SPORTS AND CONCERT EVENT TICKET PRICING AND VISUALIZATION SYSTEM

• US 20170103350A1
• Filed: 12/20/2016
• Published: 04/13/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TixTrack, Inc.
• Original Assignee: TixTrack, Inc.
• Inventors: SUNSHINE, Steven A., GOODMAN, Rod, ARYA, Michael, CHU, Larry, RIPBERGER, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 10,453,001 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0202 Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0206 Price or cost determination based on market factors
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/00 Information and communication technology [ICT] specially adapted for implementation of business processes of specific business sectors, e.g. utilities or tourism healthcare informatics G16H

Abstract

A system and method for displaying seat inventory at a venue and facilitating planning of ticket prices for events at the venue is presented. Methods to predict total revenue for an event are described. Also presented are systems and methods for determining at what price and when to release so-called ‘flex’ price tickets during an on-sale using the sales velocity and sales/inquiry ratios. Determining demand of seats from secondary markets is also described with methods to use the demand for either repricing the seats in the primary market or presenting ‘best value’ seats to a prospective purchaser.

Claims

1. A ticketing system configured for changing ticket numbers for seats that have not yet been transferred to an event that is already active to improve ticket value from a first level to a second level for the event using the ticketing system programmed by a computer memory and a gate structure coupled to the ticketing system, the system comprising:

an aggregation module communicating via a network coupled to the ticketing system, a plurality of listings of tickets that are being provided in a secondary market for the same event in a storage of the ticketing system from one or more databases, the one or more databases being the source of the plurality of listings of the tickets, each ticket listing including a number of tickets available, a number information per ticket, and a location information of the seat or seats within the venue;

a filter module, provided under control by a processor of the ticketing system, the the filtering module being provided to filter the plurality of listings of tickets to remove tickets with an anomalous listing number and outputting a plurality of remaining listings of tickets;

a grouping module, provided under control by the processor, the grouping module being provided to process the plurality of remaining listings of tickets into one or more equivalent sections;

a forming module, under control by the processor, for providing a distribution of listing numbers for the remaining listings of tickets for each one or more equivalent sections, the distribution of listing numbers being a distribution of secondary market-numbers;

an identifying module configured for identifying, by the processor, at least one ticket that has not been transferred from an initial seller for the event in a primary market, the at least one ticket being a not transferred ticket, the not transferred ticket having an initial number and a location of the seat or seats; and

the module being configured for setting, by the processor, a revised number from the initial number for the not transferred ticket by associating the location of the seat or seats to an equivalent section and determining the revised number based on the distribution of listing numbers for the remaining listings of tickets in the associated equivalent section;

an outputting device coupled to the network;

a ticket outputted from the outputting device coupled to the network; and

a gate structure coupled to the network to receive information from the ticket outputted from the outputting device to either lock or unlock the gate structure for a user.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the secondary market is selected from at least one of StubHub, RazorGator, Ticket Master, or Ticket Exchange.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the revised number is higher than the initial number;

the outputting device being at least one of a mobile phone, a printer, or a display; and

wherein the gate structure comprises an access control gate, a turnstile, a vending machine interface, a gaming machine interface, a room door, a merchandise distribution interface, a parking gate, a locker, or a personal storage unit; and

wherein wherein the gate structure coupled to an entry process to use the ticket to unlock or lock the gate structure, whereupon the unlocking occurs by actuating a sensor to initiate release of a device, comprising a mechanical latch, a movable gate arm, a magnetic lock, or electrical lock, to unlock the gate structure;

whereupon the lock occurs by maintaining the device in a locked state to prevent entry through the gate.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the aggregating module comprises

an identifying module, provided under control of the processor, a ticket listing from a website via the network,

a converting module, provided under of the processor, the location information into a common description, and

an adjusting module, provided under of the processor, the number information per ticket to add or subtract an additional quantity so that the ticket listing uses a common number frame consistent with each of the other ticket listings in the plurality of listings of tickets.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the filtering module comprises a removing module configured to remove all tickets with the anomalous listing number where the listing number is less than 1.5 times interquartile range of the lower quartile or the listing number is greater than 1.5 times the interquartile range of the upper quartile.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the forming module providing the distribution is configured for calculating a frequency that the number information for each ticket listing occurs in the plurality of remaining ticket listings.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the setting module is configured for changing the initial number of the unsold ticket to a number at a place on the distribution of listing numbers associated with the location of the selected ticket.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the number of the not transferred ticket is chosen to be between a 0% and 50% point of all listing numbers in the distribution of listing numbers where the 0% represents a lowest listing number in the distribution and the 50% represents a median of all listing numbers in the distribution.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the number of the not transferred ticket is chosen to be between the 2.5% and 25% point of all listings in the distribution.

10. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

an initializing module provided for a transfer of a plurality of tickets from the initial seller for the event and offering a plurality of tickets to a user using a computer aided device; and

a receiving module provided for receiving information for acquiring an initial set of tickets being offered for transfer through an interface coupled to the computer aided device, the initial set of tickets being fewer than the plurality of tickets being offered.

11. A computer-implemented method for changing ticket numbers for seats that have not yet been transferred to an event that is already active so as to maximize ticket values for the event using a ticketing system having a microprocessor programmed by a computer memory to perform the method, the method comprising:

an aggregating module, coupled to a processor, provided for aggregating listings of tickets that are being redistributed for the same event from one or more databases via a network coupled to the ticketing system, wherein each listing includes a number of tickets available, a number per ticket, and a location of the seat or seats within the venue;

a filtering module, coupled to the processor, comprising a code provided for filtering the plurality of listings to remove tickets with an anomalous listing number and outputting a plurality of first remaining listings of tickets;

a grouping module, coupled to the processor, comprising a code provided for grouping the first remaining listings into equivalent sections;

a plotting module, coupled to the processor, comprising a code provided for plotting the listing number versus row for all listings in one or more equivalent sections;

a fitting module, coupled to the processor, comprising a code provided for fitting the listing number versus row to a first function;

a removing module, coupled to the processor, comprising a code provided for removing all listings for which the listing number is greater than that provided by the first function to provide a plurality of second remaining listings of tickets;

a refitting module, coupled to the processor, comprising a code provided for refitting the second remaining listings to a second function;

a calculating module, coupled to the processor, comprising a code provided for calculating a plurality of revised numbers for each row based on the second function; and

a setting module, coupled to the processor, comprising a code provided for setting the revised numbers for the previously not transferred tickets based on the calculated number;

an outputting device coupled to the network;

a ticket outputted from the outputting device coupled to the network; and

a gate structure coupled to the network to receive information, using an entry process, from the ticket outputted from the outputting device to either lock or unlock the gate structure for a user.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the aggregating module comprising an identifying module comprising a code for identifying a ticket listing from a website, converting the location information into a common description, and adjusting the number information per ticket to add or subtract an additional fee so that the ticket listing uses a common number frame consistent with each of the other ticket listings.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the filtering module comprising a removing module comprising a code for removing all tickets with the anomalous listing number where the listing number is less than 1.5 times interquartile range of the lower quartile or the listing number is greater than 1.5 times the interquartile range of the upper quartile.

14. The system of claim 11 wherein the grouping module comprises a defining module comprising a code for defining one or more equivalent sections of the venue that have a similar location with respect to a point of interest in the venue and creating one or more subsets of listings where each subset contains listings in the one or more equivalent sections.

15. The system of claim 11 wherein the plotting module comprises a defining module comprising a code for defining each listing based on the number of the listing and the row in which the tickets in the listing are located.

16. The system of claim 11 wherein the fitting module comprise a minimize module performing a minimizing of the orthogonal distance of each point to a curve where the curve is represented by the first function, wherein the first function is a member selected from the group consisting of a monotonic algorithm, a non-monotonic algorithm, an exponential gamma model, a Weibull-gamma model, and a combination thereof along with an exponential model or a power model.

17. The system of claim 11 wherein the removing module performs for each point, calculating a listing number based on the row using the first function and removing the listing for each listing where the calculated listing number is higher than the actual listing number.

18. The system of claim 11 wherein the refitting module comprises a minimizing module comprising a code for minimizing the orthogonal distance of each remaining point to a curve where the curve is represented by the second function, wherein the second function is a member selected from the group consisting of a monotonic algorithm, a non-monotonic algorithm, an exponential gamma model, a Weibull-gamma model, and a combination thereof along with an exponential model or a power model.

19. The system of claim 11 wherein the calculating module comprises an evaluating module comprising a code for evaluating the second function that results from the refitting for the row value for each equivalent section.

20. The system of claim 11 wherein the setting module comprises an associating module comprising a code for associating the calculated number that results from evaluating the second function for each row with each listing in that row.

21. The system of claim 11 wherein the gate structure comprises an access control gate, a turnstile, a vending machine interface, a gaming machine interface, a room door, a merchandise distribution interface, a parking gate, a locker, or a personal storage unit.

22. The system 21 wherein the entry process uses the ticket to unlock or lock the gate structure, whereupon the unlocking occurs by actuating a sensor to initiate release of a device, comprising a mechanical latch, a movable gate arm, a magnetic lock, or electrical lock, to unlock the gate structure;

whereupon the lock occurs by maintaining the device in a locked state to prevent entry through the gate.