Golf reservation system

• US 7,634,426 B2
• Filed: 04/25/2007
• Issued: 12/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NBC Universal Media LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: GolfNow Incorporated (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Halpin, Frank, Darrow, Brett, Craw, Duane
• Primary Examiner(s): Zeender; F.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Obaid; Fateh M.
• Application Number:
  US11/740,100
• Publication Number:
  US 20080021789A1
• Time in Patent Office: 965 Days
• Field of Search: 705/22
• US Class Current: 705/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide a golf reservation system. The golf reservation system may periodically poll tee-sheet systems to determine available inventory. The golf reservation system may use the results of these pollings for responding to a user request. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a communication interface to communicatively couple the system to a network;

a cache; and

a controller coupled to the communication interface and the cache and configured to periodically poll a plurality of tee sheets, over the network, for available inventory assets, to receive available inventory assets from the plurality of tee sheets, and to store the available inventory assets in the cache, each of the available inventory assets associated with an inventory lead time and said periodic poll of the plurality of tee sheets is based at least in part on a dynamic caching schedule in which a polling frequency is based at least in part on an inventory lead time, wherein polling frequencies of a plurality of inventory lead time ranges are inversely proportional to average inventory lead times of the plurality of the inventory lead time ranges.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to receive an inventory request from a user;

to select one or more available inventory assets stored in the cache that match the inventory request; and

to provide information to the user about the one or more available inventory assets.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the controller is further configured to receive a directed inventory request from the user on an inventory asset selected from the one or more available inventory assets and to provide additional information to the user about the inventory asset.

4. The system of claim 3, further comprising:

a database communicatively coupled to the controller; and

the controller is further configured to store the inventory asset in the database based at least in part on said receiving of the directed inventory request.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the controller is further configured to receive a book request for an inventory asset of the one or more available inventory assets from the user;

and to transmit a booking confirmation message to a tee sheet of the plurality of tee sheets that is associated with the inventory asset.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to receive a query from a first tee sheet of the plurality of tee sheets over a communication channel and poll the first tee sheet for available inventory assets using the communication channel.

7. A method comprising:

polling, by a network-based golf server (NBGS), on a periodic basis a plurality of tee sheets for available inventory assets over a network, wherein each of the available inventory assets is associated with a respective inventory lead time and said polling on the periodic basis is performed with polling frequencies of a plurality of inventory lead time ranges that are inversely proportional to average inventory lead times of the plurality of inventory lead time ranges;

receiving, by the NBGS, available inventory assets from the plurality of tee sheets; and

storing, by the NBGS, the available inventory assets.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving an inventory request from a user;

selecting one or more of the available inventory assets that match the inventory request; and

providing information to the user about the one or more available inventory assets.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving a directed inventory request from the user on an inventory asset selected from the one or more available inventory assets; and

providing additional information to the user about the inventory asset.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving a book request from the user for an inventory asset selected from the one or more available inventory assets.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

transmitting a booking confirmation message to a tee sheet of the plurality of tee sheets that is associated with the inventory asset.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

accessing a dynamic caching schedule; and

polling the plurality of tee sheets based at least in part on the dynamic caching schedule.

13. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a query from a tee sheet of the plurality of tee sheets over a communication channel; and

polling the tee sheet for available inventory assets using the communication channel.

14. A machine-accessible medium having stored instructions, which, when executed by a machine, results in the machine:

polling on a periodic basis a plurality of tee sheets for available inventory assets over a network, said polling on the periodic basis performed with polling frequencies of a plurality of inventory lead time ranges that are inversely proportional to average inventory lead times of the plurality of inventory lead time ranges;

receiving available inventory assets from the plurality of tee sheets; and

storing the available inventory assets.

15. The machine-accessible medium of claim 14, wherein the stored instructions, when executed by the machine, further results in the machine:

receiving an inventory request from a user;

selecting one or more of the available inventory assets that match the inventory request; and

providing information to the user about the one or more available inventory assets.

16. The machine-accessible medium of claim 15, wherein the stored instructions, when executed by the machine, further results in the machine:

receiving a directed inventory request from the user on an inventory asset selected from the one or more available inventory assets; and

providing additional information to the user about the inventory asset.

17. The machine-accessible medium of claim 15, wherein the stored instructions, when executed by the machine, further results in the machine:

receiving a book request from the user for an inventory asset selected from the one or more available inventory assets; and

transmitting a booking confirmation message to a tee sheet of the plurality of tee sheets that is associated with the inventory asset.

18. The machine-accessible medium of claim 14, wherein the stored instructions, when executed by the machine, further results in the machine:

accessing a dynamic caching schedule; and

polling the plurality of tee sheets based at least in part on the dynamic caching schedule.

19. The machine-accessible medium of claim 14, wherein the stored instructions, when executed by the machine, further results in the machine:

receiving a query from a tee sheet of the plurality of tee sheets over a communication channel; and

polling the tee sheet for available inventory assets using the communication channel.