Collaborative system with personalized user interface for organizing group outings to events

• US 10,043,142 B2
• Filed: 03/10/2017
• Issued: 08/07/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Atom Tickets, LLC
• Original Assignee: Atom Tickets, LLC
• Inventors: Paleja, Ameesh, Rouse, Alexander, Raddatz, Alan, Capps, Kenley
• Primary Examiner(s): Erb, Nathan
• Application Number:
  US15/456,247
• Publication Number:
  US 20170185925A1
• Time in Patent Office: 515 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04855 Interaction with scrollbars
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/06037 multi-dimensional coding
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/1417 2D bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0245 Surveys
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

Features are disclosed relating to a collaborative ticketing system that manages various aspects of ticketing for events (e.g., movies, concerts, sporting events, and the like) using knowledge about the contacts of system users. The collaborative ticketing system includes a mobile application that includes a personalized user interface through which users can identify movies or other events to attend at specific venues. The mobile application provides functionality for users to publish information to their contacts about the events they want to attend, and to arrange group outings to selected events.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon a mobile application configured to run on a mobile device of a user, said mobile application comprising executable code that causes the mobile device to provide at least:

a personalized user interface that includes functionality for the user to view a selection of movies and to select a movie, the movies arranged within a plurality of categories, the selection of movies including movies selected based on movie preferences of the user; and

a group event pipeline that provides functionality for the user to initiate a group event to view a selected movie at a selected theater, the group event pipeline configured to display contacts of the user and to receive a selection from the user of one or more contacts to invite to the group event, said group event pipeline additionally providing functionality for initiating a transmission of a group event invitation to each selected contact;

wherein the mobile application enables users thereof to specify, via their respective mobile devices, which movies they want to see, and is configured to report, to a server system, user designations of which movies the respective users want to see;

wherein the mobile application, as installed on the mobile device of the user, is configured to determine, based on information received from the server system, whether at least one movie is available that one or more contacts of the user want to see, and if the determination is positive, to provide, on the personalized user interface as personalized for the user, a category in which the movies consist of movies that one or more contacts of the user want to see, said category provided only if at least one movie is available that one or more contacts of the user want to see; and

wherein the category is provided as a section on a rotatable navigation wheel.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the mobile application causes the mobile device to transmit the group event invitation to each selected contact.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the mobile application is responsive to user selection, via the personalized user interface, of a first movie in said section by displaying an indication of which one or more contacts of the user want to see the movie.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the personalized user interface displays, for at least some of the contacts, respective indications of whether the contacts have already seen the selected movie.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein rotation of the navigation wheel causes a movie described at a center of the navigation wheel to change from movie to movie, and wherein tapping on a movie description at the center of the navigation wheel causes the user interface to display an indication of (1) which contacts of the user have indicated an interest in seeing the corresponding movie, and (2) ratings assigned to the corresponding movie by contacts of the user.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the personalized user interface displays recommendations of contacts for the group event, the recommendations of contacts based at least partly on which contacts the user has previously invited to a group event.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, the user interface further comprising a ticketing module configured to generate, and display on the mobile device, an encoded display representing a ticket for attending the group event, said encoded display including encoded information corresponding to the group event, said encoded display adapted to be scanned at the selected theater and used to control entry into the selected theater.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the user interface additionally provides functionality for the user to select one or more concession items to purchase in connection with the group event, and wherein the ticketing module is responsive to the purchase of the one or more concession items by encoding, within the encoded display, information representing the purchase of the one or more concession items.

9. A system comprising:

a mobile application configured to provide a user interface that is personalized for a current user of a mobile device that executes the mobile application, the user interface providing functionality for viewing a selection of events, the selection of events arranged within a plurality of categories, the user interface including functionality for users to specify which events they want to attend; and

a server system that communicates with the mobile device and interacts with the mobile application, the server system configured to store, for each of a plurality of users of the mobile application, information specifying (1) which events the respective user wants to attend, and (2) contacts of the respective user, the server system comprising a hardware processor;

wherein the mobile application and the server system collectively implement a process that comprises determining, for the current user, based on the information stored by the server system, whether at least one event is available that one or more contacts of the current user want to attend, and if the determination is positive, providing, on the user interface as personalized for the current user, a section indicating the event or events that one or more contacts of the current user want to attend, said section provided only if at least one event is available that one or more contacts of the current user want to attend, wherein the section is provided on a navigation wheel of the user interface.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the mobile application is responsive to a selection by the current user of an event in said section by displaying an indication of which contacts of the current user want to attend the event.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein rotation of the navigation wheel causes an event described at a center of the navigation wheel to change from event to event, and wherein tapping on an event description at the center of the navigation wheel causes the user interface to display an indication of (1) which contacts of the current user have indicated an interest in the event, and (2) ratings assigned to the corresponding event by contacts of the current user.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the mobile application is configured to generate, and display via the user interface, an encoded display representing a ticket for attending a group event, the encoded display including encoded information corresponding to the group event, wherein the encoded display is adapted to be scanned at an event venue and used to control entry into the event venue.

13. A computer implemented method, comprising:

maintaining a first data repository specifying, for each of a plurality of users of a mobile application, events that the respective user has designated as wanting to attend, said mobile application including a user interface that includes functionality for users to designate the events they want to attend, and including functionality for initiating a group outing to a selected event;

maintaining a second data repository of contact information specifying contact relationships between particular users of the mobile application;

determining, for a first user of the mobile application, based on the first and the second data repositories, that one or more events are available that at least one contact of the first user has designated as wanting to attend; and

personalizing a first user interface for the first user by including, on a navigation wheel of the first user interface, a section that is selectable to browse the one or more events that at least one contact of the first user has designated as wanting to attend, such that the section is included on the navigation wheel of the first user interface only if an event is available that at least one contact of the first user has designated as wanting to attend;

said method performed by processor execution of program code.

14. The computer implemented method of claim 13, further comprising, by execution of program code of the mobile application, responding to user selection of an event in said section by displaying an indication of which contacts of the first user want to attend the selected event.

15. The computer implemented method of claim 13, wherein the events include movies, and the functionality for users to designate the events they want to attend comprises functionality for users to specify which movies they want to see.

16. A non-transitory processor-readable medium having stored thereon a mobile application configured to run on a mobile device of a user, said mobile application comprising executable code that causes the mobile device to perform steps comprising:

storing information about events scheduled in a region of the user, and information about which contacts of the user have indicated an interest in specific ones of said events, both of said information received from a server system; and

providing a touch-based user interface comprising a rotatable navigation wheel that is rotatable via a swipe gesture to navigate descriptions of the events, wherein rotation of the rotatable navigation wheel causes an event described at a center of the navigation wheel to change from event to event, and wherein, for an event that one or more contacts of the user have indicated an interest in, tapping on the event'"'"'s description at the center of the navigation wheel causes the user interface to display at least an indication of which contact or contacts of the user have indicated an interest in the event;

wherein the rotatable navigation wheel comprises a plurality of sections, each of which corresponds to a different respective event category, and wherein a first section of the plurality of sections corresponds exclusively to events in which one or more contacts of the user have indicated an interest, wherein the navigation wheel displays the first section only when one or more events are available in which one or more contacts of the user have indicated an interest; and

wherein the touch-based user interface additionally includes functionality for the user to select an event, select one or more contacts, and initiate a transmission, to the selected one or more contacts, of an invitation to the selected event.

17. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 16, wherein a second section of the plurality of sections is a personalized recommendations section that displays events selected by a recommendation algorithm for the user.

18. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 16, wherein, for an event that has been rated by a contact of the user, tapping on a description of the rated event at the center of the navigation wheel causes the user interface to display an indication of a rating assigned to the event by the contact.