each display section such as the exhibition number display g9 is wrong, press the auction stop button 30 instead of pressing the slow down button 17 to switch the control device 7 to the second position. It is convenient to be able to shift to the auction stop mode shown in Figure 7.

Each item of stage (2) in FIG. 7 is a value on each display section 8 to 11, etc. in the display device 3 (FIG. 2).

Effects As described above, according to the present invention, the opportunity for more bidders to participate in bidding increases, and the leeway for sellers to decide whether or not to make a successful bid increases.

This can improve the rate of successful bids.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a device for carrying out the price increase method according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view showing an example of the price value display device 3, and FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an example of the operation console. Figure, 4th
8 are flowcharts of programs stored in the ROM in the control device, and FIG. 9 is a plan view of an example of an "auction" venue equipped with an automatic auction device. 3...Price value display device, 22...Bid button, 18
-...Successful bid acceptance button, 7...Control device Fig. 2

Claims (1)

[Claims] A price value display device that displays a price value, a bid button operated by a bidder, a bid acceptance button operated when a seller accepts a successful bid, and a price increase displayed on the price value display device. A price value of an automatic auction device that has a control device that controls the price value of an item to be auctioned based on information from a bid button operated by a bidder in response to an increasing price value and information from a bid acceptance button. In the bidding method, the above-mentioned control device performs the following control, that is, when the displayed price increases to a predetermined set value, the rate of increase in price is slowed down, and after the rate of increase in price has slowed down, at least one bidder makes a bid. When a bidder operates a bid button, the price increase speed is increased, the displayed price stops increasing when no bid button is operated, and then the bid acceptance button is operated within a certain period of time. A method of raising prices in an automatic auction machine characterized by confirming the bidding before making a successful bid.