Method and System for Distributing Electronic Tickets with Visual Display

• US 20120296828A1
• Filed: 05/18/2012
• Published: 11/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Mobility, Inc. (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Bytemark Incorporated
• Inventors: Bergdale, Micah, Grasser, Matthew, Guess, Christopher, Ihm, Nicholas, Krueckeberg, Samuel, Valyer, Gregory
• Granted Patent: US 8,494,967 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/65
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/0457 the tickets being sent electronically
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3274 using a pictured code, e.g. barcode or QR-code, being displayed on the M-device
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history

Abstract

This invention discloses a novel system and method for distributing electronic ticketing such that the ticket is verified at the entrance to venues by means of an animation or other human perceptible verifying visual object that is selected by the venue for the specific event. This removes the need to use a bar-code scanner on an LCD display of a cell phone or other device and speeds up the rate at which human ticket takers can verify ticket holders. The system providing the service also can maintain a persistent communication channel with the user device in order to control the ticket verification process.

Claims

1. A method for activating a purchased electronic ticket on a user'"'"'s computer device comprising:

Receiving from the user'"'"'s computer device a request to activate a purchased electronic ticket;

Receiving from the user'"'"'s computer device a token associated with the received request;

Determining whether a token associated with the purchased ticket has been stored in a data record associated with the received request, and if it has, whether the received token matches the stored token; and

In dependence on the determination that the stored token and received token match, transmitting to the user'"'"'s computing device a validating visual object corresponding to the purchased electronic ticket.

2. The method of claim 1 where in response to the determination step determining that no token has been stored, the further steps of storing the token in the data record associated with the ticket and transmitting to the user'"'"'s computing device a validating visual object corresponding to the purchased electronic ticket.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

Storing in the data record associated with the ticket a data value representing a predetermined lock time;

Determining whether the duration of time from the ticket activation to the lock time has expired and in dependence on such determination, changing the database record so that the ticket is in a deactivated state.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

Transmitting an authorization key to the device that transmitted the received request.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

Encrypting the validating visual object using the authorization key.

6. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

Encrypting the validating visual object with a public key for which the transmitted authorization key is the associated private key.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

Establishing a persistent channel between the server and the user'"'"'s computer device.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

Transmitting a command that causes the transmitted validating visual object to be automatically deleted from the user'"'"'s device.

9. The method of claim 7 where the persistent channel provides the server control over a computer process operating on the user'"'"'s device and that control causes the process to receive the validating visual object, display the validating visual object on the device and delete the validating visual object.

10. The method of claim 7 where the persistent channel is a bi-directional and full-duplex communications channel.

11. The method of claim 7 where the validating visual object is transmitted to the user'"'"'s device and automatically displayed on the screen without the user having to input a command to cause the transmission of the validating visual object.

12. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

Transmitting to the device a visual image comprising one of an advertisement or a discount coupon.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

Selecting a visual image for transmission to the device from a plurality of stored visual images, said selection step made in dependence on data associated with the purchased ticket.

14. The method of claim 13 where the selection step is comprised of determining predetermined features of the validated ticket or purchasing transaction and then making a selection on the basis of those features.

15. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

Transmitting an image that encodes a data value that corresponds to the identity of the persistent channel.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

Receiving from the user device a request to provide a payment authorization, and in response, performing the transmitting an image step;

Receiving a request to verify a purchase transaction, said request containing a challenge data;

Determining whether the challenge data corresponds to the persistent channel used to transmit the image; and

Causing a payment to be made to the entity associated with the received request to verify the purchase transaction.

17. A system comprised of a website adapted to perform any of the methods of claims 1-16.

18. A computer readable medium containing computer program code that when run causes the performance of any of the methods of claim 1-16.