Auction technology provider Xcira recently announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued the company a new patent that addresses a bidder actively participating in or monitoring multiple simultaneous auction events.

The new patent is the company's 12th that is devoted to inventions relating to online bidding, inspection systems, real-time audio and video distribution, and remote consignor representation.

Xcira said it also has other utility patent applications pending it expects will be issued soon.

Last year, the company’s auction software was used by customers in seven different auction segments and 23 countries.

Highlights of the year include a total of 37,650 auction events, 15.5 million online bids, and 6.3 million items offered for sale to online buyers, representing more than $23.3 billion, according to Xcira.

Additionally, the company awarded an estimated 1 million items to online bidders, a value of more than $5.2 billion.

“Xcira presents a very unique blend of innovation coupled with enterprise-level reliability, performance and scalability," chief executive officer Nancy Rabenold said in a news release. “The Xcira team works hard to deliver quality economies-of-scale by providing state-of-the-art, affordable services to auction segments around the world.”

Since Xcira’s inception in 1996, 36.7 million items have been offered for sale to online buyers, a value of more than $250 billion.