1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to online transactions. More particularly, the invention is an enhanced system and method for carrying out online transactions using a xe2x80x9cshopping gamesxe2x80x9d mechanism module.
2. The Prior Art
The use of the global information network known as the Internet as medium for carrying out sales transactions (i.e., online transactions) is known. The popularity of the Internet with home and business computer users has provided a market opportunity to provide transaction mechanisms for such Internet users. Retailers, for example, have launched xe2x80x9conline catalogsxe2x80x9d via Web pages as an alternative (or additional) means for selling their products or services to their customers.
Recently, online auctions have also gained popularity with Internet users. For example, web sites such as Ebay(copyright) and Ubid(copyright) provide conventional auction mechanisms, which allow sellers and buyers to engage in auction transactions. Current auctions are defined by a set of participants (sellers and buyers), a set of legal moves (namely, bidding moves and message exchanging moves) for the participants, one or more rounds of moves, each round followed by revelation of information (e.g., current highest bid, current bidders, highest bidder), and a stopping rule, which terminates any further bidding moves and clears the auction.
As noted above, the only legal moves provided by current auction schemes to participants include bidding moves (bids) and message exchanging moves. A bid submitted by a bidder for an item commits the bidder to pay some monetary amount if a given outcome occurs, the outcome resulting when the bidder is the highest bidder with a bid amount satisfying the seller""s reserve (minimum) bid amount. Other than bids, the only other legal move provided to participants in current auction schemes are message exchanging moves (i.e., xe2x80x9ccheap talkxe2x80x9d), which are payoff-irrelevant exchanges of messages among participants. For example, a bidder may send an email to the seller inquiring into the description (requesting a picture, for example) of the item for sale by the seller.
In general, bids affect the information revelation and the relevant outcome. On the other hand, message exchanges only affect information revelation. Limiting the auction scheme to such legal moves, however, provides the participants with relatively few options and provides an uninteresting transaction scheme.
Conventional games on the Internet comprise many diverse types, including non-competitive, competitive and cooperative games, among others. Such games include various legal moves related to game play, but since online games are not associated with online auctions, xe2x80x9cbidsxe2x80x9d are not within the scope of legal moves for games.
Accordingly, there is a need for an enhanced system and method for carrying out online transactions and auctions using a xe2x80x9cshopping gamesxe2x80x9d mechanism module which provides for a mechanism scheme allowing xe2x80x9cgame movesxe2x80x9d as well as bidding and message exchanging moves. The present invention satisfies these needs, as well as others, and generally overcomes the deficiencies found in the background art.
The present invention is a system and method for carrying out enhanced online transactions using shopping games. The online transaction system comprises an interface module operatively coupled for communication with a mechanism module. In general, the operations of the interface module together with the mechanism module provide an online xe2x80x9cshopping gamexe2x80x9d transaction system wherein participants of the system may engage in game play in conjunction with an auction process to provide an entertaining and amusing environment for participants to carry out online transactions without limiting the participants to traditional auction xe2x80x9cmoves.xe2x80x9d The xe2x80x9cshopping gamexe2x80x9d of the present invention may further be carried out with other online transactions including, for example, fixed-price sales as well as barter transactions.
The interface module provides an interface between participants of the online transaction systems. In particular, the interface module manages communication requests from the participants (sellers and bidders) of the system as described more fully below. The interface module further manages transactions associated with moves made by the participants of the system, such as when a seller lists an item for sale, or when a bidder places a bid on an item or plays a game relevant to an item for auction.
The mechanism module defines a set of xe2x80x9cmovesxe2x80x9d which may be carried out by the participants of the system. In particular, the mechanism module allows bidders to issue bid moves, messaging moves and game moves relevant to an item for auction. As described more fully below, game moves or game outcomes may affect one or more relevant auction elements or events including, for example, the sale of the item, the selection of the participants, the bidding process, the information revelation, and the auction clearing process. Likewise, auction events may affect other auction or game elements including, for example, the pool of game participants, the set of possible game moves, the structure of information revelation, and the game outcome.
The invention further relates to machine readable media on which are stored embodiments of the present invention. It is contemplated that any media suitable for retrieving instructions is within the scope of the present invention. By way of example, such media may take the form of magnetic, optical, or semiconductor media. The invention also relates to data structures that contain embodiments of the present invention, and to the transmission of data structures containing embodiments of the present invention.