Method and system for unified presentation of event booking systems

• US 7,506,805 B1
• Filed: 03/31/2006
• Issued: 03/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Deem, Incorporated (Jack Taylor Family Voting Trust U A D 4 14 99)
• Original Assignee: Rearden Commerce Inc
• Inventors: Chakravarthy, Sriram
• Primary Examiner(s): Labaze; Edwyn
• Application Number:
  US11/396,860
• Time in Patent Office: 1,089 Days
• Field of Search: 235/380, 235/487, 235/379, 235/375, 235/381, 235/485, 705/5
• US Class Current: 235/380
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/42 for ticket printing or like apparatus , e.g. apparatus for dispensing of printed paper tickets or payment cards

Abstract

In one embodiment, a system, that may be executed as a method, is provided for managing the booking of event tickets inside a single system, regardless of the source of the tickets and how the system of each ticket provider actually works.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

assigning, via a computer, a first set of separate vendors to a first unified ID for a first event, the first set of separate vendors offering tickets for the first event, the separate vendors each having a unique ID, the first unified ID representing a set of unique IDs of the separate vendors;

presenting for selection, via the computer, a representation corresponding to the first unified ID;

in response to the representation of the first unified ID being selected, presenting an offer, via the computer, to select a ticket from a set of tickets for the first event offered by the set of vendors;

providing a tree of normalized event categories;

parsing a plurality of vendors to map categories of the vendors to the tree of normalized event categories; and

providing navigation using the tree of normalized event categories, wherein the representation corresponding to the first unified ID is associated with one of the normalized event categories.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising resolving the mapped categories of the vendors to the tree of normalized event categories.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising:

storing data in a database during the parsing; and

detecting a conflict in the data.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, further comprising allowing a user to edit the data when the conflict is detected.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein each of the normalized event categories comprises subcategories.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising identifying a second set of vendors offering tickets to a second event.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising assigning to the second set of vendors a second unified ID, the second set of vendors offering tickets to the second event.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising:

presenting for selection a representation corresponding to the second unified ID; and

in response to the representation of the second unified ID being selected, presenting an offer to select a ticket from a set of tickets for the second event, offered by the second set of vendors.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising:

assigning a unified ID for a pre-identified category; and

assigning to the unified ID for the pre-identified category, separate vendors offering tickets for events within the category.

10. A machine-readable medium having stored thereon a set of instructions which when executed on a computer system cause the computer system to perform a method, the method comprising:

assigning a first set of separate vendors to a first unified ID for a first event, the first set of separate vendors offering tickets for the first event, the separate vendors each having a unique ID, the first unified ID representing a set of unique IDs of the separate vendors;

presenting for selection a representation corresponding to the unified ID;

in response to the representation of the unified ID being selected, presenting an offer to select a ticket, in a user interface, from a set of tickets for the event, offered by the set of vendors;

providing a tree of normalized event categories;

parsing a plurality of vendors to map categories of the vendors to the tree of normalized event categories; and

providing navigation using the tree of normalized event categories, wherein the representation corresponding to the first unified ID is associated with one of the normalized event categories.

11. The machine-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising identifying a second set of vendors offering tickets to a second event.

12. The machine-readable medium of claim 11, further comprising assigning to the second set of vendors a second unified ID, the second set of vendors offering tickets to the second event.

13. The machine-readable medium of claim 12, further comprising:

presenting for selection a representation corresponding to the second unified ID; and

in response to the representation of the second unified ID being selected, presenting an offer to select a ticket from a set of tickets for the second event, offered by the second set of vendors.

14. The machine-readable medium of claim 13, further comprising:

assigning a unified ID for a pre-identified category; and

assigning to the unified ID for the pre-identified category, separate vendors offering tickets for events within the category.

15. A system comprising:

at least one server configured to;

assign a first set of separate vendors to a first unified ID for a first event, the first set of separate vendors offering tickets for the first event, the separate vendors each having a unique ID, the first unified ID representing a set of unique IDs of the separate vendors;

present for selection a representation corresponding to the first unified ID;

present an offer to select a ticket from a set of tickets for the event, offered by the set of vendors, in response to the representation of the unified ID being selected;

provide a tree of normalized event categories;

parse a plurality of vendors to map categories of the vendors to the tree of normalized event categories; and

provide navigation using the tree of normalized event categories, wherein the representation corresponding to the first unified ID is associated with one of the normalized event categories.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the at least one server is configured to identify a second set of vendors offering tickets to a second event.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the at least one server is configured to assign to the second set of vendors a second unified ID, the second set of vendors offering tickets to the second event.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the at least one server is configured to:

present for selection a representation corresponding to the second unified ID; and

present an offer to select a ticket from a set of tickets for the second event, offered by the second set of vendors, in response to the representation of the second unified ID being selected.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the at least one server is configured to:

assign a unified ID for a pre-identified category; and

assign to the unified ID for the pre-identified category, separate vendors offering tickets for events within the category.