WO2007100797A2 - Method within a network to provide reverse auction gaming and reporting - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention generally provides computer systems, private computer networks or private virtual networks for conducting and managing one or more reverse auctions with either open or sealed bidding communications and to methods and software for accessing, utilizing and managing private computer networks or virtual private networks including servers and clients for secured gaming or auctions. More particularly the present invention relates to a system, methods and software for creating, maintaining, accessing, and conducting reverse auction raffles or auctions within a private or virtual private network for managed communications with respect to identified participants for such reverse auctions.

Description

SYSTEM, METHOD AND SOFTWARE FOR COMMUNICATIONS WITHIN A

PRIVATE NETWORK OR PRIVATE VIRTUAL NETWORK TO PROVIDE

REVERSE AUCTION GAMING AND REPORTING

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The field of the present invention relates generally to computer systems, private computer networks or private virtual networks for conducting and managing one or more reverse auctions with either open or sealed bidding communications and to methods and software for accessing, utilizing and managing private computer networks or virtual private networks including servers and clients for secured gaming or auctions. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system, methods and software for creating, maintaining, accessing, and conducting reverse auction raffles or auctions within a private or virtual private network for managed communications with respect to identified participants for such reverse auctions.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

One type of long-existing seller reverse auction has been where a potential buyer lists an offer to buy a desired item or service and then invites potent sellers to offer competitive price lowest price bid in order to obtain goods or services at the lowest possible price. Sometimes a buyer will list a maximum price or price range that the buyer is willing to pay, and sellers offer their bids up to the buyer to compete for the business at the greatest deal for the buyer. At times the bids are sealed and other times they are open to viewing by other potential sellers. In such a case, the buyer may obtain the goods or services at this lowest possible real value, but seldom for less that the actual market value of the goods or services. Certainly, except in promotional circumstances, a seller would not be willing to place a bid for goods or services that would result in a loss of money for the seller.

Buyer reverse actions utilizing cell phones and text messaging are a fairly recent event. In Q2 of 2005, the Smart Minds Institute introduced the concept of BidSoLow where cell phone text messaging is utilized for a potential buyer to place the lowest unique bid for goods of fairly low value. One of the reasons for such lower value goods is that revenue from the auction is obtained from sharing the text messaging revenue from SMS cell phone companies who manage the network and the bidding process via a small software application placed on the cell phones.

In March of 2006, a copycat goods promotional advertising group known as

Limbo 41414 launched world wide web advertisements for their SMS cell phone reverse action in order to promote goods donated to Limbo by manufacturers or sellers of such goods. This auction uses text messaging, or a web site where the cell phone number is entered for placing bids. As, stated on their web site, company revenues are supported by shared text messaging revenue from telephone companies and from companies who donate the promotional items. Importantly, no registration is required by an end user bidder prior to the end user bidder participating in the auction and placing a bid, but proof of age might be required when an auction winner tries to collect an item that is won by the lowest unique bid. There is no satisfactory means to identify bidders prior to the close of auction, except that phone companies can identify the phone number from which the text messaging bid was transmitted. Such identification of the phone numbers only identifies the equipment source and not the bidder. Moreover, the personal information and habits of the individual auction participants are captured by the auction provider with the end user's permission and used or sold to other advertisers for promotional purposes. According to web blogs, some end users have complained to phone companies about unexpected charges and excessive advertiser sales calls.

In addition, the telephone text messaging system can lead to unidentified or unauthorized bidders, problems with underage bidding, and cheating by bidders. As discussed above, when the messaging system auctions are conducted as described above and in their literature, only the equipment itself (originating telephone number for the text message) or the phone number entered on the bid page can be identified by the telephone company, and website provide, which can ultimately be identified by the auction providers. This causes serious potential difficulties establishing who actually placed the bid from the piece of equipment or entered the telephone number. Further, it may be difficult to determine who placed the lowest unique bid since the time to transmit bids may be different with different telephone networks near the end of the auction, and it is unclear whether the winner should be calculated from the time of entry of the bid into the telephone text message network, or when the message is actually received from the telephone companies. Moreover, the total number of times a person can bid is limited by the website and literature. Furthermore, if higher value items were to be offered in the future, they would not be supported by the described techonology since the above problems would present an even greater fairness problem and could subject the auction providers to legal problems with respect to who actually won the auction. In addition, while an underaged bidder may have the item picked up by a parent, this could still subject the auction providers to legal liabilities for allowing "gaming" by a minor and would be unfair to others who were legal bidders. A still further problem would exist in view of roaming cell phones and call forwarding where text messages do not absolutely identify the sender by the location where the message originated, particularly when certain states my forbid participation in such contests while other states may not.

Accordingly, there is a strong need for an improved or new network and system comprising internet, telephone or other communication networks with software and logic for conducting and managing reverse auctions wherein the end user buyer or end user bidder is uniquely identified by at least one network manager within a private or virtual private network and the end user buyer or bidder is required to be registered with the network prior to bidding for any items or services in a reverse auction. Further, there is a need for such as system with logic for managing the timing of receipt of bids, the location of the originating bids and to either publish the lowest current bid or the lowest bid at a point in time or to keep that lowest current bid sealed until after the auction is closed.

NEED TO MANAGE REVERSE AUCTIONS AND NETWORKS

A geographic problem of physical locations and end user identities complicate the creation, access, changing or deleting of a set of network relationships between end user bidders and the reverse auction system itself. The private network or virtual network may be distributed over multiple physical computer machine locations or even distributed over multiple Internet website locations including connections between portable devices such as mobile phones, PDA and other wireless devices that may be independent of the core private network or from a central machine. Thus, in the context of this invention, the relationships between such entities may be managed as an object graph of complex object relationships using object based programming languages and software. .

Importantly, relationships may exist between a two servers, between a client and a server, or between two clients that may be represented using an object model and object programming software according to the present invention. A relationship between one such entity and another may be member selected from the group of three relationship types consisting of 1 to 1 (1-1), 1 to many (1-M) or many to many (M-M). Complex combinations of these relationships may be thought of in the context of this invention of managing network relationships as an object graphs as existing in data object relationships definitions for a given data object for management. These relationships are described or illustrated in further detail later in this document.

An example of such a relationship would be the relationships in a reverse auction being conducted by the system. The relationship between the auction system and the group of individual bidders would be 1 to many in an auction, while the relationship between the individual players and there bids would be 1 to many, and the relationship to the lowest unique bid and lowest unique bidder would be one to one. In a particular bidder's case their participation in an auctions would be 1 to many and their total bids to total auctions participated in would be many to many. Their relationship to a unique ID on the system would be 1 to 1, and their identifiers might be many to 1. In any event, all of these relationships can be managed by an object graph of relationships and the data of bidders, bids, wins and losses can be managed as data for each object on the graph, which can correspond to on object branch for each bidder on an object tree of bidders, and a branch for each auction with its sub-branches of bidders and bids.

As is clear from the above illustration, objects may logically span multiple relational tables of data sources that store the information in a database, or involve multiple object databases. Object may even be distributed over a logical (or hypothetical) computer system or other communication networks involving multiple physically independent computer systems or even multiple website locations, multiple bidders, multiple equipment and multiple locations. Thus, one might need to identify if a single bidder is having programmed computers automatically bidding on a single auction from multiple connections with the network in attempts to cheat the system and to obtain an unfair advantage Also, individual bidders can be uniquely identified, not just the equipment from which the bid is originating. Creating, accessing, maintaining or updating an object application model can require working with multiple translation modules and require tedious and repetitive updating of multiple individual computer systems or multiple data sources in order to do useful work and keep the object application model synchronized. Such approaches can are both costly and unwieldy in terms of computing and development resources, particularly with respect to Internet based private network and virtual private network communications and transactions object application models. Data objects of an object application model are often a feature of eCommerce object programming applications, where information is obtained from a data source and the data is defined as a data object (e.g., as a Java class) for use with another computer application. However, the present invention modifies and applies this practice to a network in order to provide network management utilizing an object programming language with objects describing and encapsulating the relationships of entities utilizing and serving the private network and persisting them to a data store. In practice, a data object or model of data objects may exist only in the random access memory of a computer memory system, or may be saved to either a data source or to some other type of retrievable information repository. A programmer or administrator of an object data application may not be able to exhaustively display the overall model or diagram of data objects for an object application model or to display some of its specific elements. Unfortunately, tools for accessing and displaying data objects and associated data object relationships as a complex data object graph model have not been well implemented in the field of object language programming.

A computer application can execute one or more of the following non-limiting actions with respect to one or more of the members selected from the group consisting of data, a data object, and a data object definition: access data, change data, create data, create a new relationship between one or more data objects by creating or changing at least one data object relationship definition, change or delete a relationship between one or more data objects by changing or deleting at least one data object relationship definition, access a data object relationship definition and use its parameters to access a data source or a data object, and access one or more data object relationship definitions or data objects to create a new data object or data object relationship. Any changes executed by a computer application with respect to one or more of the members selected from the group consisting of data, data object or data object definition may need to be properly persisted (permanently stored) to preserve any changes to one or more of the members selected from the group consisting of data, a data object and a data object definition.

A data object and an associated data object relationship definition may be represented by a complex data object graph as described in published U.S. patent application serial number 10/158,672 to Ward Mullins (assignee Thought, Inc.). A Complex Data Object Graph (CDOG), for the purposes of this document, may be thought of as a computer program data object graph that represents a data object having at least one relationship with at least one other data object or with itself via a circular link. When the data object of a CDOG is implemented in the Java computer program language, the CDOG may be further defined as being a Java Data Object Graph ("JDOG"). There is a need for an easily navigable tool for detecting any relationships of a data object in the context of a virtual private network that provides a well-managed reverse auction system in order to provide both a full description and management of servers and clients, auctions and bidders along with their concurrent limits to pay for placing bids, bids, winnings and reports within the network as a CDOG definition and for persisting any changes to at least one member selected from the group consisting of a data object, any data associated with the related object, or any associated CDOG definition (i.e., an changes to the data object, data or to a relationship of the data object with another data object). For example, there is a need to be able to properly create, manage and sever relationships between at least two data objects (such as players in the gaming environment) in a convenient and efficient manner by simply making a change to the CDOG definition for one of the two related data objects.

There is currently no computer programmer or system administrator tool that is efficiently adapted for managing a private network or virtual private network in a reverse auction environment as an object application using a CDOG model with features that permit convenient and efficient accessing and deleting of a single instance of a complex data object and (without further input) results in the tool automatically deleting all existing associated data objects and relationships and the tool automatically updating all local and distributed instances of the CDOG and its associated data, data objects and data object relationships on the local or distributed computer system.

Accordingly, there is a strong need in the art for a computer applications system and programmer tools designed to assist a programmer or administrator in the actions of deleting, inactivating or updating of relationships and communications within a private network or a virtual private network as a complex data object graph for reverse auction purposes, wherein the computer applications programmer tool can be configured to automatically delete, inactivate or update at least one member selected from the group consisting of associated data, associated data objects and associated data object relationship definitions to reflect the deleting, inactivating or updating of a CDOG. A particularly strong need exists for such a tool or system having the further ability to be configured to persist, propagate and reflect system wide (in a local or distributed computer system) any such changes to a CDOG instance to all instances of the CDOG and to all instances of associated data, data objects and data object relationships that represent relationships and communications within a private network or a virtual private network for gaming purposes. DEFINITIONS

The following non-exhaustive list of definitions is used herein to define terms that may otherwise be confusing or can sometimes have multiple meanings. Each occurrence of a defined term in the above text, in the text that follows, or in the claims of this document, is to be given the meaning ascribed to it in the list of definitions below.

"Instance" as referred to in this document in the context of computer software applications is a single occurrence of a software logical element in the memory of a computer system, such as a "class", an "object", a "data object", and the like.

"Class" as referred to in this document in the context of computer software applications is a logic unit in a computer application or a computer software program where the application or program is based upon an objected oriented programming language (e.g., Java). In practice, a class is a logical unit used as a logical template in an object oriented language from which to allocate new instances of objects.

"Object" as used in the context of this document is a general term referring to a logic unit in a computer application or a computer software program where the application or program is based upon an objected oriented programming language (e.g., Java). The term "object" may ordinarily be used interchangeably with the term "class" as a template or as an instance depending on the context.

"Data object" as referred to in the context of this document represents the concept of the occurrence of an object that holds data within a specific computer application domain and is likely to have its contents stored in a persistent data source of a computer system (e.g., a database server, a binary file, a text file, or even in a combination of two or more of such a persistent data sources of a computer system). A data object may exist as an independent data object without any relationship to any other data object or it may have one or more relationships with itself or with one or more other data objects.

"Complex data object" (or "CDO") as used in the context of this document refers to the occurrence of a data object that has at least one or more relationships with itself, or at least one or more relationships with one or more other data object(s). In a given instance of a CDO at least one relationship is populated as a link, as defined below. A CDO may have a multiplicity of different relationships with itself or with one or more additional CDOs. "Relationship" or "data relationship" as used in the context of a CDO refers to the type of logical combination that occurs between a data object with itself, or refers to the type of logical combination that occurs between a data object and at least one another data object. Among other references or descriptions, such a relationship is always referred to or partially described by a "relationship type". This term is used in an object oriented language context to reference or describe any expectations, actions and limitations possible between two or more data objects.

"Relationship type" in the context of this document is a label that specifies the possible multiple combinations that can occur between a CDO and itself or with at least one other CDO. The possible relationship type labels are 1-1 (one to one), 1-M (one to many) and M-M (many to many). A given CDO may be simultaneously related to more than one other CDO through several different types of relationship.

"Link" as used in this document with respect to a CDO identifies a particular occurrence of a relationship between a CDO and itself, between, a CDO and another CDO. The occurrence of at least one populated link results in an instance of the CDO.

"Circular link" as used in this document with respect to a CDO identifies a particular occurrence of a relationship between a CDO and itself that may be direct or indirect (e.g., linked to itself through another CDO).

"Relationship definition" or "relationship description" in the context of this document and computer software applications refers to information, or an abstraction of information, regarding a "relationship", "data relationship" "relationship type" or a "link" that can be stored, accessed, transferred, communicated, displayed or edited.

"Complex data object graph" or "CDOG" is a term employed herein as an abstraction to logically represent a set of complex data objects and a set of their corresponding relationships.

"Java data object graph" or "JDOG" is a term employed herein as an abstraction to logically represent a set of complex data objects and a set of their corresponding relationships that are part of a Java programming application.

"Application model" or simply "model" are essentially interchangeable terms employed herein as abstractions to logically convey a collective description or other representation for a set of complex data objects and a corresponding description or other representation of their relationships. In one respect, these terms are used logically herein provide a general way of efficiently communicating when referring to set of metadata (i.e., data about data) that describes possible data entities (e.g., objects, database tables, maps, etc,) data relationship types, and data constraints involved in a computer system or application, or in a specific instance of an application. It is important to understand the context in which the terms "application model" and "model" are used in this document. Ordinarily computer engineers refer to the "model" as an abstraction rather than a specific possibility or instance of the model as applied. However, in this document for the ease of communication abstractions of the model, possible implementations of the model and instances of the model are all referred to generally as "application model" or "model". From the context of its use the term will be clear.

"Navigation", "navigating" or "navigated" in the context of the present document refers to an action implementing at least one object to interact with a set of related objects for a certain purpose, such as creation, access, insertion, modification and deletion of an object, or of one of its relationships.

"Navigation model" as used herein is a special type of application model that is applied specifically to a description (or other representation) of how objects can relate to each other and what might be the expected behavior when a CDOG is navigated for a certain purpose.

"Object schema" is a term employed herein as an abstraction referring to the set of data object classes that describe the possible data objects that can be created, modified or maintained in an application, or describing an instance of a set of data object classes in an application.

"Reverse Auction" is a term employed herein as an abstraction referring to any type of activity where the lowest unique bidder is a buyer who wins the item, goods or services that are being auctioned, where the auction involves chance and the possibility of winning such that an an outcome is not certain to an individual bidder. By using the term "Reverse Acution" in the current document, the authors are referring to a seller who is offering items, goods or services for sale by auction at the lowest unique bid amount received from a potential buyer, and the item is sold to the bidder having the lowest unique bid at the end of the auction (if two or more people submit the same bid amount the next highest bid will be the lowest unique bid). This current term "Reverse Auction" is to be distinguished from a common open bidding goods or services buyer contract offer that permits sellers to submit bids and to compete to become the authorized seller to a buyer seeking such goods or services. In such a scenario, the lowest bidding seller would be unlikely to place a bid for an amount lower than the value of the goods or services that the seller wishes to sell to the buyer. By contrast, in the current "Reverse Auction" scenario, a buyer could obtain an item, good or service at an amount far lower than its fair market value without any regard for its fair market value.

"Reverse Auction Private Network" or "Reverse Auction Virtual Private Network" refers to a reverse auction wherein the end user bidders are registered with the network and obtain unique network identifiers prior to participating, and wherein the system utilizes software logic, hardware logic, or a combination thereof that provides a process and system sufficient to uniquely identify an individual bidder rather than just identifying a piece of equipment, phone number, account number or other piece of information that is otherwise insufficient to accurately identify an individual bidder.

"Reverse Auction Items, Goods or Services" refer to items, goods or services that can be purchased at the close or a reverse auction by the auction winner, or may be leased for a period of time at the winning bid amount by the auction winner as described for the individual auction, wherein the winner is the individual bidder that may be a person or organization who placed the lowest unique bid before the close of the auction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved or new network and system comprising internet, telephone or other communication networks with software and logic for conducting and managing reverse auctions wherein the end user buyer or end user bidder is uniquely identified by at least one network manager within a private or virtual private network and the end user buyer or bidder is required to be registered with the network prior to bidding for any items or services in a reverse auction, wherein the system and software provide software implemented methods for creating, maintaining, accessing, navigating and persisting relationships between servers hosting a reverse auction, between reverse auction servers and end user bidders, and unique identifiers and end user bidders, as complex data objects within a complex data object graph (CDOG) model in order to provide an improved system for buyer reverse auction activities, wherein clients (end user bidders) or servers may be large computer systems or networks or may be a system that includes wireless devices such as mobile telephones, PDAs or other wireless communication devices. In a preferred object of the invention, such as system, and associated software logic provides software implemented methods for managing the timing of receipt of bids, the location of the originating bids and to either publish the lowest current bid or the lowest bid at a point in time or to keep that lowest current bid sealed until after the auction is closed.

In a preferred embodiment, an object of the present invention is to provide such a system that can display and manage the relationships within a private network or within a virtual private network as CDOG model that may be represented as a graph or table of complex data objects. A further object is to provide such a system that is located on, or is part of, a local or distributed computer system that may include wireless devices not limited to PDA, mobile phones, portable computers or other wireless communication devices capable of communicating within a network.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for creating, maintaining, accessing, navigating and persisting network relationships as complex data objects stores as a complex data object graph. In a preferred embodiment, an object of the present invention is to provide such a method having the step of displaying or printing a representation of the relationships within a private network and a virtual private network as a CDOG model as a graph or table of complex data objects with respect to reverse auction activities, hi a further object, such a method involves a local or distributed computer system wherein individuals are identified by unique indentifiers that may include histories of their online actitivies habits, recorded individual background information, unique passwords, machine identifiers, digitial identifiers such as voice, finger print and eye scans, and the like, or any combination of one or more of such identifiers sufficient to provide a clear identity for any individual who is logging into the network to join into reverse auction activities.

An object of the present invention is to provide a computer system and communication system including software or hardware implemented methods, such as biometric identifying hardware and software, or including composite software ID keys, or both for registering and uniquely identifying end user bidder members within the auction system.

hi one embodiment, an object of the invention is to provide such as system that includes a computer software program having at least one user interface and having at least one feature for at least one action selected from the group consisting of creating, maintaining, accessing, navigating and persisting relationships within a private network or within a virtual private network as complex data objects via a complex data object graft model with respect to reverse auction activities and associated data.

In a preferred aspect, an object of the present invention is to provide software program with a module or associated software program having a feature for displaying or printing a representation of the relationships and associated data as a CDOG model as a graph or table of complex data objects. In a preferred object of the invention, such a software program has an editing interface for editing a CDOG model, or an editable input or source, such as a file, that can be modified to implement changes to a CDOG model. A further object is to provide such a software program adapted for a local or distributed computer system that permits internet or intranet, or other network reverse auctions in a secure network or virtual network setting.

In a still further embodiment of the present invention, an object is to provide such a secure private network or virtual private network, including software implemented methods for conducting a secure buyer reverse auction wherein the bidder pays a set fee amount to place a bid, which amount is set for an individual auction, and this amount is paid each time that a bid is placed in the reverse auction process, and the bidder having the lowest unique bid at the close of the auction is the winner who is entitled to purchase or lease at that bid price the auctioned item, goods or services for that reverse auction. For example, a particular auction might require that a sum of $1 (one dollar) be paid from a designated deposit account or through another designated payment method (such as a credit card or direct bank debit). In a preferred embodiment, it is an object of the invention to provide such a system including software emplemented methods to uniquely identify the bidder and to receive validated authorizations for payments or promises to pay from that unique bidder.

An object of the present invention is to provide an application programming interface ("API"), as a preferred embodiment of the invention, wherein the API can be accessed to create, maintain, access, navigate and persist network relationships as complex data objects while representing such relationships as a CDOG model, or as an object schema that is adapted for reverse auctions, auction bid data tracking, and bid or results reporting. In one aspect the API can be accessed by a computer software program, or by a computer software program module that is part of a software package including the API, to provide at least one action selected from the group consisting of creating, maintaining, accessing, navigating and persisting network relationships as complex data objects withing a complex data object model adapted for gaming. In a preferred aspect, an object of the present invention is to provide such an API as part of a software package having a component or method for displaying or printing a representation of such reverse auction relationships and associated data as a CDOG model illustrated or represented as a graph or as a tahle(s) of complex data objects. In another preferred object, such a software tool package including the API would be provided with an editing interface for editing the network relationships associated with reverse auctions as a CDOG model, or has an editable input or source, such as a file, that can be modified to implement changes to the complex data object model. It is a particularly preferred object to provide such an interface as a point and click graphical user interface that may be displayed and/or edited. A further object is to provide such a API for operation on a local or distributed computer system that implements secured intranet or internet reverse auction processes.

A preferred object of the present invention is to provide a software tool or system comprising the API according ( as described above), adapted for a local network or a distributed network reverse auction environment, wherein said software tool provides persistence for activities and data within the reverse auction environment in an object oriented language programming environment transparently by implementing a configurable network component capable of acquiring and persisting network relationships and data associated with intranet and internet reverse auction through network APIs.

A further object of the present invention is to a software tool capable of reading a source programming object logic model or a database file in a format selected from the group consisting of a UML data file,m a XMI data file, and a XML file and converting the information into a target member selected from the group consisting of a database definition XML file, a database mapping definition file, and a CDOG definition file with respect to a secured reverse auction including an intranet or internet system. In a preferred object, the software can automatically generate a persistence layer that corresponds to the object model information of the source file that will track activities, data and relationships with respect to such reverse auctions.

In a preferred object there is provided a communications device, such as a desktop computer, portable computer, PDA, cell phone, pager or other communication devices including software or hardware implemented methods, and optionally biometric identifiers and software, to uniquely identify the an end user bidder and support bid submission in a reverse auction process. Another preferred object of the present invention is to provide such a reverse auction system as part of a secure private network or virtual private network, wherein the identity, contact information, or both of individual bidders and their associated bidding habits are shielded from third parties to provide a secure and annomyous (only system administrators can identify the end user bidders) reverse auctions that will avoid and prevent unwanted sales and marketing contacts of bidder participants from outside sales and marketing groups.

DISCRIPTION THE INVENTION

The present invention provides an improved or new network and system comprising internet, telephone or other communication networks with software and logic for conducting and managing reverse auctions wherein the end user buyer or end user bidder is uniquely identified by at least one network manager within a private or virtual private network and the end user buyer or bidder is required to be registered with the network prior to bidding for any items or services in a reverse auction, wherein the system and software provide software implemented methods for creating, maintaining, accessing, navigating and persisting relationships between servers hosting a reverse auction, between reverse auction servers and end user bidders, and unique identifiers and end user bidders, as complex data objects within a complex data object graph (CDOG) model in order to provide an improved system for buyer reverse auction activities, wherein clients (end user bidders) or servers may be large computer systems or networks or may be a system that includes wireless devices such as mobile telephones, PDAs or other wireless communication devices.

In a preferred embodiment, such a system and associated software logic provides software implemented methods for managing the timing of receipt of bids, the location of the originating bids and to either publish the lowest current bid or the lowest bid at a point in time or to keep that lowest current bid sealed until after the auction is closed.

In a preferred embodiment, the present invention provide such a system that can display and manage the relationships within a private network or within a virtual private network as CDOG model that may be represented as a graph or table of complex data objects. A further embodiment of the invention provides such a system that is located on, or is part of, a local or distributed computer system that may include wireless devices not limited to PDA, mobile phones, portable computers or other wireless communication devices capable of communicating within a network. Another embodiment of the present invention provides a method for creating, maintaining, accessing, navigating and persisting network relationships as complex data objects stores as a complex data object graph. In a preferred embodiment, the present invention provides such a method having the step of displaying or printing a representation of the relationships within a private network and a virtual private network as a CDOG model as a graph or table of complex data objects with respect to reverse auction activities. In a still further preferred embodiment, such a method involves a local or distributed computer system wherein individuals are identified by unique indentifiers that may include histories of their online actitivies habits, recorded individual background information, unique passwords, machine identifiers, digitial identifiers such as voice, finger print and eye scans, and the like, or any combination of one or more of such identifiers sufficient to provide a clear identity for any individual who is logging into the network to join into reverse auction activities.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides a computer system and communication system including software or hardware implemented methods, such as biometric identifying hardware and software, or including composite software ID keys, or both for registering and uniquely identifying end user bidder members within the reverse auction system.

In one embodiment, the invention provides such as system that includes a computer software program having at least one user interface and having at least one feature for at least one action selected from the group consisting of creating, maintaining, accessing, navigating and persisting relationships within a private network or within a virtual private network as complex data objects via a complex data object graft model with respect to reverse auction bidding and participating activities and associated data.

In a preferred aspect, the present invention provides software logic having a feature for displaying or printing a representation of the relationships and associated data as a CDOG model as a graph or table of complex data objects. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, such a software program has an editing interface for editing a CDOG model, or an editable input or source, such as a file, that can be modified to implement changes to a CDOG model. A further embodiment provides such a software program adapted for a local or distributed computer system that permits internet or intranet, or other network reverse auctions in a secure network or virtual network setting.

In a still further embodiment of the present invention, the present invention provides such a secure private network or virtual private network including software implemented methods for conducting a secure buyer reverse auction wherein the bidder pays a set fee amount to place a bid, which amount is set for an individual auction, and this amount is paid each time that a bid is placed in the reverse auction process. The reverse auction bidder having the lowest unique bid at the close of the auction is the winner who is entitled to purchase or lease at that bid price the auctioned item, goods or services for that reverse auction, and the system includes software emplemented methods to identify and contact the winner of the reverse auction. For example, a particular auction might require that a sum of $1 (one dollar) be paid from a designated deposit account or through another designated payment method (such as a credit card or direct bank debit). In a preferred embodiment, the invention provides such a system including software emplemented methods to uniquely identify the bidder and to receive validated authorizations for payments or promises to pay from that unique bidder.

An embodiment of the present invention provides an application programming interface ("API"), as a preferred embodiment of the invention, wherein the API can be accessed to create, maintain, access, navigate and persist network relationships as complex data objects while representing such relationships as a CDOG model, or as an object schema that is adapted for reverse auctions, auction bid data tracking, and bid or results reporting. In one aspect the API can be accessed by a computer software program, or by a computer software program module that is part of a software package including the API, to provide at least one action selected from the group consisting of creating, maintaining, accessing, navigating and persisting network relationships as complex data objects withing a complex data object model adapted for gaming. In a preferred aspect, the present invention provides such an API as part of a software package having a component or method for displaying or printing a representation of such reverse auction relationships and associated data as a CDOG model illustrated or represented as a graph or as a table(s) of complex data objects.

In another preferred embodiment, such a software tool package including the API would be provided with an editing interface for editing the network relationships associated with reverse auctions as a CDOG model, or has an editable input or source, such as a file, that can be modified to implement changes to the complex data object model. It is a particularly preferred embodiment, the invention provides such an interface as a point and click graphical user interface that may be displayed and/or edited. A further embodiment provides such a API for operation on a local or distributed computer system that implements secured intranet or internet reverse auction processes. A preferred embodiment of present invention provides a software tool or system comprising the API according ( as described above), adapted for a local network or a distributed network reverse auction environment, wherein said software tool provides persistence for activities and data within the reverse auction environment in an object oriented language programming environment transparently by implementing a configurable network component capable of acquiring and persisting network relationships and data associated with intranet and internet reverse auction through network APIs.

A further embodiment of the present invention provides a software tool capable of reading a source programming object logic model or a database file in a format selected from the group consisting of a UML data file,m a XMI data file, and a XML file and converting the information into a target member selected from the group consisting of a database definition XML file, a database mapping definition file, and a CDOG definition file with respect to a secured reverse auction including an intranet or internet system. In a preferred embodiment, the software can automatically generate a persistence layer that corresponds to the object model information of the source file that will track activities, data and relationships with respect to such reverse auctions.

In a preferred embodiment there is provided a communications device, such as a desktop computer, portable computer, PDA, cell phone, pager or other communication devices including software or hardware implemented methods, and optionally biometric identifiers and software, to uniquely identify the an end user bidder and support bid submission in a reverse auction process.

Another preferred embodiment of the present invention provide such a reverse auction system as part of a secure private network or virtual private network, wherein the identity, contact information, or both of individual bidders and their associated bidding habits are shielded from third parties to provide a secure and annomyous (only system administrators can identify the end user bidders) reverse auctions that will avoid and prevent unwanted sales and marketing contacts of bidder participants from outside sales and marketing groups.

In one embodiment the present invention provides a process for connecting and centrally managing a plurality of multi-tier server computer systems in a reverse auction system as a single virtual structured network of unlimited size having a network ring structure, a tree structure, or a combination of a network ring and network tree structure, and managing the virtual structured network of tiered server systems from a central location that has access to a repository of information with details regarding each server system included within the network, wherein said process comprises the steps of:

(a) creating one to many and many to many connections between a central server or central server network and two or more second tier server systems that may serve as a node whereby they are in turn optionally connected in a similar manner to form a tree structure, a ring network or a combination thereof, wherein nodes on the ring or tree structure can be connected to one or more sub-tier server systems,

(b) loading from or persisting to at least one storage facility system the information and connection parameters with respect to the server systems managed in the virtual structured network that are necessary to manage the virtual structure network,

(c) loading into the memory of at least one computer system in a network one or more software modules capable of:

(i) monitoring any additions, deletions or changes to server computer systems within the virtual structured network,

(ii) monitoring any additions, deletions, or changes to one or more clients connected to a server within the virtual structured network, and

(iii) persisting such information to at least one repository of information utilized to manage the virtual structured network,

(d) connecting to one or more a client systems directly to a central server system portal through an intranet or internet network connection, accessing information in a repository regarding said one or more client systems, and delegating the connection to one or more tiered servers within the virtual single network system based upon accessed information regarding said one or more client systems, including the steps of:

(i) accessing information in a repository regarding said one or more client systems that have connected to a central server system portal through an intranet or internet connection;

(ii) transmitting a request to transfer a connection with a client system to one or more tiered servers within said plurality of tiered server systems;

(iii) transmitting one or more addresses, of said available server . systems connected within said virtual structured network to said client system attached to the portal, or transmitting the address of the client system to one or more server systems; and

(iv) establishing connections between said one or more tiered server systems and the client system within said virtual structured network,

(v) monitoring or delegating the monitoring of maintenance of connections between the client system and said one or more tiered server systems within said structured network.

In a preferred embodiment, the above described process additionally comprises a step (e) of maintaining a pre-determined number of connections between each client system that is connected to one or more servers in the plurality of tiered server systems and monitoring the connections with the software of (c) to receive information from said tiered server systems and the connected client system adequate to maintain the status of connections, to establish new connections, or to both maintain the status of connections and establish new of the client system with the tiered server system when a disconnection from at least one server occurs.

In another preferred embodiment, the process described above is a process wherein each node on the virtual network that is available for connections with client systems has a pre-determined number of possible connections to existing or new clients systems as a capacity that is stored as information maintained and updated in an information repository that can be accessed by software, which is used to monitor or delegate the monitoring of maintenance of connections between the virtual network and client systems:

In a preferred buyer reverse auction system embodiment, the process described above provides a step for identifying, verifying and tracking a single end user within the system, wherein the system includes software implemented methods with the ability to monitor and record any activities or bids within the system by that end user.

In another preferred embodiement, the above process is a process wherein said step (c) includes the steps of:

(f) transmitting a disconnection notification from a server system to said monitoring software of (c) that a server system has partly or fully disconnected from a client system within said plurality thereof, wherein said partly disconnected client system has been connected for receiving information from said server system;

(g) said software of (f) responding to said notification of partial disconnection by at least one of the following actions

(i) transmitting instructions to other servers on the network to creating additional connections of the client system to the virtual network,

(ii) transmitting addresses and connection information to the partially disconnected client system to permit it to connect with other servers within the virtual network, and

(iii) transmitting instructions to the servers having current connections with said client system to disconnect said client system from the virtual network

In one embodiment, a process executing within the virtual network as described above includes a process step for establishing a parent-child relationship between the virtual network and sub-branches of the of virtual network server tree system, between the virtual network and a subordinate circular network, or a combination thereof, and providing a virtual private network for a pre-determined plurality of server systems, client systems or a combination thereof within the virtual network. For example, a parent child relationship such as this can be utilized to permit registered multi-level reverse auction participants to be a child to the parent activity of the main auction activity.

In a preferred embodiment, a process executing within said server system further providing logic and means for establishing a private network of client systems that provide reverse auction activities capability within a plurality thereof such that server systems and client systems may securely transmit information, receive information, or a combination thereof with respect to reverse auctions, unique individual bidders, and the like, said process comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving a request for connection to a virtual private network from a client system issuing said request;

(b) determining if said client system has permission to connect to said virtual private network and executing one or more of the following actions

(i) refusing connection to the virtual private network, (ii) requiring actions from said requesting client system in order to receive permission to connect to said virtual private network, and

(iii) verifying that said client system has permission for connecting to said virtual private network;

(c) after verifying that client system lias permission for connecting, determining if a port of said server system within said virtual private network is available for connection with said requesting client system;

(d) if a port of said server system within said virtual private network is available for connection, as determined in step (c), executing actions for connecting said client system issuing said request to said virtual private network;

(e) if a port of said server system is not available for connection within said private network, as determined in step (b), sending to said client system issuing said request a first pre-determined number of addresses of available client systems within said plurality thereof connected within said private network, or suggesting postponing connection to the virtual private network; and

(f) adding information to one or more repositories within the virtual network regarding the said client system issuing said request and their level of permission to join or participate in the virtual private network.

In one preferred embodiment, the present invention provides such as system with software implemented methods to determine if a bid is being placed by a person or by a programmed computer. For example, an image or work might be displayed and require that the person placing the bid to enter the correct information that would not be apparent to a non-human system before permitting the bid to be placed.

The present may be embodied in specific forms other than those particularly described above or illustrated by the appended drawings. Upon viewing the present application preferred embodiments and other descriptions herein of the present invention, variations and other implementations that do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention will be apparent to one of routine skill in this field. Such variations and other implementations are considered part of the present invention and within the scope of the appended claims. Accordingly, reference should be made to the appended claims, rather than to the forgoing specification and drawings, as indicating the scope of the present invention.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A computer system comprising a communication network or a computer system capable of connecting to a communication network, wherein the system comprising internet, telephone or other communication networks in communication with a computer system with software implemented methods and logic for conducting and managing reverse auctions wherein:

(a) the at least one end user buyer or end user bidder is uniquely identified by at least one network manager within a private or virtual private network and the end user buyer or bidder is required to be registered with the network prior to bidding for any items or services in a reverse auction,

(b) the computer system runs at least one software application providing software implemented methods for creating, maintaining, accessing, navigating and persisting relationships between servers hosting a reverse auction, between reverse auction servers and end user bidders, and comprising the implementation of unique end user identifiers and one or more connections to unique end user bidders,

(c) wherein end users, end user identifiers, servers, connections between servers or between communication networks and servers, communications, profiles and the like are data objects or logical objects, and the system maintains such objects and their relationships as complex data objects within a complex data object graph model in order to provide an improved system for buyer reverse auction activities, and

(d) end user bidders may be connected directly or indirectly as network clients, including connection through servers who are network clients that may be one or more large computer systems or networks, and wherein such systems may include wireless devices such as mobile telephones, PDAs or other wireless communication devices that may be registed with the system as end users or as a connection device for end users to utilize as a resource for connecting to the one or more systems.

2. A computer system according to claim 1, wherein such system and associated software logic provide software implemented methods for managing the timing of receipt of bids, the location of the originating bids and to either publish the lowest current bid or the lowest bid at a point in time, or to optionally keep that lowest current bid sealed until after the auction is closed.

3. A computer system according to claim 2, wherein such system and associated software logic provide software implemented methods for managing the timing of receipt of bids, the location of the originating bids and to either publish the lowest current bid or the lowest bid at a point in time.

4. A computer system according to claim 1 , wherein software and hardware implemented methods provide at least one interface that can display and manage the relationships within a private network or within a virtual private network as a CDOG model that may be represented as a graph or table of complex data objects, wherein such software and hardware implemented methods may be located on a server, computer network, or other communication system includes a local or distributed computer system that may include wireless devices not limited to PDA, mobile phones, portable computers or other wireless communication devices capable of communicating within the network.

5. A system according to claim 1. wherein the computer system is connected to a communications system and includes software or hardware implemented methods, such as biometric identifying hardware and software, or including composite software ID keys, or both for registering and uniquely identifying end user bidder members within the auction system private network or virtual private network.

6. A system according to claim 5, comprising a computer implemented method having software logic for at least one user interface and with at least one feature for at least one action selected from the group consisting of creating, maintaining, accessing, navigating and persisting relationships within a private network or within a virtual private network as complex data objects via a complex data object graft model with respect to reverse auction activities and associated data.

7. A secure private network or virtual private network according to claim 1, including software implemented methods for conducting a secure buyer reverse auction wherein the bidder pays a set fee amount to place a bid, which amount is set for an individual auction, and this amount is paid each time that a bid is placed in the reverse auction process, and the bidder having the lowest unique bid at the close of the auction is the winner who is entitled to purchase or lease at that bid price the auctioned item, goods or services for that reverse auction, and the sum is paid from a designated deposit account or through another designated payment method selected from a credit card, a direct bank debit, a token or card having a certain value, or a promise to pay, including software emplemented methods to uniquely identify a bidder and to receive validated authorizations for payments or promises to pay from that unique bidder.

8. A computer implemented method for creating, maintaining, accessing, navigating and persisting network relationships within a reverse auction communications network as complex data objects stores that can be represented by a complex data object graph, wherein the method provides a step and logic that utilizes hardware for displaying or printing a representation of the relationships within a private network and a virtual private network as a CDOG model presented as a logical graph or schema, or as table of complex data objects and their relationships with respect to reverse auction activities.

9. A method according to claim 8, further comprising software implemented methods for managing a local or distributed computer system wherein individuals are identified by unique indentifiers that may include histories of their online actitivies habits, recorded individual background information, unique passwords, machine identifiers, digitial identifiers such as voice, finger print and eye scans, and the like, or any combination of one or more of such identifiers sufficient to provide a clear identity for any individual who is logging into the network to join into reverse auction activities, wherein the method uses software implemented logic to provide an editing interface for editing a CDOG model, or an editable input or source, such as a file, that can be modified to implement changes to a CDOG model as a result of changes to indentifiers of individuals and their associated activities or user data.

10. A method according to claim 9, further comprising software logic or hardware implemented methods adapted for a local or distributed computer system that permits internet or intranet communications to support network reverse auctions in a secure network or virtual network setting.

11. A method according to claim 10, wherein the method is implemented on a secure private network or virtual private network that includes software implemented methods for conducting a secure buyer reverse auction wherein

(a) the bidder pays a set fee amount in order to place a single bid or a group of bids, which amount is set for an individual auction and may or may not be relative to the amount of the bid,

(b) the bid placement amout is paid each time that a bid is placed in the reverse auction process, and

(c) the bidder having the lowest unique bid at the close of the auction is the winner who is entitled to purchase or lease at that bid price the auctioned item, goods or services for the particular reverse auction.

12. A method according to claim 11 , wherein each bid requires a sum at the value of 1 cent penny to $20, that is paid from a designated deposit account or through another designated payment method, selected from a credit card, bank card, debit card, an identifiable cash value card or token, an indirect bank debit, or a legally enforceable promise to pay.

13. A method according to claim 11, wherein the system includes software emplemented methods to uniquely identify a bidder and to receive validated authorizations for payments or promises to pay from that unique bidder.

14. A system according to claim 1, providing an application programming interface or API, wherein the API can be accessed to create, maintain, access, navigate and persist network relationships as complex data objects while representing such relationships as a CDOG model, or as an object schema that is adapted for reverse auctions, auction bid data tracking, and bid or results reporting, and wherein the API can be accessed by a computer software program, or by a computer software program module that is part of a software package including the API, to provide at least one action selected from the group consisting of creating, maintaining, accessing, navigating and persisting network relationships as complex data objects withing a complex data object model adapted for reverse auctions.

15. A system according to claim 14, whrein the API is part of an implemented software package methodology having a component or method for displaying or printing a representation of such reverse auction relationships and associated data as a CDOG model illustrated or represented as a graph or as a table(s) of complex data objects, and the software package methodology includes an editing interface for editing the network relationships associated with reverse auctions as a CDOG model, or has an editable input or source, such as a file, that can be modified to implement changes to the complex data object model and the interface may optionally be a point and click graphical user interface that may be displayed and/or edited on a local or distributed computer system that implements secured intranet or internet reverse auction processes.

16. A system according to claim 15, providing a a software implemented tool or system comprising such API adapted for a local network or a distributed network reverse auction environment, wherein said software tool provides persistence for activities and data within the reverse auction environment in an object oriented language programming environment transparently by implementing a configurable network component capable of acquiring and persisting network relationships and data associated with intranet and internet reverse auction through network APIs.

17. A system according to claim 16, wherein the system provides software implemented logic with method for accessing the API to create, maintain, access, navigate and persist network relationships as complex data objects while representing such relationships as a CDOG model, or as an object schema that is adapted for reverse auctions, auction bid data tracking, and bid or results reporting, and such API can be accessed by another computer software program, or by another computer software program module that is part of a software package including the API, to provide at least one action selected from the group consisting of creating, maintaining, accessing, navigating and persisting network relationships as complex data objects withing a complex data object model adapted for conduction, reverse auction and related activities necessary for identification of end user or end user devices, auction bid data tracking, and bid or results reporting.

18. A system according to claim 16, wherein the API can be associated with programming logic for reading a source programming object logic model or a database file in a format selected from the group consisting of a UML data file,m a XMI data file, and a XML file and converting the information into a target member selected from the group consisting of a database definition XML file, a database mapping definition file, and a CDOG definition file with respect to a secured reverse auction including an intranet or internet system.

19. A system according to claim 18, wherein the software implemented methods can automatically generate a persistence layer that corresponds to the object model information of the source file that will track activities, data and relationships with respect to such reverse auctions.

20. A system according to claim 1, comprising a communications device, such as a desktop computer, portable computer, PDA, cell phone, pager or other communication devices in combination with software or hardware implemented methods, and optionally biometric identifiers and software, to uniquely identify the an end user bidder and support bid submission in a reverse auction process, and the communications device and associated software are part of a a reverse auction system that is part of a secure private network or virtual private network, wherein the identity, contact information, or both of individual bidders and their associated bidding habits are shielded from third parties to provide a secure and annomyous system wherein only system administrators or other system authorized individuals can identify the end user bidders to provide reverse auctions that will avoid and prevent unwanted sales and marketing contacts of bidder participants from outside sales and marketing groups.