SE2050759A1 - Method and system for controlling a bidding process - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and a method for controlling a bidding process, e.g. relating to auction-type selling of real estate. In particular, the invention relates to a system and method which is secure and wherein the information integrity is preserved. Sensitive information, such as information on individuals loan clearances, are handled by a system separated from the real estate agent’s system, wherein the separated system extracts information from a loan clearances message and transforms it to at least a first message to be provided to the bidder and a second message to be provided to the agent/seller.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING A BIDDING PROCESS Field of the inventionThe present invention relates to a system and a method for controlling a bidding process, e.g.relating to auction-type selling of real estate. In particular, the invention relates to a systern and method which is secure and wherein the information integrity is preserved.

Background of the invention The real estate market is an example of a complex market wherein the closure of a deal ispreceded by a long chain of steps, wherein a potential byer should become aware of the realestate object, book a show of the object or attend an open show, re-visit the object, inspect theobject, involve a bank contact and get loan clearance, participate in a bidding process andfinally sign the contract. The biding process is, at least in many countries, an unregulatedprocess offering a low level of transparency and security. False bidders, for examplestrawmen for the seller may participate to unlawfully rise the price. Another problem arepotential buyers that are interested in real estate object but participate in the bidding processwithout having a proper loan clarence from their bank and not really having the financialcapacity for participating or at least not over a certain price level. This type of bidders oftenwithdraws their bid at a late stage, sometimes even after the bidding process is closed,creating a range of problems: typically the bidding process has to be restarted with added costand a potential loss of other bidders. At the same time the bidders can not be forced to revealthe full content of their loan clarence from their bank and/or their complete financial status, asthat would give the agent/seller improper information on how high the bidder is actuallywilling/capable of eventually go. The scenario is further complicated by the fact that thepotential buyer are typically not financial professionals. Rather buying a real estate is more ofa "a few time in the lifetime" affair and the potential buyer may not be fully up-to-date withthe conditions of the banks loan clarence and further, it is well known that the mechanisms ofan auction type bidding process may cause an unexperienced bidder to continue bidding above his/hers financial capability.

US2016314525 discloses a system and a method for providing more information than the biditself to bidders and seller/ agent in a real estate bidding process. However, the integrity and security issues outlined above are not considered.

US20l92l3668 discloses a system and method for online-based auction, for example realestate. The platform improves the possibilities for bidders and seller to be updated about the bids, but does not address the specific challenges of real estate bidding.

There is a clear Wish from sellers, agents and buyers alike to keep the current auction-type ofbidding for real state, abide the obvious drawbacks of the process. Therefore, there is a needfor tools in form of a system and a method, that makes the bidding process more secure and transparent, yet during the process ensure the integrity of the participants during the process.

Summary of the inventionThe object of the invention is to provide a method and a system and method providingsecurity and integrity in a bidding process, in particular in a bidding process in an auction type selling of a real estate object.This is achieved by the method as defined in claim l, and the system as defined in claim 8.

According to one aspect of the invention a method for providing security and integrity in abidding process is provided. The method is implemented in a system comprising an agententity running an agent application, a bank entity running a bank application, and a biddingservice provider entity running a bidding service provider application and at least onparticipant entity running a participant application, Wherein at least the bidding serviceprovider entity is separated from the bank entity and from the agent entity.

The method comprises the steps of: - the agent entity identifying one bidding object and at least one object parameter relating tothe bidding object; - at least one participant entity registering With the agent entity or the bidding service providerentity as participants in a bidding process relating to the bidding object; - the bidding service provider entity or agent entity initiating a bidding process by inforrningthe participants of the start of a bidding process; and - the at least one participant bidding on the bidding object, and Wherein at least one requestfor participant specific information is generated by the bidding service provider entity andsent to the bank entity; participant specific information data is generated by the bank entityand sent to the bidding service provider entity, and first processed information data based onthe participant specific information data is generated and distributed to the participant entityand second processed information data based on the participant specific information data isgenerated and distributed to the agent entity, the first processed information data beingdifferent from the second processed information data, and Wherein the bidding serviceprovider entity controls the request for participant specific information and the distribution ofthe first processed information data to the participant entity and the distribution of the second processed information data to the agent entity.

According to one enibodinient the method coniprises the substeps to be taken during the stepof bidding, of: - the bidding service provider entity sending a request for participant specific inforrnation tothe bank entity; - the bank entity generating participant specific inforrnation data; - the bank entity sending participant specific inforrnation data to the bidding service providerentity; - the bidding service provider entity receiving the participant specific inforrnation data fronithe bank entity; - the bidding service provider entity processing the participant specific inforrnation data andpreparing a first processed inforrnation data relating to the participant and a second processedinforrnation data relating to the agent; and - the bidding service provider entity sending the first processed inforrnation relating to theparticipant to the participant entity and the second processed inforrnation relating to the agent to the agent entity.

According to one enibodinient the niethod coniprises the participant specific inforrnation datagenerated by the bank entity coniprises inforrnation that should be kept secret froni the agententity and the bidding service provider entity processing the participant specific inforrnationdata coniprises filtering the participant specific inforrnation data so that the second processedinforrnation data relating to the agent is a subset of the first processed inforrnation datarelating to the participant. Alternatively, the bidding service provider entity processing theparticipant specific inforrnation data coniprises analyzing the participant specific inforrnationdata and deterrnining a ranking value that is coniprised in the second processed inforrnationdata relating to be sent to the agent entity, Wherein ranking value should represent thelikelihood of the participant not WithdraWing the bid. The participant specific inforrnation datagenerated by the bank entity may coniprise paranieters that indicate if a loan clearance existsand the object type or object types relating to the loan clearance and the deterrnination of theranking value includes an analysis of that a loan clearance exists and that the object type corresponds to the bidding object.

According to one enibodinient the niethod coniprises the steps of:- the agent entity identifying one bidding object and at least one object paranieter relating to the bidding object; - at least one participant entity registering With the agent entity or the bidding service providerentity as participants in a bidding process relating to the bidding object; - the agent entity generating a bidding session message comprising a list of participants, the atleast one object parameter and, and providing the bidding session message to the biddingservice provider entity; and - the agent server or the bidding service provider server generates open bidding messages tothe participants of the list of participants, the open bidding messages at least comprising a linkto participation in the bidding process, - the at least one participant perforrning an E-identification and the at least one participantentity giving consent to the bidding service provider entity to retrieve and distributeinforrnation from the bank entity, and a consent message is provided to the bidding serviceprovider entity; - the at least one participant bidding on the bidding object; - the bidding service provider entity sending a request message for participant specificinforrnation to the bank entity; - the bank entity generating a participant specific inforrnation data message; - the bank entity sending the participant specific inforrnation data message to the biddingservice provider entity; - the bidding service provider entity receiving the participant specific inforrnation datamessage from the bank entity; - the bidding service provider entity analyzing the participant specific inforrnation datamessage utilizing the bidding session message and preparing a participant messagecomprising first processed inforrnation data message relating to the participant and an agentmessage comprising second processed inforrnation data relating to the agent; and - the bidding service provider entity sending the participant message to the participant entityand the agent message to the agent entity, and Wherein the bidding process steps are repeated for at least each participant and/or each bid.

According to one embodiment the method comprises the bidding session message comprisesinforrnation about the object type of the bidding object and the participant specificinforrnation data message comprises inforrnation about the object type or types relevant for the participants loan clearance and the analysis performed by the bidding service provider entity comprises comparing the object type of the bidding session message and the participant specific information data message.

According to one aspect of the invention a system for providing security and integrity in abidding process is provided. The system comprises an agent entity running an agentapplication, a bank entity running a bank application, and a bidding service provider entityrunning a bidding service provider application and at least on participant entity running aparticipant application, Wherein at least the bidding service provider entity is separated fromthe bank entity and from the agent entity, Wherein - the agent entity is arranged to identify one bidding object and at least one object parameterrelating to the bidding object; - at least one participant entity is arranged to register With the agent entity or the biddingservice provider entity as participants in a bidding process relating to the bidding object; andWherein the a bidding service provider entity is arranged to generate at least one request forparticipant specific information is and to send the request to the bank entity, and the bank entity is arranged to generate participant specific information data and send it to thebidding service provider entity, and the a bidding service provider entity is arranged to generate first processed information databased on the participant specific information data and to distribute to the participant entity andto generate second processed information data based on the participant specific informationdata and to distribute to the agent entity, the first processed information data being differentfrom the second processed information data, and Wherein the bidding service provider entitycontrols the request for participant specific information and the distribution of the firstprocessed information data to the participant entity and the distribution of the second processed information data to the agent entity.

According to one embodiment the a bidding service provider entity is arranged process theparticipant specific information data generated by the bank entity by filtering the participantspecific information data so that the second processed information data relating to the agent isa subset of the first processed information data relating to the participant. Altematively the abidding service provider entity is arranged process the participant specific information datagenerated by the bank entity by deterrnining a ranking value that is comprised in the secondprocessed information data relating to be sent to the agent entity, Wherein ranking value should represent the likelihood of the participant not WithdraWing the bid.

Thanks to the invention it is possible to provide security and integrity in a bidding process is,in particular for the bidder With regards to the agent and still maintain the auction type forrnat of selling. A forrnat that is preferred by many parties.

One advantage afforded by the present invention is that a bidding service provider entityfilters or process the inforrnation provided by a bank concerning a participants so that theagent is provided With sufficient inforrnation, yet inforrnation that could be non-advantageous for the participant/bidder Will not reach the agent or seller.One further advantage is that after the process it should be possible to trace the participants.

In the following, the invention Will be described in more detail, by Way of example only, Withregard to non-limiting embodiments thereof, reference being made to the accompanying drawings.

Brief description of the drawings Fig. 1 is a schematic illustration of the system according to the present invention;Fig. 2 is a flowchart of the method according to one embodiment of the present invention; and Fig. 3 is a flowchart of the method according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed description The system and method according to the present invention will be described with reference toreal estate object and the process of showing such object. This represents an example and alsoan important embodiment of the invention. However, the invention is by no means limited tothe real estate bidding. Also other selling/buying scenarios, typically of objects of largervalues such as boats, cars, campers etc may be similar in utilizing auction-type bidding, andwherein the financial capacity of the potential buyers often is heavily dependent on the termsand condition of a loan from a bank or similar financial institution.

Tools for managing bidding processes are today often included in the software packages realestate agents and are typically run on the agent"s server. Prior to the actual bidding process theparticipants have registered with the agent°s software and the bidding process starts with theagent initiating that messages, typically SMS, inforrns the registered participants that thebidding process for a particular real estate object is starting and asks the participants, thebidders, to place there bids. For each bid, or each rounds of bids, the bidders are inforrned bynew SMS messages, generated by the agent's software about the current highest bid. Theprocess is typically supervised by the agent in person aided by the software application.Altematively, as for example described in the above cited patent applications, the biddingprocess is web-based and the bidders place their bids and receives updated information aboutthe highest bid online. In either case, considerable trust is awarded to the bidder as typicallyno verifications of the bidder°s identity, nor is the financial capacity of the bidders known inthis stage. Typically, the real estate agent has inforrned all registered participants about thenecessity to have a relevant loan clearance from a bank or other financial institution.However, the agent has typically no means available to control the identity of the bidder and/or the existence of a loan clearance and the terms and conditions associated with it. The control comes after the bidding process is then the bidders bank is contacted, or the bidder isasked to provide proof of his/hers financial capacity. The identity of the rest of theparticipating bidders are typically not revealed. As previously discussed, the current biddingprocess is relatively easy to manipulate, for example the seller may engage one or morestrawmen that places bid in order to raise the final price of the real estate object. Probablymore common is that a participating bidder are not fully inforrned about the terrns of his/hersloan clearance and/or are carried away during the bidding process and places bids that are above the his/hers financial capacity.

The terrn "loan clearance" is here used in a broad meaning and represents an amount that abank or other mortgage lender have preliminary approved. Typically, the amount specified inthe loan clearance is the purchase amount of the object, for example the house, rather than themaximum loan amount. Hence, a down payment is typically included in the specified amount.A loan clearance is typically linked to certain terrns and conditions such as a time period, anobject type; for example a house, an apartment or a boat. Further conditions may apply, forexample if the object type is a house the loan clearance may specify an upper limit of theoperating cost of the house. A loan clearance is also often given under the presumption thatthe personal financial circumstances for the person or persons have not changed. The terrns"Loan consent, Bank consent, Pre-qualified, Pre-approved, Agreement in Principle, Loancommitment" are in the trade used to denote the same thing as the loan clearance, Which terrns are encompassed by the herein used terrn "loan clearance".

The terrn "entity" as in "agent entity" and "bank entity" is used herein to denote a server orsimilar device having capability to run a software application/program and communicate Withother entities in the system and at least to some extent store information. An entity typicallyincludes a computer for managing a server, the server and computer forrning the entity. Asappreciated by the skilled person the implementation may comprises a plurality of servers,databases and computers forrning an intemal netWork or IT-system of a company, forexample. The terrn "participant entity" may be a mobile phone, other mobile device or apersonal/laptop computer, i.e. a device of lesser capabilities than the servers of the otherentities in the system. The entities are provided With softWare programs and/or applications toperform the steps of the method of the invention. Giving the teaching herein, implementing the steps of the method is a straightforWard task for the skilled programmer.

The terrn "separated" as in "the agent entity is separated from bidding server provider entity"and "the agent server is separated from bidding server provider server" should be understoodthat the entities/ servers are typically managed and controlled by different legal entities andthat no essential information relating to a bidding process apart from the below described areexchanged between the entities/ servers. ""Separated" may be understood as the level ofseparation of information maintained by two competing companies keeping their essential andconfidential information apart by restricting access to their respective IT-systems, althoughsome information exchange may be allowed. It should be understood that the agent entity 110and the bidding service provider entity 120 and the thereto related functions/ services may beprovided by the same legal entity or affiliated legal entities, but arranged so that theinformation and the management is kept separate in the above described manner, for exampleas separate modules in an IT-systems. Such IT-system must be set up taking the high demandon information integrity between the involved parties, especially the integrity of the participant (bidder).

The system 100 according to the invention is schematically illustrated in figure 1 andcomprises an agent entity 110, a bidding service provider entity 120, a bank entity 130 and atleast one, but typically a plurality of participant entities 140. The agent entity 110, the biddingservice provider entity 120, and the bank entity 130 are typically servers and a participantentity 140 may typically be a personal computer or a mobile computing device such as asmart phone or a tablet. The entities are separated in the sense described above. The entitiesare provided with the software in forms of an application or program to carry out therespective parts of the method described herein. During the bidding phase, which will befurther described below, bidding service provider entity 120 controls the flow of informationbetween the entities which is illustrated by the bidding service provider entity 120 beingconnected to the bank entity 130, the agent entity 110 and the participant entity 140. Duringother phases of the auction process other connections may exist, such as the participant entity 140 connecting with the agent entity 110 for registration as a participant in a bidding process.

The auction process for auctioning an object wherein the method according to the invention is utilized comprises the three main phases: a. a registration phase wherein a participant entity 140 register to participate in the auction process, typically by registering with the agent entity 110 by web registration. Altematively, the participant entity 140 may register With the bidding service provider entity 120, Which inturn Would transfer that inforrnation to the agent entity 110. An agent reviews the participantsand approves the participant. A group of participants for a specific bidding event relating to one object is defined. b. a bidding phase Wherein the group of participants is activated. The participants loanclearances are handled, and their bids are placed and communicated. Typically, the bidding isiterated a number of times until the seller accepts a bid. The acceptance is typically on the seller°s discretion- it is not necessarily the highest bid that the seller choses to accept. c. a financial Validation and contract phase Wherein the final financial terrns are reviewed anda contract is signed, or if the validation process fails, the complete bidding process is restarted.

The method according to the invention relates primarily to the first and second phases, theregistration phase and the bidding phase, of the complete auction process. The method,illustrated by the flowchart of figure 2, provides for security and integrity in a biddingprocess, and is implemented in the system 100 comprising an agent entity 110 running anagent application, a bank entity 130 running a bank application, and a bidding serviceprovider entity 120 running a bidding service provider application and at least on participantentity140 running a participant application. The different entities and applications arearranged to interact to according to the described method. The bidding service provider entity 120 is separated from the bank entity 130 and from the agent entity 110.

The method comprises the steps of: - 200 the agent entity 110 identifying one bidding object and at least one object parameterrelating to the bidding object ; - 205 at least one participant entity 140 registering With the agent entity 110 or the biddingservice provider entity 120 as participants in a bidding process relating to the bidding object;- 210 the bidding service provider entity 120 or agent entity 110 initiating a bidding processby inforrning the participants of the start of a bidding process; - 215 the at least one participant bidding on the bidding object, and Wherein at least one request for participant specific information is generated by the biddingservice provider entity 120 and sent to the bank entity 130; participant specific information data is generated by the bank entity 130 and sent to the bidding service provider entity 120, and first processed information data based on the participant specific information data isgenerated and distributed to the participant entity 140 and second processed information databased on the participant specific information data is generated and distributed to the agententity 110, the first processed information data being different from the second processedinformation data, and Wherein the bidding service provider entity 120 controls the request forparticipant specific information and the distribution of the first processed information data tothe participant entity 140 and the distribution of the second processed information data to the agent entity 110.

The bidding, step 215 is typically repeated for each participant and also for each rounds ofbids among the participants. The agent entity 110 or the bidding service provider entity 120may after each bid, or after a round of bids inforrn all participants about the status of the bidding process.

According to one embodiment the bidding service provider entity 120 controls the request, theprocessing of the participant specific information and the distribution of the different processed information to the participant entity 140 and the agent entity 110.

According to one altemative embodiment the generation of the first and second processedinformation is performed by the bank entity 130 and sent to the bidding service providerentity 120 Which in tum distribute the first processed information to the agent entity 110 and the second processed information to the participant entity 140.

The bidding object may for example be a real estate property and the object parameterspecifying that it is a toWnhouse, suburban house or an apartment, for example, Which is referred to as object type..

According to one embodiment of the invention the method comprises a step of the at least oneparticipant entity 140 giving consent to the bidding service provider entity 120 to retrieve anddistribute information from the bank entity 130. Altematively, the participant entity 140 has previously given a consent to the bank entity 130 to accept a request from the bidding service provider entity 120.

Inforrnation data, participant specific information data and processed information data istypically is typical data that is stored in a database or originate from data stored in a database using conventional methods and arrangements for storing and transferring. 13 According to one embodiment the step of bidding 215 comprises the substeps of: - 215 :1 the bidding service provider entity 120 sending a request for participant specificinformation to the bank entity 130; - 215 :2 the bank entity 130 generating participant specific information data; - 215 :3 the bank entity 130 sending participant specific inforrnation data to the biddingservice provider entity 120; - 215 :4 the bidding service provider entity 120 receiving the participant specific inforrnationdata from the bank entity 130; - 215 :5 the bidding service provider entity 120 processing the participant specific inforrnationdata and preparing first processed inforrnation data relating to the participant and secondprocessed inforrnation data relating to the agent; and - 215 :6 the bidding service provider entity 120 sending the first processed inforrnationrelating to the participant to the participant entity 140 and the second processed inforrnation relating to the agent to the agent entity 110.

According to one embodiment of the invention the participant specific inforrnation datagenerated by the bank entity 130 comprises inforrnation that should be kept secret from theagent entity 110 and the bidding service provider entity 120 processing the participant specificinforrnation data comprises filtering the participant specific inforrnation data so that thesecond processed inforrnation data relating to the agent is a subset of the first processed inforrnation data relating to the participant.

According to one embodiment of the invention the participant specific inforrnation datagenerated by the bank entity 130 comprises inforrnation that should be kept secret from theagent entity 110 and the bidding service provider entity 120 processing the participant specificinforrnation data comprises filtering the participant specific inforrnation data so that thesecond processed inforrnation data relating to the agent is a subset of the first processedinforrnation data relating to the participant. An example of such filtering a is that theparticipant specific inforrnation data comprises an indication of the participant having a loanclearance With the bank, a specification of object type linked to the loan clearance and thepurchase amount specified in the loan clearance. The bidding service provider entity 120filters out that a loan clearance exists and provides that inforrnation only in the secondprocessed inforrnation to agent entity 110. Altematively, bidding service provider entity 120 also provide other inforrnation, such as object type, in the second processed inforrnation to agent entity 110. However, information that could influence the bidding process in an unfairway, such as revealing the amount linked to the loan clearance should always be filtered out by the bidding service provider entity 120.

According to one embodiment of the invention the participant specific inforrnation datagenerated by the bank entity 130 comprises inforrnation that should be kept secret from theagent entity 110 and the bidding service provider entity 120 processing the participant specificinforrnation data comprises analyzing the participant specific inforrnation data anddeterrnining a ranking value that is comprised in the second processed inforrnation datarelating to be sent to the agent entity 110. The ranking value should represent the likelihood ofthe participant not withdrawing the bid and being approved in the financial validation andcontract phase. The ranking value may include an analysis of that a loan clearance exists andthat the object type corresponds to the bidding object. Also other parameters may be includedand the different parameters may be given different weight in the analysis. The ranking valuemay for example be an integer from for example 1 to 5, wherein a low number represent amatch with all selected parameters and a lower value a mismatch in one or more parameters.Altematively a grade-type value may be given, for example with a "5" representing thehighest grade and "1" the lowest grade. According to one embodiment the amount specified inthe loan clearance is one parameter that is used by the bidding service provider entity 120performing the analysis for the ranking value. In that case the agent entity 110 is still not presented with the actual amount specified in the participant specific inforrnation data.

One implementation, representing one embodiment of the method according to the inventionis illustrated in the flowchart of figure 3 and comprises the steps of: - 300 the agent entity 110 identifying one bidding object and at least one object parameterrelating to the bidding object. The object parameter may for example be an object typespecifying the type of bidding object according to a predeterrnined classification; - 305 at least one participant entity 140 registering with the agent entity 110 or the biddingservice provider entity 120 as participants in a bidding process relating to the bidding object;- 306 the agent entity 110 generating a bidding session message comprising a list ofparticipants, the at least one object parameter and, and providing the bidding session messageto the bidding service provider entity 120; and - 307 the agent server or the bidding service provider server generates open bidding messages to the participants of the list of participants, the open bidding messages at least comprising a link to participation in the bidding process, - 310 the at least one participant performing an E-identification and the at least one participantentity 140 giving consent to the bidding service provider entity 120 to retrieve and distributeinforrnation from the bank entity 130, and a consent message is provided to the biddingservice provider entity 120; - 315 the at least one participant bidding on the bidding object; - 3 15 :l the bidding service provider entity 120 sending a reguest message for participantspecific information to the bank entity 130; - 315:2 the bank entity 130 generating a participant specific information data message; - 315:3 the bank entity 130 sending the participant specific information data message to the bidding service provider entity 120; - 31534 the bidding service provider entity 120 receiving the participant specific information data message from the bank entity 130; - 31525 the bidding service provider entity 120 analyzing the participant specific information data message utilizing the bidding session message and preparing a participant messagecomprising first processed information data message relating to the participant and an agentmessage comprising second processed information data relating to the agent; and - 315:6 the bidding service provider entity 120 sending the participant message to theparticipant entity 140 and the agent message to the agent entity 110, and Wherein steps 315:1 to 315:6 are repeated for at least each participant and/or each bid.

According to one embodiment the bidding session message comprises information about theobject type of the bidding object and the participant specific information data messagecomprises information about the object type or types relevant for the participants loanclearance and the analysis performed by the bidding service provider entity 120 comprisescomparing the object type of the bidding session message and the participant specific information data message.

According to one embodiment the bidding service provider entity 120 analyzing theparticipant specific information data message by comparing the bid from the participant entity140 With the loan clarence With regards to one of or a combination of the following parameters: object type, period of validity, specified amount and running cost.

According to one embodiment of the invention the bidding service provider entity 120analyzing participant specific information data message and monitors the bids placed by theparticipant entity 140 and if the bid is Within a predeterrnined range from the given upperlimit of the loan clearance the participant entity 140 is notif1ed. Upon such notif1cation theparticipant may contact the bank, or another bank, to apply for a neW loan clearance With ahigher upper limit. In the same manner the bidding service provider entity 120 may monitorand notify the participant entity 140 is a period of validity specified in the loan clearance is about to expire.

It has above been described as the agent and agent entity being an active part in the sellingand the receiver of information. Also the seller may be provided With information throughoutthe process, for example from the agent entity 110 or from the bidding service provider 120.Typically, the seller Would receive the same type of filtered or processed information as theagent entity 110 receives from the bidding service provider 120 in order to maintain the integrity of the bidder.

The embodiments described above are to be understood as illustrative examples of the systemand method of the present invention. It Will be understood that those skilled in the art thatvarious modifications, combinations and changes may be made to the embodiments. Inparticular, different part solutions in the different embodiments can be combined in other configurations, Where technically possible.

Claims (1)

Claims:

1. A method for providing security and integrity in a bidding process, the methodimplemented in a system (100) comprising an agent entity (110) running an agentapplication, a bank entity (130) running a bank application, and a bidding serviceprovider entity (120) running a bidding service provider application and at least onparticipant entity (140) running a participant application, Wherein at least the biddingservice provider entity (120) is separated from the bank entity (130) and from theagent entity (110), the method comprising the steps of: - (200) the agent entity (110) identifying one bidding object and at least one objectparameter relating to the bidding object; - (205) at least one participant entity (140) registering With the agent entity (110) orthe bidding service provider entity (120) as participants in a bidding process relatingto the bidding object; - (210) the bidding service provider entity (120) or agent entity (110) initiating abidding process by inforrning the participants of the start of a bidding process; and - (215) the at least one participant bidding on the bidding object, and Wherein at leastone request for participant specific information is generated by the bidding serviceprovider entity (120) and sent to the bank entity (130); participant specific informationdata is generated by the bank entity (130) and sent to the bidding service providerentity (120), and first processed information data based on the participant specificinformation data is generated and distributed to the participant entity (140) and secondprocessed information data based on the participant specific information data isgenerated and distributed to the agent entity (110), the first processed information databeing different from the second processed information data, and Wherein the biddingservice provider entity (120) controls the request for participant specific informationand the distribution of the first processed information data to the participant entity (140) and the distribution of the second processed information data to the agent entity(1 1 0). The method according to claim 1, Wherein the step of bidding 215 comprises thesubsteps of: - (215 : 1) the bidding service provider entity (120) sending a request for participant specific information to the bank entity (130); - (215 :2) the bank entity (130) generating participant specific information data; - (215 :3) the bank entity (130) sending participant specific information data to thebidding service provider entity (120); - (215 :4) the bidding service provider entity (120) receiving the participant specificinformation data from the bank entity (130); - (215 :5) the bidding service provider entity (120) processing the participant specificinformation data and preparing a first processed information data relating to theparticipant and a second processed information data relating to the agent; and - (215 :6) the bidding service provider entity (120) sending the first processedinformation relating to the participant to the participant entity (140) and the second processed information relating to the agent to the agent entity (110). . The method according to claim 1 or 2, Wherein the participant specific information data generated by the bank entity (130) comprises information that should be keptsecret from the agent entity (110) and the bidding service provider entity (120)processing the participant specific information data comprises filtering the participantspecific information data so that the second processed information data relating to the agent is a subset of the first processed information data relating to the participant. . The method according to claim 1 or 2, Wherein the participant specific information data generated by the bank entity (130) comprises information that should be keptsecret from the agent entity (110) and the bidding service provider entity (120)processing the participant specific information data comprises analyzing theparticipant specific information data and deterrnining a ranking value that is comprisedin the second processed information data relating to be sent to the agent entity (110),Wherein ranking value should represent the likelihood of the participant not WithdraWing the bid. . The method according to claim 4, Wherein the participant specific information data generated by the bank entity (130) comprises parameters that indicate if a loan clearance exists and the object type or object types relating to the loan clearance and the deterrnination of the ranking Value includes an analysis of that a loan clearance exists and that the object type corresponds to the bidding object. . The method according to any of the proceeding claims comprising the steps of: - (300) the agent entity (110) identifying one bidding object and at least one objectparameter relating to the bidding object; - (305) at least one participant entity (140) registering With the agent entity (110) orthe bidding service provider entity (120) as participants in a bidding process relatingto the bidding object; - (306) the agent entity (110) generating a bidding session message comprising a listof participants, the at least one object parameter and, and providing the biddingsession message to the bidding service provider entity (120); and - (307) the agent server or the bidding service provider server generates open biddingmessages to the participants of the list of participants, the open bidding messages atleast comprising a link to participation in the bidding process, - (310) the at least one participant performing an E-identification and the at least oneparticipant entity (140) giving consent to the bidding service provider entity (120) toretrieve and distribute information from the bank entity (130), and a consent messageis provided to the bidding service provider entity (120); - (315) the at least one participant bidding on the bidding object; - (315:1) the bidding service provider entity (120) sending a request message forparticipant specific information to the bank entity (130); - (315:2) the bank entity (130) generating a participant specific information datamessage; - (315:3) the bank entity (130) sending the participant specific information datamessage to the bidding service provider entity (120); - (315:4) the bidding service provider entity (120) receiving the participant specificinformation data message from the bank entity (130); - (315:5) the bidding service provider entity (120) analyzing the participant specificinformation data message utilizing the bidding session message and preparing aparticipant message comprising first processed information data message relating to the participant and an agent message comprising second processed information data relating to the agent; and - (31536) the bidding service provider entity (120) sending the participant message tothe participant entity (140) and the agent message to the agent entity (110), andWherein steps 315:1 to 315:6 are repeated for at least each participant and/or each bid. . The method according to claim 4, Wherein the bidding session message comprises information about the object type of the bidding object and the participant specificinformation data message comprises information about the object type or typesrelevant for the participants loan clearance and the analysis performed by the biddingservice provider entity (120) comprises comparing the object type of the bidding session message and the participant specific information data message. . A system (100) for providing security and integrity in a bidding process, the system (100) comprising an agent entity (110) running an agent application, a bank entity(130) running a bank application, and a bidding service provider entity (120) running abidding service provider application and at least on participant entity (140) running aparticipant application, Wherein at least the bidding service provider entity (120) isseparated from the bank entity (130) and from the agent entity (110), Wherein - the agent entity (110) is arranged to identify (200;300) one bidding object and atleast one object parameter relating to the bidding object; - at least one participant entity (140) is arranged to register (205;305) With the agententity (110) or the bidding service provider entity (120) as participants in a biddingprocess relating to the bidding object; and Wherein the a bidding service providerentity (120) is arranged to generate at least one request for participant specificinformation is and to send the request to the bank entity (130), and the bank entity (130) is arranged to generate participant specific information data andsend it to the bidding service provider entity (120), and the a bidding service provider entity (120) is arranged to generate first processedinformation data based on the participant specific information data and to distribute tothe participant entity (140) and to generate second processed information data basedon the participant specific information data and to distribute to the agent entity (110), the first processed information data being different from the second processed information data, and Wherein the bidding service provider entity (120) controls therequest for participant specific inforrnation and the distribution of the first processedinforrnation data to the participant entity (140) and the distribution of the second processed inforrnation data to the agent entity (110). The system (100) according to c1aim 8, Wherein the a bidding service provider entity(120) is arranged process the participant specific inforrnation data generated by thebank entity (130) by filtering the participant specific inforrnation data so that thesecond processed inforrnation data re1ating to the agent is a subset of the first processed inforrnation data re1ating to the participant. The system (100) according to c1aim 8, Wherein the a bidding service provider entity(120) is arranged process the participant specific inforrnation data generated by thebank entity (130) by deterrnining a ranking Value that is comprised in the secondprocessed inforrnation data re1ating to be sent to the agent entity (110), Whereinranking Value should represent the 1ike1ihood of the participant not WithdraWing thebid.