System and method for dynamic meeting attendance management

Abstract

The ticket vendor system can provide the enhanced meeting experience to the user of the system by tracking the position of the ticket holder before and during the meeting to provide the user with the opportunity of ticket resale and seat upgrade.The position of the user can be utilized to provide the value of promotion to the meeting attendee by providing new upgrade and resale option to the customer and, allow the meeting organizer to maximize the utilization rate of their venue during the meeting.The user who may miss the meeting and otherwise lose their whole ticket value can be detected based on their position, and the opportunity of recovering part of the cost is provided by reselling the ticket.The meeting attendee who wishes to upgrade their seat at the meeting place can be provided with the opportunity of purchasing the upgrade ticket of the meeting seat vacated by other attendees of the meeting when the meeting is carried out.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of invention patent application No. 201480066461.7, which was filed on December 1, 2014, has international application number PCT / US2014 / 067979, and entered the Chinese national phase on June 3, 2016 and is entitled “System and method for dynamic meeting attendance management”.

[0002] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0003] This application claims priority to U.S. Application No. 14 / 096,335, filed December 4, 2013, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. Technical Field

[0004] The present disclosure relates generally to electronic commerce and, more particularly, to the reallocation of purchased event tickets. Background Art

[0005] Computer systems and networks facilitate the task of buying, selling, and transferring goods. For example, global computer networks (such as the Internet) have allowed buyers to find and purchase goods online relatively quickly and efficiently. Similarly, global computer networks provide sellers with an efficient and cost-effective medium for advertising, quoting, offering, and selling their goods. E-commerce companies provide buyers and sellers with online services and architecture to accept orders for goods from remote buyers, perform financial transactions necessary to confirm and complete the sale of goods, transport or deliver goods to remote buyers, and perform other related logistics.

[0006] An example of commodity market in the field of electronic commerce is online ticket market.Various online ticket sellers provide websites through which parties can buy and sell tickets online.These tickets can be obtained by users to keep seats and / or admissions for various on-site events (such as, sports events, concerts, theatrical performances and other entertainment activities).Usually, buyers look for available tickets on ticket market websites or other online listings, and (if available tickets) decide which tickets in the available tickets are of interest to buyers, to consider purchasing.

[0007] Tickets for ticketed events are usually sold well before the event is held. For example, a music fan of a music artist will usually buy the ticket of the live performance of this music artist a few months ago. Due to multiple situations, the tickets purchased are often not used by the ticket purchaser. The ticket purchaser may fail to attend the ticketed event that they have purchased tickets for this reason under the condition of knowing or not knowing, or even when attending the event, they may leave the event prematurely, causing the seat of the event office to be vacant. According to routine, if the ticket purchaser wishes to resell the ticket, they need to determine that they will not attend the event. However, in some cases, the ticket purchaser may forget the event, underestimate the time spent on the scene of the event or accidentally leave the event prematurely. In these cases, the purchaser does not have the mechanism of any money that can be recovered to spend on the ticket, and there is no method to make the event venue fill the unused seat or the seat associated with the unused ticket or the ticket that is not fully used.

[0008]

[0006] It would therefore be desirable to provide systems and methods for reallocating unused, partially used, and / or potentially unused tickets for various pay-per-view events. Summary of the invention

[0009] According to one aspect of the present invention, a system is provided, comprising: a server, the server being communicatively coupled to a first user device of a first user and one or more venue devices distributed on a venue hosting a conference, the first user device being associated with an account of the first user who has purchased an electronic ticket for a seat in the conference, the server comprising a memory configured to store conference information associated with the conference and a processor coupled to the memory, the server being configured to perform operations, the operations comprising: retrieving conference information including a start time, a duration, and characteristics of the venue from a network-accessible conference database including the one or more venue devices; and obtaining conference information including a start time, a duration, and characteristics of the venue via a short-range communication channel. The communication method receives a signal indicating location data of the first user device from the one or more venue devices, wherein the location data is generated by a positioning system component in the first user device and provided by the first user device to the one or more venue devices via the short-range communication method; based on the signal from the one or more venue devices and the short-range communication method, determines a first area at a first time according to a variable area around the venue, the variable area changes according to time and is based on the start time and the duration of the meeting from the network-accessible meeting database, wherein the variable area is at the venue at the first time. the duration of the meeting being greater than and including a venue area; accessing the location data from the server and concurrently with the meeting; determining, based on the location data of the first user device, whether the location of the first user device is at the venue during the meeting and outside the first area at the first time, the location data being based on purchase information associated with the first user, the purchase information identifying purchases made by the first user after the first time at a merchant located outside the venue of the meeting; assessing a risk that the seat will not be used in all or a portion of the meeting based on the location of the first user device; in response to determining that the first user device is at the venue during the meeting and the location of the first user device is outside the first area at the first time, and indicating the risk that the seat will not be used, sending an alert to the first user device requesting an indication to release the seat in the meeting; in response to receiving a response from the first user confirming the release of the seat, sending an offer of the seat vacated by the first user to a second user device associated with a second user; and providing a view of at least the first area, the seat, or a portion of the venue to a graphical user interface in the first user device for display to the first user.

[0010] According to another aspect of the present invention, a computer-implemented method is provided, comprising: retrieving, at a server, event information including a start time, duration, and venue of an event from a network-accessible event database, the event information being provided by one or more venue devices distributed over the venue hosting the event; receiving a signal indicating a location of a first user device from the one or more venue devices via a short-range communication method, wherein the signal is generated by a positioning system component in the first user device and provided by the first user device to the one or more venue devices via the short-range communication method, and wherein the first user device is associated with an electronic ticket for a seat in the event; determining, at the server, a first area at a first time based on a variable area around the venue based on the signal and the short-range communication method, the variable area varying as a function of time and based on the start time and the duration of the event from the network-accessible event database, wherein the variable area is greater than and includes a venue area during the duration of the event at the venue; accessing the location of the first user device from the server and simultaneously with the event; at the server, determining a first area at a first time based on a variable area around the venue based on the signal and the short-range communication method, the variable area varying as a function of time and based on the start time and the duration of the event from the network-accessible event database, wherein the variable area is greater than and includes a venue area during the duration of the event at the venue; determining, at the server, a risk that the seat will not be used in all or part of the meeting based on the location of the first user device; in response to determining that the first user device is at the venue during the meeting and the location of the first user device is outside the first area at the first time, and indicating the risk that the seat will not be used, sending, by the server, an alert to the first user device requesting an indication to release the seat in the meeting; in response to receiving a response from the first user device confirming the release of the seat, sending, by the server, to a second user device associated with a second user, an offer of the seat vacated by the first user; and providing a view of at least the first area, the seat, or a portion of the venue to a graphical user interface in the first user device for display to the first user.

[0011] According to another aspect of the present invention, a non-transitory machine-readable medium having a plurality of machine-readable instructions is provided, which, when executed by one or more processors of a server, is adapted to cause the server to perform the following method, the method comprising: at the server, retrieving event information including a start time, a duration, and a venue of the event from a network-accessible event database, the event information being provided by one or more venue devices distributed on the venue hosting the event; receiving a signal indicating a location of a first user device from the one or more venue devices via a short-range communication method, wherein the location of the first user device is generated by a positioning system component in the first user device and provided by the first user device to the one or more venue devices via the short-range communication method, and wherein the first user device is associated with an electronic ticket for a seat in the event; at the server, based on the signal and the short-range communication method, determining a first area at a first time according to a variable area around the venue, the variable area varying according to time and based on the start time and the duration of the event from the network-accessible event database, wherein the variable area is larger than and includes a venue area; receiving a first area at a first time according to a variable area around the venue, the variable area varying according to time and based on the start time and the duration of the event from the network-accessible event database, wherein the variable area is larger than and includes a venue area; receiving a first area from the server and with The conference attendee simultaneously accesses the location of the first user device; determines based on the location of the first user device whether the location of the first user device is at the venue during the conference and outside the first area at the first time, the location being based on purchase information associated with the first user device, the purchase information identifying purchases made by the first user device after the first time at a merchant located outside the venue of the conference; assesses the risk that the seat will not be used in all or part of the conference based on the location of the first user device; in response to determining that the first user device is at the venue during the conference and the location of the first user device is outside the first area at the first time, and indicating the risk that the seat will not be used, sends an alert to the first user device requesting an indication of releasing the seat in the conference; in response to receiving a response from the first user device confirming the release of the seat, sends an offer of the seat vacated by the first user to a second user device associated with a second user; and provides a view of at least the first area, the seat, or a portion of the venue to a graphical user interface in the first user device for display to the first user. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] Figure 1 is a block diagram of an illustrative computing system suitable for implementing the selection and purchase of tickets for pay-per-view events using enhanced ticket information in accordance with an embodiment.

[0013] Figure 2 is suitable for use in accordance with an embodiment Figure 1 A block diagram of an illustrative computer system implemented on one or more devices in a computing system of FIG.

[0014] Figure 3 is a block diagram of an illustrative system for facilitating the selection, purchase, and redistribution of tickets for pay-per-view events, according to an embodiment.

[0015] Figure 4 is a diagram of an illustrative area around an event venue showing ticket holders at various locations around the venue in accordance with an embodiment.

[0016] Figure 5 is a flow chart showing an illustrative process that may be performed by a ticket vendor for determining whether a ticket holder is likely to attend an event and reselling tickets for ticket holders who are unlikely to attend the event, according to an embodiment.

[0017] Fig. 6A and 6B Flowcharts describing further details of illustrative processes that may be performed by a ticket vendor for determining whether a ticket holder is likely to attend an event and reselling tickets for ticket holders who are unlikely to attend an event are shown together according to an embodiment.

[0018] Figure 7 is a flow chart showing an illustrative process that may be performed for reselling a partially used ticket, according to an embodiment.

[0019] Figure 8 is a flow chart showing an illustrative process that may be performed to provide seat upgrades to conference attendees, according to an embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0020] This section describes exemplary applications of the method and apparatus according to the present invention. These examples are provided only to add background and contribute to understanding of the present invention. Therefore, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention can be practiced without some or all of these specific details. In other examples, known processing steps are not described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention. Other applications are also feasible, and thus the following examples should not be considered restrictive.

[0021] In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part of the specification and in which are shown by way of illustration specific embodiments of the invention. Although these embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, it is to be understood that these examples are not limiting and other embodiments may be used and changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

[0022] Provided are devices, systems, and methods for performing activities related to online sales, purchases, and resale of tickets for a ticketed event. In various specific embodiments, the device, system, or method may involve one or more devices that communicate over a network. Such devices, systems, and methods may facilitate the selection and purchase of tickets for various ticketed events and location-based resale activities associated with purchased tickets.

[0023] Location-based resale campaigns may include pre-conference location-based resale campaigns, during-conference location-based resale campaigns, or other location-based resale campaigns in which the location of a user with a ticket for a seat at the conference venue is determined, and based on the determined location, additional tickets (e.g., resale tickets or upgrade tickets) for the seat are offered for sale.

[0024] Location-based resale activities prior to an event may include: determining that the ticket purchaser is unlikely or unable to attend the event based on the detected location of the ticket purchaser, alerting the ticket purchaser to the possibility of ticket resale, purchasing the ticket from the ticket purchaser, and reselling the ticket as a resale ticket. Reselling the ticket may include selling the ticket to a new ticket purchaser or providing the ticket as an upgraded resale ticket to other ticket purchasers of the event.

[0025] The resale activity based on location in the meeting can be an activity associated with reselling a ticket as an upgrade ticket to the attendee currently located at the meeting place. The resale activity based on location in the meeting can include: based on the position of the detected attendee of the meeting, determine that the attendee of the meeting has left or is leaving the meeting (thereby abandoning the ticket purchased by the attendee of the meeting and vacating the associated seat in the venue), optionally remind the attendee of the ticket resale option to leave, and offer the seat of the attendee of the leave as an upgrade ticket to other attendees currently in the venue of the meeting. In various embodiments, the price of the upgrade ticket can be determined based on the amount of time left in the meeting, the proximity of the upgrade ticket seat to the performance area (attraction) and / or the popularity (as an example) of other upgrade tickets.

[0026] In various embodiments, the system can determine the location of a user with a ticket for a seat at a conference, determine that the location will be unused in part or all of the conference based at least in part on the location, optionally receive a confirmation from the user that the seat can be resold, and provide the seat for sale to another user. At least in part by determining that the location of the user at a time before the conference is outside a predetermined range around the conference venue, it can be determined that the seat will be unused during the entire time of the conference. At least in part by determining that the location of the user at a certain time during the conference is outside the conference venue (thereby indicating that the user has left the conference while the conference is ongoing), it can be determined that the location will be unused during a portion of the conference.

[0027] This type of pre-event location-based resale activity and / or in-event location-based resale activity can help ticket purchasers reduce financial losses if the purchased tickets cannot be used, and can help event venue owners maximize attendance and effectively manage the reallocation of tickets for available seats before and during ticketed events. These types of location-based ticket resale activities can help venue owners manage event attendance so that every seat at the event is occupied by event attendees.

[0028] Although the various examples disclosed herein focus on specific aspects of online sales and / or purchases of tickets, it will be appreciated that the various inventive principles and embodiments disclosed herein may also be applied to other types of ticket-on-demand applications and arrangements. For example, ticket purchases performed by individuals or on private or proprietary computing systems may utilize one or more aspects and features found in the various systems or methods provided.

[0029] References to "various embodiments", "some embodiments", "one embodiment", "an embodiment", "various examples", "one example", "example", "an example", or "some examples" throughout the specification mean that the specific features, structures, or characteristics described with respect to the embodiments or examples are included in at least one embodiment. Therefore, their appearances do not necessarily all refer to the same embodiment. In addition, specific features, structures, or characteristics may be incorporated in one or more embodiments in an appropriate manner.

[0030] According to an embodiment, a computer program product may include a non-transitory machine-readable medium. The non-transitory machine-readable medium may have computer-readable and executable code that instructs one or more processors to perform any of the methods disclosed herein.

[0031] from Figure 1 start, Figure 1An exemplary embodiment of a computing system suitable for implementing the selection and purchase of tickets for ticket-and-display events and / or the resale of tickets for location-based ticket-and-display events is shown in block diagram form. As shown, computing system 100 may include or implement multiple servers and / or software components that operate to perform various methods according to the described embodiments. Exemplary servers may include, for example, running a server OS (such as OS, OS, OS, or other appropriate server-based OS) for both standalone and enterprise-class servers. Figure 1 The servers shown may be utilized in other ways and the operations performed and / or services provided by such servers may be combined or separated for a given implementation and may be performed by a greater or lesser number of servers. One or more servers may be operated and / or maintained by the same or different entities.

[0032] Computing system 100 may include, in addition to various devices, servers, databases, and other elements, client 102, which may include or utilize one or more client devices 104, such as laptop computers, mobile computing devices, PCs, and / or any other computing devices having computing and / or communication capabilities in accordance with the described embodiments. In particular, it is specifically contemplated that client device 104 may include a cellular phone or other similar mobile device that a user may operate or carry on his or her person and easily use.

[0033] The client device 104 may typically provide one or more client programs 106, such as system programs and application programs for performing various computing and / or communication operations. Exemplary system programs may include, but are not limited to: an operating system (e.g., OS, OS, OS, Symbian OS TM, Embedix OS, Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW) OS, JavaOS, Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) OS, etc.), device drivers, programming tools, utilities, software libraries, application programming interfaces (APIs), etc. Exemplary application programs may include, but are not limited to: web browser applications, messaging applications (e.g., e-mail, IM, SMS, MMS, phone, voice mail, VoIP, video messaging), contact applications, calendar applications, electronic file applications, database applications, media applications (e.g., music, video, TV), location-based services (LBS) applications (e.g., GPS, maps, directions, points of interest, locators), etc. The one or more client programs 106 may display various graphical user interfaces (GUIs) to present information to and / or receive information from the one or more client devices 104.

[0034] As shown, the clients 102 may be communicatively coupled to the network-based system 110 via one or more networks 108. The network-based system 110 may be constructed, arranged and / or configured to allow the clients 102 to establish one or more communication sessions with the network-based system 110 using various computing devices 104 and / or client programs 106. Thus, a communication session between the clients 102 and the network-based system 110 (e.g., a communication session for location-based selection, sale and / or purchase of tickets for a ticket-for-show event) may involve one-way and / or two-way information exchange and may occur over one or more types of networks 108 depending on the communication mode. Although Figure 1 The embodiments illustrate computing system 100 deployed in a client-server operating environment, but it will be appreciated that other suitable operating environments and / or architectures may be used in accordance with the described embodiments.

[0035] Data and / or voice communications between the client 102 and the network-based system 110 can be sent and received over one or more networks 108 (such as the Internet, WAN, WWAN, WLAN, mobile phone network, landline telephone network, VoIP network, and other appropriate networks). For example, the client 102 can communicate with the network-based system 110 via the Internet or other appropriate WAN, sending or receiving information via interaction with a website, e-mail, IM session, and / or video messaging session. As will be readily appreciated, any of a variety of appropriate communication types can occur between the client 102 and the system 110. In particular, any appropriate form of wireless communication can occur between the client 102 and the system 110, such as those wireless communications that often occur in the context of mobile phones or other personal mobile devices.

[0036] In various embodiments, the computing system 100 may include, among other elements, a third party 112, which may include or use a third party server 114 that hosts a third party application 116. In various implementations, the third party server 114 and / or the third party application 116 may host a website associated with or used by the third party 112. For example, the third party server 114 and / or the third party application 116 may enable the network-based system 110 to provide additional services and / or information to the client 102, such as additional ticket inventory. The third party server 114 and / or the third party application 116 may provide email services and / or information, social networking services and / or information, travel services and / or information, consumer services and / or information, or other online services and / or information to the system 110 and / or the client 102.

[0037] In one embodiment, the third-party server 112 may include a social network server that hosts the user's social network account. In another embodiment, the third-party server 112 may include an email server that hosts the user's email account. In yet another embodiment, the third-party server 112 may include a travel website such as an airline website, a railway company website, or other travel website that provides travel services for sale or other information such as flight schedules, flight status, traffic information, or train schedules (as examples). In some embodiments, one or more client programs 106 can be used to access the network-based system 110 via the third party 112. For example, after initially communicating with the third-party website 112, the client 102 can use a web client to access and / or receive content from the network-based system 110.

[0038] The network-based system 110 may include one or more communication servers 120 to provide appropriate interfaces that enable communication using various communication modes and / or via one or more networks 108. The communication server 120 may include a web server 122, an API server 124, and / or a message delivery server 126 to provide an interface to one or more application servers 130. The application server 130 of the network-based system 110 may be constructed, arranged, and / or configured to provide various online markets and / or ticket fulfillment services to users accessing the network-based system 110. In various embodiments, the client 102 may communicate with the application server 130 of the network-based system 110 via one or more of a web interface provided by the web server 122, a programming interface provided by the API server 124, and / or a message delivery interface provided by the message delivery server 126. It is understood that the web server 122, the API server 124, and the message delivery server 126 may be constructed, arranged, and / or configured to communicate with various types of client devices 104 and / or client programs 106, and in some embodiments may interoperate with each other.

[0039] The web server 122 may be arranged to communicate with web clients and / or applications such as web browsers, web browser toolbars, desktop widgets, mobile widgets, web-based applications, web-based translators, virtual machines, etc. The API server 124 may be arranged to communicate with various client programs 106 and / or third-party applications 116 including API implementations for the network-based system 110. The message delivery server 126 may be arranged to communicate with various message delivery clients and or applications (such as e-mail, IM, SMS, MMS, telephone, VoIP, video messaging, etc.), and the message delivery server 126 may provide a message delivery interface to enable access by clients 102 and / or third parties 112 to various services and functions provided by the application server 130.

[0040] When being implemented as online ticket market, the application server 130 of network-based system 110 can provide various online markets and ticket realization services, including for example account services, buying services, selling services, directory listing services, dynamic attendance management services, delivery services, payment services, collection services, location-based services and notification services. Application server 130 can include account servers 132, selling servers 134, buying servers 136, directory listing servers 138, dynamic content management servers 140, payment servers 142, notification servers 144 and / or delivery servers 146 that are constructed and arranged to provide such online markets and ticket realization and / or reallocation services.

[0041] In turn, the application server 130 may be coupled to and have access to one or more databases 150, including a subscriber database 152, an active session database 154, and / or a transaction database 156. According to the described embodiment, the database 150 may generally store and maintain various types of information used by the application server 130, and may include or be implemented by various types of computer storage devices (e.g., servers, memories) and / or (e.g., relational, object-oriented, hierarchical, dimensional, network) database structures.

[0042] Continue to refer Figure 2 , Figure 2 The block diagram describes the Figure 1 The exemplary computer system 200 implemented on one or more devices in a computing system of the present invention. In various embodiments, the devices including the computer system 200 may include personal computing devices (e.g., smart or mobile phones, computing tablets, personal computers, laptop computers, PDAs, Bluetooth devices, key FOBs (key pendant storage devices), identification cards, etc.) that can communicate with a network. The ticket provider and / or payment provider may utilize a network computing device (e.g., a network server) that can communicate with a network. It should be understood that each device used by the user, the ticket provider, and the payment provider can be implemented as a computer system 200 in the following manner.

[0043] The computer system 200 may include a bus 202 or other communication mechanism for transmitting information data, signals and information between various components of the computer system 200. The components include an input / output (I / O) component 204 that processes user actions (such as selecting a key on a keypad / keyboard, selecting one or more buttons or links, etc.) and sends corresponding signals to the bus 202. The I / O component 204 may also include an output component, such as a display 211 and a cursor controller 213 (such as a keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, etc.). An optional audio input / output component 205 may also be included to allow a user to use voice input information by converting an audio signal. The audio I / O component 205 may allow a user to hear audio. A transceiver or network interface 206 sends and receives signals between the computer system 200 and other devices (such as another user device, a merchant server, a venue server, an email server, a social network server, other third-party servers and / or a payment provider server) via a network. In various embodiments, such as for many cellular phones and other mobile device embodiments, this transmission may be wireless, although other transmission media and methods may also be appropriate. Processor 212 (which may be a microcontroller, digital signal processor (DSP) or other processing component) processes these various signals, for example, for display on computer system 200 or transmission to other devices via communication link 218 over network 260. Likewise, in some embodiments, communication link 218 may simply be a form of wireless communication. Processor 212 may also control the transmission of information such as cookies or IP addresses to other devices.

[0044] Components of the computer system 200 also include a system memory component 214 (e.g., RAM), a static storage component 216 (e.g., ROM), and / or a disk drive 217. The computer system 200 performs specific operations by the processor 212 and other components by executing one or more instruction sequences contained in the system memory component 214. Logic can be encoded in a computer-readable medium, which can refer to any medium that participates in providing instructions for execution to the processor 212. Such media can take many forms, including but not limited to: non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. In various embodiments, non-volatile media include optical or magnetic disks, volatile media include dynamic memory (such as the system memory component 214), and transmission media include coaxial cables, copper wires, and optical fibers, including cables containing bus 202. In one embodiment, logic is encoded in a non-transitory machine-readable medium. In one example, the transmission medium can take the form of sound waves or light waves, such as those generated during radio wave communication, optical communication, and infrared data communication.

[0045] Some common forms of computer readable media include, for example, floppy disks, flexible disks, hard disks, magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, CD-ROMs, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with a pattern of holes, RAM, PROM, EPROM, FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, or any other medium from which a computer is suitable for reading.

[0046] In various embodiments of the present disclosure, the execution of the instruction sequence used to practice the present disclosure can be performed by the computer system 200. In various other embodiments of the present disclosure, multiple computer systems 200 coupled to a network (such as a LAN, WLAN, PTSN and / or various other wired or wireless networks, including telecommunications, mobile and cellular telephone networks) via a communication link 218 can execute the instruction sequence to practice the present disclosure in coordination with each other. The modules described herein can be embodied in one or more computer-readable media or communicate with one or more processors to execute or process the steps described herein.

[0047] The computer system can send and receive messages, data, information and instructions, including one or more programs (i.e., application code) through communication links and communication interfaces. When the program code is received and / or stored in a disk drive assembly or other non-volatile storage assembly for execution, the received program code can be executed by a processor.

[0048] Where applicable, the various embodiments provided by the present disclosure can be implemented using hardware, software or a combination of hardware and software. Similarly, where applicable, the various hardware components and / or software components mentioned herein can be merged into a composite component comprising software, hardware and / or the two without departing from the disclosed spirit. Where applicable, the various hardware components and / or software components mentioned herein can be separated into subcomponents comprising software, hardware or the two without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In addition, where applicable, it should be recognized that software components can be implemented as hardware components or vice versa.

[0049] According to the present disclosure, software such as program code and / or data can be stored on one or more computer-readable media. It should also be appreciated that the software identified herein can be implemented using one or more general or special computers and / or computer systems, networks and / or other means. Such software can be stored and / or used at one or more locations along or throughout the system at the client 102, the network-based system 110, or both. Where applicable, the order of the various steps described herein can be changed, merged into composite steps, and / or separated into sub-steps to provide the features described herein.

[0050] The foregoing networks, systems, devices, and their many variations may be used to implement ticket resale operations, such as location-based resale of tickets for conference room seating using the detected location of the ticket purchaser.

[0051] Figure 3 is a block diagram illustrating a ticket selection and purchasing system that may be used to determine the location of a ticket purchaser before and / or during an event and take appropriate ticket resale actions based on the determined location, according to an embodiment. Figure 3 As shown, ticket server 330 may communicate with one or more user devices (such as user device 320), one or more venue devices (such as venue device 310), and one or more third-party servers (such as third-party server 350).

[0052] In some embodiments, venue equipment (such as venue equipment 310) may be present at each of a plurality of different event venues (e.g., a stadium, theater, arena, amphitheater, or other venue in which ticketed events are held). Venue equipment 310 may provide information about events scheduled at a particular venue and information about seating arrangements at that venue. In some embodiments, venue equipment 310 may provide information to ticket server 330. Ticket server 330 may obtain information about events scheduled at various venues and information about seating arrangements at various venues from one or more venue equipment 310, from other sources, or ticket server 330 may have an event information and venue information database that is independent of any interaction with venue equipment. Ticket server 330 may, for example, be Figure 1 Implementation of system 110.

[0053] Venue device 310 may be, for example, a computer, a server, a computing tablet, or a mobile device. Venue device 310 may have a processing circuit such as a processor 312 and a storage device such as a memory 311. Processor 312 may execute a software program stored in memory 311 to provide information about meetings scheduled at the venue and the seating arrangement at the venue for each scheduled meeting. Venue device 310 may provide information to a ticket server and / or a user device such as user device 320.

[0054] The venue equipment 310 can be placed at the venue. However, this is merely illustrative. As needed, the venue equipment 310 can be placed at a location other than the venue. Each venue can have a dedicated venue equipment 310 or multiple different venues can share a common venue equipment 310. For example, a common venue can share a common venue equipment 310.

[0055] In some embodiments, if the ticket server 330 has the information required for buying and selling tickets, the venue equipment 310 can be omitted. For example, the ticket server 330 can have a database of available tickets and information about tickets and venues, which enables the ticket server 330 to provide users with the information necessary for purchasing tickets for meetings at the venue.

[0056] The third-party server (such as server 350) may include, for example, a social media server that hosts one or more social network accounts (e.g., the social network accounts of the user of the user device 320), an email server that hosts an email service (e.g., the user's email account), and / or a travel service server. The user may use the user device 320 to access a social network site hosted by one of the servers 350 to send, store, and / or receive emails or other electronic communications on an email account hosted by one of the servers 350, to research and / or purchase travel services and / or other services on one of the servers 350. The user may also use the user device 320 to access the ticket server 330 to select and purchase tickets for ticketed events from the ticket server 330, to sell tickets for ticketed events, to purchase upgrade tickets for seats at a venue, and / or to purchase resale tickets for seats at a venue (as examples).

[0057] The third party server 350 may be, for example, a computer, a server, a computing tablet, or a mobile device. The server 350 may have a processing circuit such as a processor 354 and a storage device such as a memory 352 .

[0058] A processor 354 on a server 350 can execute one or more software programs stored in memory 352 to publish user photos, videos, comments, captions, or other data posted by a user. A processor 354 on another server 350 can store (e.g., using memory 352) and route emails or other communications for a user.

[0059] In one embodiment, if the ticket server 330 has the information (e.g., seat information) required to determine whether the ticket purchaser is likely to attend the meeting, the server 350 can be omitted. For example, the ticket server 330 can have a database of purchases and / or user device information collected from the user device 320, which indicates that the user may or may not attend the meeting, or is leaving or has left the meeting.

[0060] A user (e.g., a potential ticket purchaser) may use a device such as user device 320 to purchase available tickets online, such as new tickets, resale tickets, and / or upgrade tickets for one or more events. User device 320 may be a mobile device such as a cellular phone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, or another portable computing device. User device 320 may be a non-mobile device such as a home (landline) phone, a desktop computer, an interactive set-top box, etc. User device 320 may be any device or combination of devices that facilitates online ticket purchases. User device 320 may be, for example, Figure 1 Implementation of the client device 104.

[0061] User device 320 may have a processor 321, a memory 322, a global positioning system component (GPS) 323, and / or other appropriate device components. Processor 321 may execute applications such as app 325 that assist the ticket selection and / or purchase methods described herein. App 325 may be stored in memory 322. When a user is selecting and purchasing a ticket online, App 325 may provide a graphical user interface (GUI) to the user. App 325 may be a dedicated ticket purchase app as needed. However, this is merely illustrative. In some configurations, app 325 may be part of another app (such as a payment provider app of PayPal).

[0062] The user device 320 may communicate with the venue device 310, the third party server 350, and / or the ticket server 330 via a network. For example, the user device 320 may communicate with the venue device 310, the third party server 350, and / or the ticket server 330 via the Internet 340. The user device 320 may communicate with the Internet via a wired connection or a wireless connection. App 325 may be configured to send location information of the user device 320 to the ticket server 330. For example, the ticket server 330 may have access to user location information based on location data from GPS 323.

[0063] The ticket server 330 can be operated by an online ticket seller such as Stubhub. The ticket server 330 can help online ticket sales. The ticket server 330 can include a processing circuit such as a processor 331 and a storage device such as a memory 332 that communicates with it. The processor 331 may include one or more processors. The processor 331 can access accounts such as user accounts 333 and / or venue accounts 334 stored in the memory 332. The user account 333 may include information about the user (e.g., identification information, preferences, account numbers, purchase history, social network contacts, email contacts, email account permissions, social media account permissions, meeting information of purchased tickets, meeting information of attended, etc.). The venue account 334 may include information about the venue (such as, information about meetings, seating arrangements, venue locations, and other venue features). The memory 332 can be separated from the ticket server and can be used to store any number of user accounts 333 and venue accounts 334. The memory 332 can be distributed, for example, its parts are placed at multiple different locations. Other accounts (such as accounts of users selling tickets) can also be accessed by processor 331, which include ticket details (such as price, quantity, location and event information), as well as financial information that enables funds to be deposited into the seller's account when their tickets are sold.

[0064] The ticket server 330 may include one or more servers located at one or more locations. Therefore, the ticket server 330 may be geographically and operationally distributed as needed. The ticket server 330 may be a part of another system such as a payment provider system. The venue equipment 310 and / or the third party server 350 may communicate with the ticket server 330 by wired or wireless connection (e.g., via a network). For example, the venue equipment 310 and / or the third party server 350 may communicate with the ticket server 330 via the Internet 340. The venue equipment 310 and / or the third party server 350 may communicate with a plurality of different ticket servers 330. The ticket server 330 may communicate with a plurality of different venue equipment 310 and / or the third party server 350. A plurality of different ticket servers 330 may communicate with each other and may be considered as the same as a single ticket server 330 herein. The user may operate the user device 320 to interact with the ticket server 330, so that the user may select, purchase and / or sell tickets (e.g., new tickets, resale tickets or upgrade tickets) online.

[0065] The ticket server 330 can communicate with the venue server 310 to obtain information about the venue. For example, the ticket server 330 can communicate with the venue server 310 to obtain information about the arrangement of the meeting at the venue and about the characteristics of the venue. The characteristics of the venue can depend on the meeting at the venue, and for example, the characteristics of the venue can change according to the meeting. Usually, venue equipment 310, mobile device 320, third-party server 350 and ticket server 330 can perform functions discussed herein. That is to say, at least to a certain extent, the functions discussed herein as being performed via a specific one of these devices can be performed by different one of these devices, by a combination of these devices and / or by other devices.

[0066] Venue device 310, user device 320, third-party server 350, other mobile devices, and server 330 may communicate with each other via a network such as the Internet 340. Venue device 310, user device 320, third-party server 350, other mobile devices, and server 330 may communicate with each other via one or more networks such as a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a cellular telephone network, etc. Venue device 310, user device 320, third-party server 350, server 330, and other mobile devices may communicate with each other at least in part via one or more near field communication (NFC) methods or other short-range communication methods such as infrared (IR), Bluetooth, WiFi, and WiMax.

[0067] When a user wishes to purchase a ticket online, resell a ticket online, check in to an event venue online, access an electronic ticket online, or provide location information online (as examples), the user may open a website of an online ticket vendor or may access the ticket vendor website using an application such as app 325. For example, the user may open the ticket vendor website using user device 320. The ticket vendor website may be hosted on ticket server 330, venue device 310, or any other server or device.

[0068] Figure 4 It is a graphic representation of the event venue and the various locations of ticket holders within the area surrounding the venue. Figure 4As shown, various users of ticket server, such as ticket holder 408,410,412 and 414 (for example, ticket holders with one or more meeting tickets or ticket buyers transfer their purchased tickets to other people) can be located at various locations in the region around the meeting venue (such as, venue 400) at time T. Venue 400 can be another venue of stadium, theater, arena, amphitheater or holding a meeting with ticket therein. Time T can be any time before or during the meeting at venue 400. In various embodiments, meeting with ticket (for example, the meeting that can be held at venue 400) can be social or entertainment meeting (for example, concert, concert, show, exhibition, amusement park, sporting event, etc.), business-related meeting (for example, business meeting, conference, rest house, etc.), user-created meeting or any other meeting that can issue ticket.

[0069] Ticket holders 408, 410, 412, and 414 may be, for example, Figure 1 100, a user of a system such as the system 100 of the ticket server 330, a user of the user device 320, or a user of another ticket distribution system. These users 408, 410, 412, and 414 or other users may each have a Figure 3 An app such as app 325 that exchanges, for example, ticket information, schedule information, and / or location information with the system.

[0070] The ticket server may define a specific area around venue 400 at time T, such as area 404. Figure 4 In the example of , region 404 is a circular region with radius R (T), wherein radius R (T) is a function of time T. For example, radius R (T) may have an initial value of 100 miles at time T = 24 hours before the start time of the event. However, it should be understood that this example is merely illustrative. As required, time T may be any number of hours, days, minutes, seconds, weeks, months, etc. before the start or end of the event. Radius R (T) may have an initial value equal to any appropriate distance to venue 400 (e.g., greater than 100 miles, less than 100 miles, between 1 mile and 100 miles, between 1 mile and 500 miles, between 100 feet and 500 miles, or other appropriate distances). In addition, region 404 may have a non-circular shape. For example, part or all of the shape of region 404 may be determined by geographical features (e.g., coastlines, bodies of water, mountains, political boundaries, etc.) of the area surrounding venue 400.

[0071] like Figure 4As shown, users can be outside of area 404 (e.g., user 408), inside area 404 and outside venue 400 (e.g., users 410 and 414), and / or inside venue 400 (e.g., user 412). In some embodiments, radius R(T) (and therefore the size of area 404) can decrease as time passes (as indicated by arrow 406). For example, radius R(T) can be inversely proportional to time T, or can have any other suitable inverse depending on time T, so that the size of area 404 decreases as the start time of the event approaches.

[0072] A system (such as system 100) and / or a ticket server (such as ticket server 330) may perform attendance management operations based on the determined user location at a given time T. Attendance management operations may include location-based resale activities, such as pre-event location-based resale activities and / or in-event location-based resale activities.

[0073] System (such as, system 100) and / or ticket server (such as, ticket server 330) can start monitoring user position at a specific time (for example, initial time T0=24 hours) before the start time of the meeting. At time T0 or at any time T after time T0, the system can determine that users such as user 408 are outside the area 404. Based on the position of the user outside the area 404, it can be determined that user 408 has the risk of missing the meeting. On the contrary, it can be determined that users such as user 410 are within the area 404 and may attend the meeting. In various embodiments, additional user information can be received by the system and used to determine whether each specific user (for example, each ticket holder) is likely to attend the meeting. For users within the area 404, the ticket resale action may not be taken. For users outside the area 404, the system can take various actions to determine whether the user will attend the meeting. For example, a user can be provided with a reminder, such as an email reminder, a text message reminder, a phone call reminder, a social media reminder or other reminders to prompt the user to indicate whether they plan to attend the meeting.

[0074] In some embodiments, additional information (such as the user's purchase history) can be used to determine whether the user is likely to attend the event. For example, if the user is outside of area 404, but has purchased transportation to area 404 before the event start time, the user can be determined to be likely to attend the event, and no ticket resale action can be taken. Conversely, if the user has purchased a hotel room in a distant city for the night of the event, the user can be determined to be unlikely to attend the event.

[0075] In response to determining that the user is unlikely to attend the event, the system can alert the user (e.g., via text message, email, social media, etc.) of a ticket resale opportunity (e.g., the user can receive an offer to sell the ticket back to the venue). In response to determining that the user is likely to attend the event, no ticket resale action may be taken. In some embodiments, the user's location can be re-determined at a subsequent event and the process is repeated.

[0076] At or near the start time of the event, the system can reduce the size of area 404 to the size of venue 400 or the size of real estate associated with venue 400, such as surrounding parking area 402 (for example). Once the event has begun, the system can monitor the location of users in and around venue 400. Figure 4 As shown, user 412 can be located within venue 400 during the event. During the event, it can also be determined that a user, such as user 414, has left or is leaving the event. It can be determined that a user has left or is leaving the event by determining, for example, that the user has a location outside of venue 400 during the event, that the user is moving away from venue 400 during the event (as indicated by arrow 416), or that the user has made a purchase at a merchant located outside of the venue during the event (e.g., using a payment server associated with the system).

[0077] In response to determining that a user is leaving or has left the event during the event, the system can provide the leaving user with options for their partially used tickets. For example, the user can be prompted to release (e.g., give up and / or sell) an empty seat in venue 400 for which the leaving user has a ticket. If the leaving user chooses to release the empty seat, or if it is otherwise determined that the user has left and will no longer or cannot return, upgrade tickets for the empty seat can be provided to other attendees in venue 400 (such as user 412) for sale.

[0078] For example, user 414 can purchase tickets for seats such as seat 420 in venue 400. When user 414 leaves venue 400 during the event, seat 420 for sale can be provided to user 412 as an upgrade. In this way, a system (such as system 100) and / or a ticket server (such as ticket server 330) can perform dynamic event attendance management operations, which helps maximize the number of attendees at the venue, provides attendees with the ability to upgrade their seats, and minimizes the risk of loss of value for ticket purchasers who are unable or unwilling to attend the event and / or stay for the entire event.

[0079] This type of dynamic event management operation can include location-based resale activities, such as pre-event location-based resale activities and / or in-event location-based resale activities. Once the location of a user with a ticket for a seat at an event is determined (e.g., before or during the event), and it can be determined based on the location that the seat will be unused during all or part of the event, the seat can be offered for sale to another user. Figure 5 , 6 , 7 and 8 illustrate exemplary operations that may determine, before or during a conference, based on a user's location, that a seat will be unused during all or part of the conference and that the seat for sale will be offered to another user. Figure 5 and 6 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary ex ante location-based resale activity. Figure 7 and 8 is a flow chart illustrating location-based reselling activities in an exemplary event. Figure 5 , 6 , 7 and 8, the activities, processes, steps, operations and / or actions may be performed by a system (such as, Figure 1 system 100) and / or having a ticket server (such as, Figure 3 The ticket server 330) is executed by the system (as an example).

[0080] Figure 5 is a flow chart of illustrative steps that may be taken during a pre-event location-based resale activity. Figure 5 Pre-event location-based resale activities can help reduce the number of ticket holders who do not attend the event while allowing ticket holders who are unable to attend the event to recover some or all of the value of the purchased and unused tickets.

[0081] At step 502, the location of the ticket holder may be determined. The location of the ticket holder may be determined using data from the ticket holder's user device (e.g., GPS data), based on the ticket holder's recent purchase history, or other location information from or associated with the ticket holder. Determining the ticket holder's location may include determining whether the ticket holder is in a "remote" location (e.g., within a predefined range around the venue (e.g., Figure 4 A location outside the area 404) or a "close" location (e.g., a location within a predefined range around the conference venue).

[0082] In response to determining that the ticket holder is located in a proximate location, the system (e.g., ticket server 330) may proceed to step 504. At step 504, the system may wait for a predetermined period of time before returning to step 502. The predetermined period of time may be any suitable time that is less than the time remaining before the event start time.

[0083] In response to determining that the ticket holder is at a remote location, the system may proceed to step 506. At step 506, the system may determine whether the ticket holder can arrive at the venue of the event in time for the event. For example, the system may determine traffic conditions, weather conditions, flight schedules, train schedules, or other information that may indicate whether the ticket holder can physically arrive at the venue before the event start time.

[0084] In response to determining that the ticket holder cannot physically catch up with the event before the event start time (e.g., by determining that the user has not made travel arrangements or travel arrangements are unavailable), the system can proceed to step 510. At step 510, the system can take appropriate ticket reallocation actions. For example, the system can send a reminder to the ticket holder. The reminder can prompt the ticket holder to indicate whether the ticket holder wishes to sell the ticket back to the venue (e.g., with full fare, reduced fare, increased fare or full fare deducting resale costs). If the ticket holder responds to indicate that the ticket holder wishes to resell the ticket, the system can repurchase (buy back) the ticket and resell the ticket to another user.

[0085] In response to determining that the ticket holder can physically attend the event before the event start time (e.g., by determining that the user has made travel arrangements or that travel arrangements are available), the system can proceed to step 508. At step 508, the system can send a reminder to the ticket holder. The reminder can prompt the ticket holder to indicate whether the ticket holder plans to attend the event.

[0086] If, after the reminder is sent to the ticket holder at step 508, the user does not respond, the system can return to step 504. If, after the reminder is sent to the ticket holder at step 508, the ticket holder responds indicating that the ticket holder will attend the event, the system can proceed to step 512. At 512, the pre-event location-based resale operation for the ticket holder can be terminated. If, after the reminder is sent to the ticket holder at step 508, the ticket holder responds indicating that the ticket holder will not attend the event, the system can proceed to step 510.

[0087] Figure 6 (As shown in the figure, for clarity, it is divided into Fig. 6A and 6B ) is a flow chart showing further details of illustrative steps that may be taken during a pre-event location-based resale activity.

[0088] At step 602, a system such as system 100 or ticket server 330 may begin event attendance monitoring for a particular event to be held at a venue. Event attendance monitoring may begin at time T0 prior to the start time of the event.

[0089] At step 604, the area around the venue can be determined. The area can depend on the time T before the start time of the meeting. Determining the area can include determining the radius R(T) at time T (e.g., time T0 or any time T between time T0 and the start time of the meeting). However, it should be understood that the radius of the circular area is only illustrative. In various embodiments, at step 604, the area around the venue with one or more boundaries defining any appropriate shape and any appropriate size can be determined. The area of ​​appropriate size and shape around the venue can be time-independent or can depend on time T.

[0090] At step 606, the location of at least one user of the system (e.g., a ticket holder) may be determined. As described herein, the location of the user may be determined based on location data from the user's user device (e.g., GPS data), based on user-reported location data, based on user purchase data, or other location-indicative data.

[0091] At step 608, the user's location may be compared to the area determined at step 604 (eg, a circular area with a radius R(T)) to determine whether the user's location is within the determined area around the venue.

[0092] If the user's location is outside the area (e.g., farther from the venue than R(T)), the system can determine that the user is in a distant location. If the user's location is within the area (e.g., closer to the venue than R(T)), the system can determine that the user is in a close location.

[0093] In response to determining that the user is located in a proximate location, the system (e.g., ticket server 330) may proceed to step 616. At step 616, the system may wait for a predetermined period of time before returning to step 604. The predetermined period of time may be any suitable time that is less than the time remaining before the event start time.

[0094] In response to determining that the ticket holder is at a remote location, the system may proceed to step 610. At step 610, the system may determine whether the user plans to attend the event. At step 610, the system may also obtain, receive, access, or collect additional information associated with the user that may help determine whether the user plans to attend the event. The additional information may include purchase history information 620, schedule information 624, and location history information 622 (as examples).

[0095] Purchase history information 620 may include information associated with recent consumption by the user, such as travel consumption (e.g., air ticket consumption, train ticket consumption, car rental consumption, or hotel consumption). Purchase history information 620 may be used to determine whether the user plans to attend a meeting. For example, the system may collect such purchase history information, which indicates that the user is located in a remote location and has purchased a return ticket to the city where the venue is located on a date after the meeting date, thereby indicating that the user does not plan to attend the meeting. On the contrary, the system may collect such purchase history information, which indicates that the user is located in a remote location and has purchased a return ticket to the city where the venue is located on the day of the meeting date, thereby indicating that the user plans to attend the meeting.

[0096] Schedule information 624 may include, for example, information sent from the user's device indicating an event in the user's electronic schedule on the device or the user's online schedule information (e.g., a social network schedule or other public online schedule). Schedule information 624 may be used together with purchase history information 620 or separately to determine whether the user plans to attend the event. For example, if the user is in a remote location and has no calendar appointments associated with the event, the system may determine that the user does not plan to attend the event.

[0097] Location history information 622 may include location information (e.g., GPS data and / or location-based purchase data) indicating the user's recent movement. Location history information 622 may be used together with purchase history information 620 and / or schedule information 624 or separately to determine whether the user plans to attend a meeting. For example, if it is determined that the user is located in a remote location but has moved toward the venue of the meeting, it may be determined that the user plans to attend the meeting. Conversely, if it is determined that the user is located in a remote location and is moving away from the venue of the meeting, it may be determined that the user does not plan to attend the meeting.

[0098] Information such as purchase history information 620, schedule information 624, and location history information 622 may be collected by a ticket server, provided by a user device, or otherwise acquired by the system for managing event attendance, and may be combined in any appropriate manner to determine whether a user is likely to plan to attend an event for which the user has purchased a ticket or has transferred a ticket.

[0099] In response to determining that the user is planning to attend the event, the system (e.g., ticket server 330) can proceed to step 616. At step 616, the system can wait for a predetermined period of time before returning to step 604. The predetermined period of time can be any suitable time that is less than the time remaining before the event start time.

[0100] In response to determining that the user is not scheduled to attend the event, the system (e.g., ticket server 330) can proceed to step 612. At step 612, a reminder can prompt the ticket holder to indicate whether the ticket holder plans to attend the event. The reminder can be a text message reminder, an API reminder on the user's device, an email reminder, a phone call reminder, or other suitable reminder.

[0101] If, after sending the reminder to the user at step 612, the user does not respond, the system can proceed to step 618. If, after sending the reminder to the user at step 612, the user responds indicating that the ticket holder will attend the event, the system can proceed to step 614. At step 614, the pre-event location-based resale activity for the ticket holder can be terminated. If, after sending the reminder to the ticket holder at step 612, the ticket holder responds indicating that the ticket holder will not attend the event, the system can proceed to step 628.

[0102] At step 618, the system can determine whether the user can arrive at the venue of the meeting in time (e.g., whether it is possible for the user to arrive at the venue of the meeting at or before the start time of the meeting). The system can use purchase history information 620, schedule information 624, location history information 622, and / or other information such as external data 626 to determine that the user can arrive at the venue of the meeting in time. External data 626 may include traffic conditions near the venue, weather conditions, flight schedules associated with the user's location and the venue location, train schedules, or other information that can indicate whether the user can physically arrive at the venue before the start time of the meeting.

[0103] For example, if it is determined that the user is at a remote location (e.g., based on the user's GPS location, purchase history, app check-ins, or other data) and it is also determined that, for example, the distance between the user's location and the venue is not possible to travel using any conventional means of travel, it can be determined that the user will not be able to arrive at the venue of the event in a timely manner.

[0104] In an illustrative scenario, a user may have a concert ticket for the Austin Music Hall in Austin, Texas at 7pm on Friday. The system may determine that the user has purchased in Lima, Peru, and determine that the user does not have a return flight arranged before the meeting. The system may also determine (e.g., by calling an API and / or running a travel heuristic analysis on a travel website) the estimated travel time between Lima, Peru and Austin, Texas, USA. The API call may include an API call to a travel service server, a main flight carrier server, or other travel servers for estimating travel time. In some cases, the API call may be unavailable and the travel heuristic analysis may be performed using the GPS coordinates of the user and the venue, and takes into account the time required for the user to arrive at the venue using various transportation methods. It should be understood that this illustrative scenario is only an example, and the principle described for determining whether the user can arrive at the venue in time can be applied to various other scenarios.

[0105] In response to determining (at step 618 ) that the user is still likely to arrive at the event venue in time, the system may return to step 616 .

[0106] In response to determining (at step 618 ) that the user is unlikely to arrive at the event venue in time, the system may proceed to step 628 .

[0107] At step 628, system can take appropriate ticket repurchase action.Ticket repurchase action can include providing option (reminding via user) to user for selling ticket back to venue or directly selling to other consumers (as an example) on ticket server.For example, ticket server can send to user with narration following text " because it seems that you will not attend performance show, are you willing to sell your ticket back to venue " reminder (for example, via text message, API, email etc.).If user selects to sell ticket back, then system can help venue or another buyer to repurchase this ticket.Repurchase action can indicate with the price of reduction, with par value price, with the price increased, with the price determined by market conditions (for example, the popularity of meeting things) or with any appropriate price to repurchase this ticket from user.

[0108] At step 630, the system may take appropriate ticket resale actions. For example, the system may help the venue or ticket server itself sell the resale ticket (e.g., the ticket that has been repurchased at step 628), may help provide the resale ticket to other ticket holders as an upgraded resale ticket, or may help provide the resale ticket to the user's contacts 32 (such as, the user's email contacts, the user's social media contacts, or other known contacts of the user) for sale. For example, the system may access the user's social network account to determine whether any of the user's friends, family, colleagues, or other contacts have expressed interest in the event, event artist or exhibit, event venue, or similar event artist or exhibit.

[0109] Ticket sellers (such as venue owners, event organizers, or other ticket sellers) may be provided with the option to configure their preferences to repurchase and resell repurchased tickets. For example, a venue may offer to repurchase tickets directly from a user, then offer the same ticket for sale (e.g., on a ticket server webpage or a ticket server application on a user's device). In another example, a venue may offer to repurchase tickets directly from a user, then offer seat upgrades to other existing ticket holders (e.g., upgrade resale tickets), and then repurchase and resell tickets for recently vacated seats from other existing ticket holders. Figure 5 and 6 Described process can be performed in any appropriate order and can be repeated any appropriate number of times, until for example venue is completely occupied.When ticket holder sells back ticket, potential meeting attendee (they are located near venue or they have expressed interest in meeting before) without ticket can also be reminded to buy new seat by the ticket server application on for example their user equipment.By moving customer closer to performance area (such as, concert stage) and bringing new attendee (if need to fill up capacity), these dynamic meeting attendance management activities can help venue arrive and maintain maximum occupancy.

[0110] Figure 7 is a flow chart of illustrative steps that may be taken during a location-based resale activity in a meeting. Figure 7 Location-based resale activities at events can help ticket purchasers recover some or all of the value of a purchased, partially used ticket and / or can help event organizers and / or venue owners extract additional value from partially used tickets by selling upgrade tickets for vacant seats associated with the partially used tickets. A partially used ticket can be a ticket that has been used by a ticket holder to gain admission to an event venue, but is abandoned by the ticket holder before the event ends.

[0111] At step 700, the system can determine the location of the event attendees during the event. The location of the event attendees can use, for example, GPS data from the user's device, consumption information (e.g., information identifying consumption made at or outside the venue), social media postings, or other location data provided by, obtained from, or about the attendees.

[0112] At step 702, the system may determine that an attendee is leaving or has left the meeting while the meeting is ongoing. The system may determine that an attendee is leaving or has left the meeting by detecting that the attendee is leaving the meeting (e.g., by detecting the attendee's location outside the venue, detecting a change in the attendee's location by determining that the attendee is moving away from the venue, and / or detecting consumption by the attendee at a location outside the venue). In some embodiments, the system may also send a reminder to the attendee who is leaving (e.g., via a text message on a user device, via email, via an API reminder) to prompt the attendee who is leaving to confirm that they are leaving the meeting. In some embodiments, the reminder may include an option for resale and / or repurchase of tickets.

[0113] At step 704, the system may offer upgrade tickets for the vacant seats of the departing attendee to other attendees known (e.g., based on their determined locations) to be at the venue. In some embodiments, the system may compile a list of vacant seats and offer the associated upgrade tickets for sale on a ticket server web page or API server.

[0114] At step 706, the system may receive payment for the upgrade ticket from another attendee. The system may receive payment from another user via a payment app on the user's mobile device or a ticket server app (as examples).

[0115] At step 708, the system may provide the other attendee with an electronic upgrade ticket that may be displayed on the user's mobile device so that the other attendee may gain access to the vacant seat associated with the upgrade ticket.

[0116] At step 710, the most recently vacated seat of another attendee who has purchased an upgrade ticket may be offered to an additional attendee of the event as an upgrade.

[0117] Figure 8 It is a combination of the above Figure 7 704 of FIG. 1 is a flow chart of illustrative steps that may be performed to provide an upgrade ticket for an empty seat.

[0118] At step 800, the number of attendees who wish to upgrade can be determined. For example, the system can determine the exact or approximate number of attendees interested in upgrading based on previous ticket sales (e.g., popularity of event tickets during the initial sales period and / or during pre-event location-based resale activities) and / or based on a queue of other attendees who desire to upgrade (e.g., a list of attendees who have indicated their interest in upgrade tickets using the ticket server app on their mobile devices). Attendees who have expressed interest in upgrading may have provided pre-authorization to purchase upgrade tickets at a specific price and within a specific distance from a performance area (e.g., a concert stage, a sports stadium, etc.).

[0119] At step 802, the remaining time before the end of the meeting can be determined. The remaining time can be determined based on the duration of the meeting arranged and the actual meeting start time and / or based on the duration of the meeting from crowdsourcing. For example, the attendees of the previous concert of the artist may post comments online (on the ticket server webpage, on the social media webpage), or otherwise publish information about the previous concert of the artist, indicating that the artist usually performs longer or shorter than the duration of the meeting arranged. The information released by this type of attendee can be collected and combined to determine the duration of the meeting from crowdsourcing. However, this is merely illustrative. In another example, the duration of the meeting from crowdsourcing can be determined based on the GPS location history of various attendee devices. The GPS location history of the attendee device can be collected and the system can analyze the amount of time of each person near the venue of the meeting. The end time of the meeting from crowdsourcing can be determined as the time (for example, average time or median time) that some or all attendees disperse and leave the venue of the meeting. Additional crowdsourced event duration information (such as return information, timeout information, etc.) may be determined based on detecting a subset of event attendees wandering in or around the event venue after a large number of attendee dispersal events have been detected.

[0120] At step 804, the upgrade price of the upgrade ticket for the vacant seat can be determined.The upgrade price can be determined based on the number of the attendees who wish to upgrade, the time or other suitable ticket market information of the end of the event.For example, when the event has a relatively large amount of time remaining, the attendees of a relatively large number wish to upgrade, which can cause the system to set a relatively high upgrade ticket price.On the contrary, when the event has a relatively small amount of time remaining, the attendees of a relatively small number wish to upgrade, which can cause the system to set a relatively low upgrade ticket price.However, this is merely illustrative.In various embodiments, the upgrade price can be raised or reduced according to the remaining time amount of the event.For example, price increases may only be utilized before the encore part of the concert (at this moment, the demand for upgrading may surge).

[0121] At step 806, the upgrade ticket can be offered to other attendees for purchase at the determined upgrade price. After offering the upgrade ticket for sale at the upgrade price, the system can proceed to, for example, Figure 7 Step 706.

[0122] against Figure 7 and Figure 8 The described processes may be performed in any suitable order and may be repeated any number of times, until, for example, the event has concluded.

[0123] Although the foregoing invention has been described in detail by way of illustration and example for purposes of clarity and understanding, it will be appreciated that the foregoing invention may be embodied in many other specific variations and embodiments without departing from the spirit and essential characteristics of the invention. Various changes and modifications may be implemented, and it should be understood that the invention is not limited by the foregoing details, but is defined by the scope of the claims.

[0124] Additionally, the present technology may also be configured as follows.

[0125] (1) A system for redistributing tickets for events at a venue, comprising:

[0126] A memory configured to store meeting information associated with the meeting;

[0127] a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to:

[0128] Determining the location of a user having a ticket for a seat at a conference venue;

[0129] Based at least in part on the location, determining that the seat will be unoccupied during all or part of the event; and

[0130] The seat is offered for sale to another user.

[0131] (2) The system of (1), wherein the processor is further configured to receive a confirmation from the user that the seat can be resold.

[0132] (3) The system of (2), wherein the processor is configured to determine the location of the user at a time prior to the meeting.

[0133] (4) The system of (3), wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether the user's location is within a predetermined area around a venue for the meeting.

[0134] (5) A system as described in (3), wherein the processor is further configured to obtain the user's schedule information, purchase history information, and location history information, and wherein the processor is configured to determine that the seat will be unused during all or part of the event based at least in part on the location by performing the following operations: determining that the seat will be unused during the entire event by using the location, the schedule information, the purchase history information, and the location history information.

[0135] (6) The system of (3), wherein the processor is further configured to obtain a flight schedule associated with the location.

[0136] (7) The system of (1), wherein the processor is configured to determine the location of the user at a time during the event.

[0137] (8) The system of (7), wherein the processor is configured to determine the location of the user using at least one of purchase information and global positioning system data associated with the user.

[0138] (9) The system of (8), wherein the purchase information includes information identifying purchases made by the user at a merchant located outside the venue of the event.

[0139] (10) The system of (7), wherein the processor is configured to: offer the seat for sale to other users in part by determining an upgrade price for the seat based on the remaining time of the event.

[0140] (11) A method comprising:

[0141] electronically determining, by a processor, a location of a user having a ticket for a seat at a convention center;

[0142] determining, by the processor, electronically and based at least in part on the location, that the seat will be unoccupied during all or part of the event; and

[0143] The seat is electronically offered, by the processor, for sale to another user.

[0144] (12) The method as described in (11), further comprising:

[0145] An upgrade price for the seat is electronically determined by the processor based on the number of attendees who wish to purchase the upgrade.

[0146] (13) The method as described in (11), further comprising:

[0147] An upgrade price for the seat is electronically determined by the processor based on a remaining time of the event, wherein the remaining time of the event is based on a scheduled event duration or an event duration from crowd sourcing.

[0148] (14) The method as described in (11), further comprising:

[0149] electronically selling, by the processor, the seat to another user; and

[0150] Additional seats associated with the other users are electronically offered for sale by the processor.

[0151] (15) The method as described in (11), further comprising:

[0152] A determination is electronically made by the processor as to whether the user's location is within a predetermined area around a venue.

[0153] (16) The method as described in (15), further comprising:

[0154] The predetermined area is electronically reduced in size by the processor.

[0155] (17) The method as described in (11), further comprising:

[0156] The processor electronically determines whether the user can arrive at the venue of the event in time.

[0157] (18) A non-transitory machine-readable medium having a plurality of machine-readable instructions, which, when executed by one or more processors of a server, are adapted to cause the server to perform a method comprising:

[0158] Determining the location of a user having a ticket for a seat at a conference venue;

[0159] Based at least in part on the location, determining that the seat will be unoccupied during all or part of the event; and

[0160] The seat is offered for sale to another user.

[0161] (19) A non-transitory machine-readable medium as described in (18), wherein determining the location of the user includes determining the location of the user at a time before the event, and wherein determining that the seat will be unused during all or part of the event includes determining that the seat will be unused during the entire event.

[0162] (20) The non-transitory machine-readable medium of (18), wherein determining the location of the user comprises determining the location of the user during the event, and wherein determining that the seat will be unused during all or part of the event comprises determining that the seat will be unused during part of the event.

Claims

1. A system comprising: A server, the server being communicatively coupled to a first user device of a first user and one or more venue devices distributed on a venue hosting a conference, the first user device being associated with an account of the first user who purchased an electronic ticket for a seat in the conference, the server comprising a memory configured to store conference information associated with the conference and a processor coupled to the memory, the server being configured to perform operations, the operations comprising: retrieving event information including a start time, a duration, and characteristics of the venue from a network accessible event database including the one or more venue devices; receiving a signal indicative of location data of the first user device from the one or more venue devices via a short-range communication method, wherein the location data is generated by a positioning system component in the first user device and provided by the first user device to the one or more venue devices via the short-range communication method; determining, based on the signals from the one or more of the venue devices and the short-range communication method, a first area at a first time according to a variable area around the venue, the variable area varying as a function of time and based on the start time and the duration of the event from the network accessible event database, wherein the variable area is larger than and includes a venue area during the duration of the event at the venue; accessing the location data from the server and concurrently with the meeting; determining, based on the location data of the first user device, whether the location of the first user device is at the venue during the event and outside the first area at the first time, the location data being based on purchase information associated with the first user, the purchase information identifying purchases made by the first user after the first time at a merchant located outside the venue of the event; assessing a risk that the seat will not be used for all or a portion of the meeting based on the location of the first user device; In response to determining that the first user device is at the venue during the event, and the location of the first user device is outside the first area at the first time, and indicating the risk that the seat will not be used, sending an alert to the first user device requesting an indication of releasing the seat in the event; In response to receiving a response from the first user confirming the release of the seat, sending an offer of the seat vacated by the first user to a second user device associated with a second user; and A view of at least the first area, the seats, or a portion of the venue is provided to a graphical user interface in the first user device for display to the first user.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein: The server is also configured to: accessing a third database storing a flight schedule for the first user; and It is further determined based on the flight schedule that the seat will not be used for all or a portion of the event.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein: The variable area corresponds to the venue area between the start time and the end time of the event.

4. The system according to claim 3, wherein: The server is further configured to determine an upgrade price for the seat based on a time remaining in the event, wherein the offer includes the upgrade price.

5. A computer-implemented method comprising: At the server, retrieving event information including a start time, a duration, and a venue of the event from a network-accessible event database, the event information being provided by one or more venue devices distributed at the venue hosting the event; receiving a signal from the one or more venue devices via a short-range communication method indicating a location of a first user device, wherein the signal is generated by a positioning system component in the first user device and provided by the first user device to the one or more venue devices via the short-range communication method, and wherein the first user device is associated with an electronic ticket for a seat at the event; determining, at the server, based on the signal and the short-range communication method, a first area at a first time based on a variable area around the venue, the variable area varying as a function of time and based on the start time and the duration of the event from the network-accessible event database, wherein the variable area is larger than and includes the venue area during the duration of the event at the venue; accessing the location of the first user device from the server and concurrently with the meeting; determining, at the server, whether the location of the first user device is at the venue during the event and outside the first area at the first time based on the location of the first user device, the location being based on purchase information associated with the first user device, the purchase information identifying purchases made by the first user device after the first time at a merchant located outside the venue of the event; assessing, at the server, a risk that the seat will not be used for all or part of the meeting based on the location of the first user device; In response to determining that the first user device is at the venue during the conference, and the location of the first user device is outside the first area at the first time, and indicating the risk that the seat will not be used, sending, by the server, an alert to the first user device requesting an indication of releasing the seat in the conference; In response to receiving a response from the first user device confirming the release of the seat, sending, by the server, to a second user device associated with a second user, an offer of the seat vacated by the first user; and A view of at least the first area, the seats, or a portion of the venue is provided to a graphical user interface in the first user device for display to the first user.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising: An upgrade price for the seat is electronically determined by the server based on the number of attendees who wish to purchase the upgrade.

7. The method according to claim 5, further comprising: An upgrade price for the seat is electronically determined by the server based on a remaining time for the event, the remaining time for the event being based on a scheduled or crowd-sourced event duration.

8. The method according to claim 5, further comprising: receiving a user selection from the second user device; as well as Another offer of additional seats associated with the second user is sent to a third user device associated with a third user.

9. The method according to claim 5, wherein: The variable area around the venue corresponds to the venue area between the start time and the end time of the event.

10. The method according to claim 5, wherein: Determining that the seat will not be used for all or a portion of the event includes electronically determining, by the server, whether the first user has vacated the seat for the event based on a location, purchase history, schedule information, or location history of the first user device.

11. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having a plurality of machine-readable instructions, which, when executed by one or more processors of a server, are adapted to cause the server to perform the following method, the method comprising: Retrieving, at the server, event information including a start time, a duration, and a venue of the event from a network-accessible event database, the event information being provided by one or more venue devices distributed at the venue hosting the event; receiving a signal from the one or more venue devices via a short-range communication method indicating a location of a first user device, wherein the location of the first user device is generated by a positioning system component in the first user device and provided by the first user device to the one or more venue devices via the short-range communication method, and wherein the first user device is associated with an electronic ticket for a seat at the event; determining, at the server, a first area at a first time based on the signal and the short-range communication method based on a variable area around the venue, the variable area varying as a function of time and based on the start time and the duration of the event from the network-accessible event database, wherein the variable area is larger than and includes an area of ​​the venue; accessing the location of the first user device from the server and concurrently with the meeting; determining, based on the location of the first user device, whether the location of the first user device is at the venue during the event and outside the first area at the first time, the location being based on purchase information associated with the first user device, the purchase information identifying purchases made by the first user device after the first time at a merchant located outside the venue of the event; assessing a risk that the seat will not be used for all or a portion of the meeting based on the location of the first user device; In response to determining that the first user device is at the venue during the event, and the location of the first user device is outside the first area at the first time, and indicating the risk that the seat will not be used, sending an alert to the first user device requesting an indication of releasing the seat in the event; In response to receiving a response from the first user device confirming the release of the seat, sending an offer of the seat vacated by the first user to a second user device associated with a second user; and A view of at least the first area, the seats, or a portion of the venue is provided to a graphical user interface in the first user device for display to the first user.

12. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 11, wherein: The variable area around the venue corresponds to the venue area between the start time and the end time of the event.

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