Electronic commodities and automated ticket manager
First Claim
1. An automated ticketing system, comprising:
- a plurality of remote ticketing stations; and
a central database maintaining an inventory for a plurality of different commodities, each of said plurality of remote ticketing stations communicating with said central database to support sales of a purchased commodity, said commodity being provided at the time of purchase directly to a purchaser via one of said plurality of remote ticketing stations;
wherein each of said plurality of remote ticketing stations has access to sell identical commodities maintained in said inventory, said remote ticketing stations validating only unsold commodities.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides the creation of a destination management and fulfillment service that consolidates existing ticketing and destination marketing systems in, e.g., the travel and leisure industry, into an automated electronic commodities manager and/or automated ticket manager. In a preferred embodiment, a network of automated ticketing devices (interactive unmanned kiosks) are deployed for on and off-property ticket sales and fulfillment, in addition to venue ticketing systems and automated sales channels, to provide product fulfillment remotely. The present invention facilitates LIVE inventory management and sales through to payment by and delivery to the end user. It also allows these functions to be monitored and reacted to in real-time, thus providing live inventory management, sales and marketing, financial processing and contract management.
94 Citations
31 Claims
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1. An automated ticketing system, comprising:
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a plurality of remote ticketing stations; and
a central database maintaining an inventory for a plurality of different commodities, each of said plurality of remote ticketing stations communicating with said central database to support sales of a purchased commodity, said commodity being provided at the time of purchase directly to a purchaser via one of said plurality of remote ticketing stations;
wherein each of said plurality of remote ticketing stations has access to sell identical commodities maintained in said inventory, said remote ticketing stations validating only unsold commodities. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. An automated commodities vendor, comprising:
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an automatic teller machine functionality; and
a display adapted to visually display pictures of an urgent public nature. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25)
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26. A method of selling hard tickets to purchasers at remote locations, comprising:
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provisioning a plurality of remote ticketing stations; and
maintaining a central database including an inventory for a plurality of different commodities, each of said plurality of remote ticketing stations communicating with said central database to support sales of a purchased commodity, said commodity being provided at the time of purchase directly to a purchaser via one of said plurality of remote ticketing stations;
wherein each of said plurality of remote ticketing stations is provided access to sell identical commodities maintained in said inventory, said remote ticketing stations validating only unsold commodities. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28)
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29. Apparatus for selling hard tickets to purchasers at remote locations, comprising:
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means for provisioning a plurality of remote ticketing stations; and
means for maintaining a central database including an inventory for a plurality of different commodities, each of said plurality of remote ticketing stations communicating with said central database to support sales of a purchased commodity, said commodity being provided at the time of purchase directly to a purchaser via one of said plurality of remote ticketing stations;
wherein each of said plurality of remote ticketing stations is provided access to sell identical commodities maintained in said inventory, said remote ticketing stations validating only unsold commodities. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31)
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Specification