SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR REAL TIME UPGRADES

• US 20150242888A1
• Filed: 02/21/2014
• Published: 08/27/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2014
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: StubHub, Inc.
• Original Assignee: StubHub, Inc.
• Inventors: Zises, Matthew Scott
• Granted Patent: US 10,262,335 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0252 based on events or environment, e.g. weather or festivals

Abstract

A system can offer an enhanced event experience for users of the system by tracking the locations of the users during a purchased-access event such as a ticketed event and offering real time location-based upgrades to the users. The locations of users can be used to determine a demonstrated interest by the user for a particular location or product in the event venue and to offer upgrades tailored to that demonstrated interest. For example, a concert attendee with a ticket for a particular seat may be detected a location relatively far from the user'"'"'s seat such as a location near a seat of a friend of the user. The system can detect the user'"'"'s location, identify available seats near the user'"'"'s location, and offer the user an upgrade to the identified available seats. Location-based upgrades can also be provided in airplanes, hotels, cruise ships, or other venues or events.

Claims

1. A system for providing a location-based upgrade associated with an event at a venue, comprising:

a hardware memory configured to store information associated with the venue; and

a hardware processor coupled to the hardware memory, wherein the hardware processor is configured to;

determine a location within the venue of an attendee of the event during the event;

determine, based on the location, the location-based upgrade; and

offer the location-based upgrade to at least one of the attendee or another attendee.

2. The system defined in claim 1, wherein the location comprises a location at which the attendee has spent an amount of time that is greater than a threshold time and wherein the processor is configured to offer the location-based upgrade to the attendee.

3. The system defined in claim 2, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive a selection of the location-based upgrade from the attendee;

provide an electronic upgrade receipt to the attendee; and

facilitate a payment from the attendee for the location-based upgrade.

4. The system defined in claim 1, wherein the location-based upgrade comprises an upgrade for the attendee to a seat in the venue that is relatively closer to the location of the attendee than a seat of the attendee.

5. The system defined in claim 4, wherein the location-based upgrade comprises a package upgrade that includes the upgrade to the seat and a concession package.

6. The system defined in claim 4, wherein the venue comprises an airplane and wherein the seat comprises an airplane seat.

7. The system defined in claim 1, wherein the venue comprises a hotel, wherein the location comprises a location near a window of a first hotel room of the attendee, and wherein the location-based upgrade comprises an upgrade to a second hotel room with a preferred view.

8. The system defined in claim 1, wherein the venue comprises a cruise ship and wherein the location-based upgrade comprises an upgrade to an available cabin of the cruise ship that is located relatively closer to the location than a cabin of the attendee.

9. A method, comprising:

determining, by one or more hardware processors, a location within a venue of an attendee of an event during the event;

determining, by the one or more hardware processors and based on the determining of the location, a location-based upgrade; and

offering, by the one or more hardware processors, the location-based upgrade to at least one of the attendee or another attendee.

10. The method defined in claim 9, wherein the offering comprises offering the location-based upgrade to the attendee in an offer window on a mobile device of the attendee.

11. The method defined in claim 9, wherein the venue has an attraction area, and wherein the determining of the location-based upgrade comprises identifying an available seat that is closer to the attraction area and the location than a seat of the attendee.

12. The method defined in claim 9, wherein the venue has a concession stand, and wherein the determining of the location-based upgrade comprises identifying an available seat that is closer to the concession stand and the location than a seat of the attendee.

13. The method defined in claim 9, wherein the attendee comprises an associate of the other attendee and wherein the determining of the location-based upgrade comprises identifying an available seat that is near the location of the attendee.

14. The method defined in claim 13, wherein the offering comprises offering the location-based upgrade to the other attendee based on the identifying.

15. The method defined in claim 9, wherein the venue comprises a venue selected from the group consisting of:

an airplane, a hotel, and a cruise ship.

16. 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:

determining a location within a venue of an attendee of an event during the event;

determining, based on the determining of the location, a location-based upgrade; and

offering the location-based upgrade to at least one of the attendee or another attendee.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable medium defined in claim 16, wherein the method further comprises identifying a purchase by the attendee and wherein the determining of the location-based upgrade comprises determining the location-based upgrade based on the determining of the location and the identifying.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium defined in claim 17, wherein the identifying comprises identifying a purchase made during the event.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium defined in claim 17, wherein the identifying comprises identifying a purchase made prior to the event.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium defined in claim 16, wherein the location comprises a location at which the attendee has spent an amount of time that is greater than a threshold time, wherein the offering comprises offering the location-based upgrade to the attendee, and wherein the determining of the location of the attendee comprises determining the location of the attendee based on global positioning system information from a mobile device of the attendee.

21. The non-transitory machine-readable medium defined in claim 16, wherein the location comprises a location at which the attendee has spent an amount of time that is greater than a threshold time, wherein the offering comprises offering the location-based upgrade to the attendee, and wherein the determining of the location of the attendee comprises determining the location of the attendee based on a communication between a mobile device of the attendee and a wireless beacon disposed at the venue.