JP5119084B2 - Auction equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a data processing technique, and more particularly to an auction apparatus that executes an auction.

  Currently, many auction sites are opened on the Internet, and many users participate in auctions via computers. In a normal auction, the user who presented the highest bid price for an exhibit becomes the winning bidder, and the exhibit can be acquired.

In the following Patent Document 1, a product introduction method for providing introduction information of alternatives different from the exhibit to the auction bidder is disclosed.
JP 2001-283045 A

  When a successful bidder of an exhibit decides a successful bidder, the bidder may log in to the auction and check in real time whether or not the successful bidder decides on the auction. When the bidder recognizes the fact that the bid could not be made, the bidder may still have a high willingness to purchase the item. Thought. Based on this, the present inventor considered that it would be easier for the bidder to purchase an alternative by proposing the purchase of an alternative to the bidder at the time when the bidder could not make a successful bid for the exhibit.

  In Patent Document 1, e-mail, FAX, and letter are cited as techniques for providing information on introduction of substitutes to bidders. However, in any means, it takes time for the bidders to recognize the substitutes. It may take. As a result, the bidder's willingness to purchase the exhibit may be reduced, and it may be difficult for the bidder to purchase an alternative.

  The present invention has been completed based on the above-mentioned attention of the inventor, and its main purpose is to provide a technique for improving the convenience of bidders and exhibitors in an auction.

  In order to solve the above problems, an auction apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention is an apparatus that executes an auction for a predetermined exhibit, and is valid for a bidder who logs in to the auction until logging out. Is stored, session information in which the session ID of the bidder and the success / failure of the bidder's successful bid are associated with each other, and the session information is retained as long as the session ID is valid. A session information table and a specific unit for identifying a bidder who is logged in to the auction and has not won the exhibit, referring to valid session information in the session information table when the exhibit is successful Alternative information that provides alternative information that proposes the purchase of an alternative to the exhibit to the bidder specified in the specific section Comprising a test unit.

  The “session ID” in this aspect means data issued to the bidder's terminal in order for the auction apparatus to identify a session with the bidder's terminal. Therefore, it is not limited to a character string or a numerical string indicating an identification number, and includes various types of data. The session ID is held on the bidder's terminal side and is typically stored in a browser cookie. When the bidder's terminal reconnects to the information providing apparatus, the session ID is notified to the information providing apparatus.

  It should be noted that any combination of the above-described constituent elements and a representation of the present invention converted between an apparatus, a method, a system, a program, a recording medium storing the program, and the like are also effective as an aspect of the present invention.

  According to the present invention, convenience for bidders and exhibitors in an auction can be improved.

  FIG. 1 shows a configuration of an auction system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The auction system 100 includes an A bidder terminal 10 a, a B bidder terminal 10 b, a C bidder terminal 10 c, which are collectively referred to as a bidder terminal 10, an exhibitor terminal 20, and an auction apparatus 30. The bidder terminal 10 and the exhibitor terminal 20 are connected to the auction apparatus 30 via known communication means such as a LAN (Local Area Network), a WAN (Wide Area Network), and the Internet.

  The bidder terminal 10 is a general PC terminal operated by a bidder, is equipped with a web browser, acquires a web page of an auction site from the auction apparatus 30, and displays it on a display device. In addition, the bidder terminal 10 detects that the bidder has input a bid price for the exhibit, and transmits the information to the auction apparatus 30.

  The exhibitor terminal 20 is a general PC terminal operated by an exhibitor who sells an alternative to an auction item (hereinafter also simply referred to as “exhibitor”). As with the bidder terminal 10, a web browser is installed, and the web page of the auction site is acquired from the auction device 30 and displayed on the display device.

  Further, the exhibitor terminal 20 receives information from the auction apparatus 30 on the bidder who has logged in to the auction apparatus 30 and did not make a successful bid for the exhibit (hereinafter also referred to as “proposed bidder” as appropriate). Display on the display device. At this time, the exhibitor designates a specific proposal target bidder and inputs information for proposing the purchase of a substitute for the exhibit (hereinafter also referred to as “alternative information” as appropriate). The exhibitor terminal 20 detects this input and transmits the input data to the auction apparatus 30. In the present specification, for the sake of simplification, the term “bidder terminal 10” is also used to mean “bidder operating the bidder terminal 10” and “exhibitor operating the seller terminal 20”. , “Exhibitor terminal 20”.

  The auction apparatus 30 has a general web server function, opens an auction site on the Internet, and executes an Internet auction. The auction apparatus 30 provides the web page requested to be acquired from the bidder terminal 10 or the exhibitor terminal 20 to the bidder terminal 10 or the exhibitor terminal 20 that is the request source.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the auction apparatus 30 shown in FIG. The auction apparatus 30 includes a session information table 32, a login processing unit 34, an ID issuing unit 36, an auction control unit 38, an updating unit 40, a specifying unit 42, a notifying unit 44, an acquiring unit 46, an alternative It has an information providing unit 48 and a buying and selling processing unit 50.

  Each block shown in the block diagram of the present specification can be realized in terms of hardware by an element such as a CPU of a computer or a mechanical device, and in terms of software, it can be realized by a computer program or the like. The functional block realized by those cooperation is drawn. Therefore, it is understood by those skilled in the art that these functional blocks can be realized in various forms by a combination of hardware and software, and is not limited to any of these.

  The session information table 32 is a data storage area secured in a predetermined storage device. FIG. 3 shows the structure of the session information table 32. The item column 60 in the figure is an area for storing identification information of items for auction. The session ID column 62 is an area for storing a session ID issued to the bidder. The bid price column 64 is an area in which bid prices for bidders' exhibits are stored. The successful bid flag column 66 is an area in which a flag indicating success / failure of the bidder's successful bid is stored.

  The record in FIG. 3 is also referred to as “session information” where appropriate. The session information 70, the session information 72, and the session information 74 shown in the figure are session information of the A bidder terminal 10a, the B bidder terminal 10b, and the C bidder terminal 10c, respectively. The session information table 32 may be a table in an RDBMS (Relational DataBase Management System) installed in the auction apparatus 30. When session information for each of a plurality of auctions is stored, an auction ID for identifying an auction may be further stored in session information table 32. Returning to FIG.

  The login processing unit 34 receives a login request to the auction from the bidder terminal 10 and transmits a login authentication web page to the bidder terminal 10. When the login processing unit 34 succeeds in the login authentication of the bidder terminal 10, the login processing unit 34 notifies the success to the ID issuing unit 36 described later. The login processing unit 34 detects that the bidder terminal 10 has logged out, and notifies the ID issuing unit 36 of the logout.

  When the login processing unit 34 is notified of the successful login authentication for the bidder terminal 10, the ID issuing unit 36 issues a new session ID to the bidder terminal 10 and stores the new session ID in a session ID holding table (not shown). Stores record of session ID. Further, when the log-out of the bidder terminal 10 is notified from the login processing unit 34, the ID issuing unit 36 invalidates the session ID issued to the bidder terminal 10. That is, the session ID issued by the ID issuing unit 36 is temporarily valid and has a time limit. In order to invalidate the session ID, for example, a record of the session ID in a session ID holding table (not shown) may be deleted, and a flag indicating invalidity may be set in the record. At this time, the ID issuing unit 36 notifies the updating unit 40 described later of the invalid session ID.

  The auction control unit 38 executes an auction for a predetermined exhibit. The auction control unit 38 may execute an auction by a known method. For example, the notification of the bidder terminal 10 that has succeeded in the login authentication is received from the login processing unit 34, and a web page for bidding on the exhibit is transmitted to the bidder terminal 10. Further, for example, the bid price set for the exhibit by the bidder is received from the bidder terminal 10 and the successful bidder is determined according to the bid price at the end of the auction. When the auction control unit 38 determines the winning bidder, the auction control unit 38 notifies the updating unit 40 described later of the successful bid item, the bidder's session ID, the bid price, and the winning bidder's session ID. In addition, the determination of the successful bidder is also notified to the specifying unit 42 described later.

  Based on the notification from the auction control unit 38, the update unit 40 stores session information in which the auctioned item, the bidder's session ID, and the bid price are associated with each other in the session information table 32. Further, the update unit 40 sets the successful bid flag to “true” for the successful bidder session information in the session information table 32, and sets the successful bid flag to “false” for the other bidder session information.

  Further, when the invalidated session ID is notified from the ID issuing unit 36, the updating unit 40 invalidates the session information including the session ID among the session information held in the session information table 32. For example, the session information may be deleted from the session information table 32, and a flag indicating invalidity may be set for the session information.

  When the determination of the winning bidder is notified from the auction control unit 38, the specifying unit 42 refers to the session information table 32 and specifies session information whose successful bid flag is “false” from the valid session information. Thereby, the specific | specification part 42 specifies the bidder terminal 10 which becomes a proposal object bidder, ie, the bidder terminal 10 which was logging in to an auction and did not make a successful bid for an exhibit.

  The notification unit 44 transmits the successful bid exhibit and information on the proposal target bidder, for example, the session ID and the bid price, to the exhibitor terminal 20. The acquisition unit 46 receives the substitute information transmitted from the seller terminal 20 and the designation information of the bidder who provides the substitute information. This designation information is information for identifying a specific bidder and includes, for example, a bidder's session ID.

  The alternative information providing unit 48 transmits the alternative information to the bidder terminal 10 specified by the designation information. The alternative information providing unit 48 sets a price that is equal to or higher than the bid price set for the previous exhibit by the bidder terminal 10 to which the alternative information is provided as the sales price of the alternative. The bid price may be used as the sales price of the substitute as it is. In addition, as a period during which the substitute can be purchased, a period until the bidder logs out from the auction is set. This period is set to a period during which the bidder's willingness to purchase is maintained, typically from several minutes to several tens of minutes. The specific period may be determined by a company's knowledge and experiments using this system. For example, the period until the bidder logs out from the auction and the shorter of three minutes may be set. The trade processing unit 50 receives data indicating that a substitute is to be purchased from the bidder terminal 10 and executes a predetermined process for buying and selling the substitute.

The operation of the above configuration will be described below.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the auction apparatus 30 shown in FIG. The login processing unit 34 receives a login request from the bidder terminal 10 (S10). The ID issuing unit 36 issues a session ID to the bidder terminal 10 that has succeeded in the login authentication (S12). Until the exhibit is successful bid (N in S14), the auction control unit 38 executes an auction in which the bidder terminal 10 participates. When the exhibit is awarded (Y in S14), the update unit 40 that receives the notification of the successful bid updates the session information (S16). The specifying unit 42 refers to the session information to specify the proposal target bidder (S18), and the notification unit 44 notifies the seller terminal 20 of information on the proposal target bidder (S20). The acquisition unit 46 acquires the substitute information transmitted from the exhibitor terminal 20 (S22), and the substitute information providing unit 48 provides the substitute information to a specific proposal target bidder (S24). Thereafter, when the substitute purchase request data is received, the buying and selling processor 50 executes the buying and selling process for the substitute.

  Next, information provided to the exhibitor terminal 20 and the bidder terminal 10 will be described. Here, according to the session information 70, 72, 74 of FIG. 3, the auction control unit 38 determines the successful bidder as the C bidder terminal 10c, and the specifying unit 42 proposes the A bidder terminal 10a and the B bidder terminal 10b. Suppose that it was specified as the target bidder.

  5A and 5B show screen images provided to the exhibitor terminal 20. FIG. 5A shows a window 80 in which information on the exhibits and proposal target bidders transmitted by the notification unit 44 is displayed. Specifically, the exhibit “ΔΔ company printer”, the session ID and bid price of the proposal target bidder are displayed. Further, in the window 80, an input field 82 for allowing the seller to input alternative information, an input field 84 for specifying a bidder who proposes the alternative information, and a send button 86 that triggers transmission of the information. And are displayed.

  FIG. 5B shows a state in which the exhibitor has entered data in the input field 82 and the input field 84 of FIG. In the input field 82 in the figure, a message to the bidder and image information of the substitute are input as substitute information. In the figure, an image is shown for simplicity of explanation, but it goes without saying that the URI of the image file may be input. In the input field 84, designation information of a bidder who proposes alternative information, here the A bidder terminal 10a, is input. When the exhibitor presses the send button 86, the substitute information and the designation information of the input person are transmitted to the auction apparatus 30.

  6A, 6B, and 6C show screen images provided to the A bidder terminal 10a. FIG. 6A shows an auction screen transmitted by the auction control unit 38. In the window 90 in the figure, the bid price “20,000 yen” of the A bidder terminal 10a is displayed. FIG. 6B is a successful bidder determination screen transmitted by the auction control unit 38. In the window 90 in the figure, it is displayed that the A bidder terminal 10a could not make a successful bid for the exhibit. FIG. 6C shows a state in which the substitute information is displayed in the pop-up window 92 on the window 90 by the substitute information providing unit 48. In the pop-up window 92, the substitute information input by the exhibitor and the sales price and the purchase deadline of the substitute set in the substitute information providing unit 48 are displayed. When the bidder purchases the substitute, the bidder presses the purchase button 94 within the purchase time limit. On the other hand, when not purchasing, the non-purchase button 96 is pressed.

  According to the auction system 100 of the present embodiment, alternative information can be provided to bidders who are logged in to an auction and have not made a successful bid for an exhibit. In other words, when the bidder recognizes the fact that the exhibit did not make a successful bid, in other words, the alternative information can be provided while the high purchase intention for the exhibit continues. As a result, it becomes easier for the bidder to purchase an alternative. This not only brings profits to the seller who sells the substitute, but also provides the bidder with an option to purchase the substitute for the exhibit that could not be awarded, so that the convenience of the bidder is improved.

  In addition, according to the auction system 100, information on the proposal target bidder is provided to the exhibitor terminal 20. Thus, the substitute exhibitor can input appropriate substitute information to be provided to the proposal target bidder in accordance with the proposal target bidder information. In addition, since a bidder who proposes alternative information can be selected, alternative information can be provided to the bidder who has set a bid price for the exhibit that is close to the desired selling price of the alternative, thereby securing the seller's profit. It becomes easy.

  Further, according to the auction system 100, in the alternative information provided to the bidder terminal 10, at least the bid price set by the bidder terminal 10 for the previous exhibit is set as the sales price of the alternative. As described above, since the bidders who have been provided with the alternative information are still willing to purchase, it is easy to purchase an alternative even if the price is equal to or higher than that of the exhibit. This makes it easier to secure the interest of the substitute exhibitor.

  Furthermore, according to the auction system 100, the substitute information provided to the bidder terminal 10 purchases the substitute during the period until the logout from the auction at most, in other words, the period during which the bidder's willingness to purchase is easily maintained. It is set as a possible period. This makes it easier for the bidder to decide to purchase an alternative before the bidder's willingness to purchase is lost.

  In the auction, even for the same item, the bid price for the item often varies depending on the exhibition time. The present inventor believes that this is because the bidder's willingness to purchase affects the bid price. Since it is difficult for the exhibitor to recognize the buyer's willingness to purchase, it is difficult to determine an appropriate listing time for the exhibit. Based on the inventor's knowledge that the bidder has a high willingness to purchase when the bidder recognizes that the item has not been successfully bid, the auction system 100 uses a temporarily valid session ID. Proposed bidders are identified according to whether or not is valid. Then, alternative information is provided to the proposal target bidder within a short time after the successful bidder is determined. This improves the convenience of both the substitute exhibitor and the bidder.

  The present invention has been described based on the embodiments. This embodiment is an exemplification, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made to combinations of the respective constituent elements and processing processes, and such modifications are also within the scope of the present invention. is there.

  A modification will be described. The specifying unit 42 refers to valid session information in the session information table 32, and the bidder who has set a bid price within a predetermined range for the exhibit from the sales price of the substitute preset by the exhibitor terminal 20 The terminal 10 may be specified as a proposal target bidder. For example, when the sales price of the substitute is set to “22,000 yen”, the specifying unit 42 refers to the session information in FIG. 3 and within the range of “5,000 yen” from the sales price. Certain session information 70, that is, the A bidder terminal 10a may be specified as a proposal target bidder. Further, the specifying unit 42 refers to valid session information in the session information table 32 and once specifies a proposal target bidder, and then sets a bidder with the highest bid price as a proposal target bidder. You may specify again. When a very large number of proposal target bidders are specified, it may be difficult to select bidders at the exhibitor terminal 20. According to this modification, the proposal target bidders to be notified to the exhibitor terminal 20 can be limited according to the seller's wishes, and the exhibitor terminal 20 can easily select the bidder who provides the substitute information.

  Another modification will be described. The seller may arbitrarily specify the selling price and purchase period of the substitute. In this case, the notification unit 44 transmits to the exhibitor terminal 20 a web page to which an input field for designating the sales price and purchase period of the substitute is added. The acquisition unit 46 receives the substitute information including the selling price and purchase period of the substitute from the seller terminal 20, and the substitute information providing unit 48 transmits the substitute information to the bidder terminal 10. According to this modification, the discretion of the exhibitor can be reflected on the selling price and purchase period of the substitute, and the convenience of the exhibitor is improved.

  Still another modification will be described. In the auction system 100 of the embodiment, the substitute information is input at the exhibitor terminal 20. In this modification, substitute information is acquired in advance from the seller terminal 20 and stored in a storage unit (not shown), and when the successful bidder is determined, the substitute information is automatically sent to a specific bidder terminal 10. May be provided. For example, this alternative information may be automatically provided to the bidder terminal 10 that has set the highest bid price among the bidders to be proposed. According to this modification, provision of alternative information is automated, so the time period from when the successful bidder is determined, that is, after the bidder recognizes that the successful bid has not been made, to the provision of alternative information is shortened. This makes it easier for bidders to maintain their willingness to purchase.

  Still another modification will be described. The auction control unit 38 may sequentially notify the updating unit 40 of the bid price whenever the bidder terminal 10 sets / changes the bid price. The update unit 40 may sequentially store the bid price notified from the auction control unit 38 in the session information table 32. In this case, since the session ID issued to the bidder terminal 10 may be different every time the bidder terminal 10 accesses, session information including identification information for identifying the same bidder terminal 10 is included. It may be recorded in the session information table 32. This identification information may be, for example, the IP address of the bidder terminal 10, a bidder name, or a login name. According to this modification, since the bid price of each bidder for the exhibit is sequentially stored in the session information table 32 even before the successful bidder for the exhibit is determined, Information can be used to enhance the convenience of exhibitors. For example, the exhibitor can set the price of the substitute in advance according to the bid price for the exhibit. Moreover, it becomes easy to set appropriate conditions for specifying the proposal target bidder in the specifying unit 42 according to the bid price for the exhibit.

  Still another modification will be described. The auction apparatus 30 searches for an auction assumed as an auction suitable for provision of alternative information, triggered by the occurrence of a predetermined event, and a search unit that notifies the seller terminal 20 of the auction information that is the search result. Further, it may be provided. The event that triggers the operation of the search unit may be the reception of an auction search request from the exhibitor terminal 20, the detection of a specific time, or the passage of a specific time. The exhibitor selects an auction that provides the substitute information from among the auctions presented by the auction apparatus 30 as an auction suitable for providing the substitute information. The acquisition unit 46 acquires information specifying a specific auction from the exhibitor terminal 20, and the specifying unit 42 specifies the bidder terminal 10 that is the proposal target bidder for the auction specified by the seller terminal 20.

Hereinafter, an example of an auction searched by the search unit will be shown. These examples may be combined to perform a search using a so-called AND condition or OR condition.
1. Auction immediately before and / or immediately after closing:
In this case, the auction apparatus 30 further includes an auction information table that holds auction attributes such as the successful bidder determination date and time for the auction executed in the own apparatus. The search unit refers to the auction information table and determines the auction within a predetermined time (hereinafter also referred to as “first time” as appropriate) after the auction is successful and / or the deadline for the successful bid for the auction. Search for auctions within the time (hereinafter also referred to as “second time” as appropriate). The first time is a time during which it is assumed that the purchase target bidder's high purchase motivation is likely to be maintained, and may be, for example, 10 minutes. Further, the second time is a time when it is assumed that the successful bidder determination date / time elapses while the exhibitor selects an auction, and may be, for example, 5 minutes. It should be noted that both the first time and the second time may be set to appropriate values based on the knowledge of the company and the results of experiments by the auction system 100. According to this, it is possible to provide the seller terminal 20 with auction information suitable for provision of alternative information, in other words, an auction in which a tender subject to proposal having a high purchase intention is likely to exist. Can support.

2. Auction with multiple bidders:
In this case, the session information table 32 stores and holds the bid price for the exhibit set by the bidder terminal 10 as needed. The search unit searches the auction in which a plurality of bidders who set bid prices exist with reference to the session information table 32. If there are a plurality of bidders, it is easy for the bidders to be proposed to exist, so auction information suitable for provision of alternative information can be provided to the seller terminal 20, and the provision of alternative information by the seller can be supported.

3. Auctions with a large number of users referring to the exhibits:
In this case, in the session information table 32, information indicating that the user who logged in to the auction has referred to the exhibit is associated with the session ID of the logged-in user, and stored and held as session information as needed. The search unit searches for an auction in which the number of users who refer to the exhibit is a predetermined number or more. The number of users serving as the threshold may be calculated according to the relationship between the number of users referred to and the number of bidders, and an appropriate value is set based on company knowledge and results of experiments by the auction system 100. That's fine. If there are a large number of users who have referred to the exhibit, for example, there may be a rush of bids immediately before the end, and there are likely to be bidders to be proposed in the end. Therefore, auction information suitable for provision of alternative information can be provided to the exhibitor terminal 20, and provision of alternative information by the exhibitor can be supported.

4). Auctions for exhibits that are identical or similar to the substitute by the seller:
In this case, the auction apparatus 30 further includes an auction information table that holds auction attributes such as an exhibit and a category of the exhibit for the auction executed in the self-apparatus. The search unit refers to the auction information table, and according to the substitute and substitute category specified by the seller terminal 20, the offer that matches the substitute is set and matches the substitute category. Search for auctions in which the category of the exhibit to be set is set. The search unit notifies the seller terminal 20 of an auction that has been found as a search, as an auction in which the same / similar items as the substitute are set. According to this, it is possible to provide the seller terminal 20 with information on an auction where the proposal target bidder can easily purchase a substitute, in other words, an auction suitable for providing the substitute information, and can support the offer of the substitute information by the seller. .

  Any combination of the above-described embodiments and modifications is also useful as an embodiment of the present invention. The new embodiment generated by the combination has the effects of the combined embodiment and the modified examples.

  It should also be understood by those skilled in the art that the functions to be fulfilled by the constituent elements recited in the claims are realized by a single function block or a combination of the functional blocks shown in the embodiments and modifications.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the auction system which is embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the auction apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows the structure of a session information table. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the auction apparatus of FIG. FIGS. 5A and 5B are diagrams showing screen images provided to the exhibitor terminal. 6A, 6B, and 6C are diagrams showing screen images provided to the A-bidder terminal.

Explanation of symbols

  10 bidder terminal, 20 exhibitor terminal, 30 auction device, 32 session information table, 34 login processing unit, 36 ID issuing unit, 38 auction control unit, 40 updating unit, 42 specifying unit, 44 notifying unit, 46 obtaining unit, 48 alternative information providing unit, 50 buying and selling processing unit, 60 exhibit column, 62 session ID column, 64 bid price column, 66 successful bid flag column, 100 auction system.

Claims (5)

An apparatus for executing an auction for a predetermined exhibit,
An ID issuing unit that issues a valid session ID until logging out for a bidder who logs in to the auction;
A session information table storing session information in which the session ID of the bidder is associated with success / failure of the bidder, and holding the session information as valid while the session ID is valid;
A specifying unit for identifying a bidder who has logged in to the auction and has not won the exhibit, with reference to valid session information in the session information table when the exhibit has been awarded;
An informing unit for informing the seller who exhibits the substitute for the exhibit the information on the bidder specified in the specifying unit;
An acquisition unit that acquires alternative information for proposing purchase of an alternative to the exhibit from the seller;
An alternative information providing unit that provides the alternative information acquired from the seller to the bidder specified in the specifying unit;
Suitable for provision of alternative information by searching for auctions within a predetermined time after an exhibit has been successful bid and / or auctions within a predetermined time until the deadline of successful bid for the exhibit, triggered by the occurrence of a predetermined event A search unit for notifying the seller as an auction;
Equipped with a,
The acquisition unit acquires, from the seller, information specifying a specific auction among auctions suitable for providing the alternative information,
The specific section, the login in to the specified auction by the seller, and, auction apparatus according to claim that you identify the bidder that did not bid for the exhibit. The identification unit of claim 1, wherein the identifying the bidders that the bidding price within a predetermined range from the price set by the seller presented to the exhibit as a weighted condition Auction equipment. Wherein the alternative information providing unit, as a sales price of the substitute, to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that to provide an alternative information bid is set to at least the exhibit of the bidder to the bidder The auction device described. Wherein the alternative information providing unit, as the period to purchase the alternative, longer with the claims 1 to 3, characterized by providing alternative information period is set to logout from the auction to the bidder The auction apparatus according to any one of the above. A computer program for executing an auction for a predetermined exhibit,
A function of issuing a valid session ID until logging out to a bidder who logs in to the auction;
Session information in which the bidder's session ID is associated with the successful bidder's successful bid is stored in a predetermined storage device, and the session information is valid as long as the session ID is valid. A function to be held by the device;
A function for identifying a bidder who is logged in to the auction and has not won the auction, referring to valid session information held in the storage device when the auction is successful;
A function of informing the seller who exhibits the substitute of the exhibit the information on the bidder specified in the specifying function;
A function for obtaining, from the seller, alternative information for proposing purchase of an alternative to the exhibit;
A function of providing the substitute information acquired from the seller to the bidder specified in the specifying function;
Suitable for provision of alternative information by searching for auctions within a predetermined time after an exhibit has been successful bid and / or auctions within a predetermined time until the deadline of successful bid for the exhibit, triggered by the occurrence of a predetermined event A function of notifying the seller as an auction;
Is realized on a computer ,
The acquiring function acquires, from the seller, information specifying a specific auction among auctions suitable for providing the alternative information,
The computer program is characterized in that the specifying function specifies a bidder who is logged in to an auction designated by the exhibitor and has not made a successful bid for the exhibit .

Images