Systems and methods for queuing access to network resources
First Claim
1. A method of queuing ticketing requests using a ticketing computer system, the method comprising:
- receiving at a ticketing computer system an electronic request for a ticket transmitted from a user browser;
queuing the request within the ticketing computer system;
transmitting an instruction from the ticketing computer system to the browser, the instruction causing the browser to transmit messages at a periodic rate to the ticketing computer system during a first period;
determining if the browser has ceased transmitting messages for at least a first duration during the first period;
determining if the browser is transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period;
in response to determining that the browser has ceased transmitting messages during the first period or that the browser is transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period, determining that the request is not to be fulfilled; and
responding to the request when the browser has not ceased transmitting messages during the first period and is not transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period, andholding a ticket for the user,notifying the user that the user has a first period of time to complete a first form,determining if the browser user completed the first form within the first period of time, andat least partly in response to determining that the user has failed to complete the first form, informing the user that the form was not completed in time.
8 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
One embodiment of the present invention provides apparatus and methods for queuing access by large numbers of Internet or other network-based users to networked systems and resources with limited capacity. In one example embodiment, a queuing system provides user access to network resources, such as that of a ticketing system. A ticket queue queues a request received from a client system. A request processing module causes the client system to repeatedly transmit messages to the system during a first period, and in response to determining that the client system has ceased transmitting messages during the first period, the request is remove from the queue and/or cause the request goes unfulfilled.
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Citations
31 Claims
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1. A method of queuing ticketing requests using a ticketing computer system, the method comprising:
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receiving at a ticketing computer system an electronic request for a ticket transmitted from a user browser; queuing the request within the ticketing computer system; transmitting an instruction from the ticketing computer system to the browser, the instruction causing the browser to transmit messages at a periodic rate to the ticketing computer system during a first period; determining if the browser has ceased transmitting messages for at least a first duration during the first period; determining if the browser is transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period; in response to determining that the browser has ceased transmitting messages during the first period or that the browser is transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period, determining that the request is not to be fulfilled; and responding to the request when the browser has not ceased transmitting messages during the first period and is not transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period, and holding a ticket for the user, notifying the user that the user has a first period of time to complete a first form, determining if the browser user completed the first form within the first period of time, and at least partly in response to determining that the user has failed to complete the first form, informing the user that the form was not completed in time. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 13, 15, 18, 28)
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4. A method of queuing ticketing requests using a ticketing computer system, the method comprising:
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receiving at a ticketing computer system an electronic request for a ticket transmitted from a user browser; queuing the request within the ticketing computer system; transmitting an instruction from the ticketing computer system to the browser, the instruction causing the browser to transmit messages at a periodic rate to the ticketing computer system during a first period; determining if the browser has ceased transmitting messages for at least a first duration during the first period; determining if the browser is transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period; in response to determining that the browser has ceased transmitting messages during the first period or that the browser is transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period, determining that the request is not to be fulfilled; determining if the browser accessed a first sequence of ticketing-related Web pages prior to transmitting the request in a specified order; and in response to determining that the browser failed to access the first sequence of ticketing-related Web pages in the specified order, failing to fulfill the request; and responding to the request when the browser has not ceased transmitting messages during the first period and is not transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period.
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5. A method of queuing ticketing requests using a ticketing computer system, the method comprising:
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receiving at a ticketing computer system an electronic request for a ticket transmitted from a user browser; queuing the request within the ticketing computer system; transmitting an instruction from the ticketing computer system to the browser, the instruction causing the browser to transmit messages at a periodic rate to the ticketing computer system during a first period; determining if the browser has ceased transmitting messages for at least a first duration during the first period; determining if the browser is transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period; in response to determining that the browser has ceased transmitting messages during the first period or that the browser is transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period, determining that the request is not to be fulfilled; and responding to the request when the browser has not ceased transmitting messages during the first period and is not transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period, and; holding a ticket for the user; notifying the user that the user has a first period of time to complete a first form; determining if the browser user completed the first form within the first period of time; and at least partly in response to determining that the user has failed to complete the first form, informing the user that the form was not completed in time.
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7. A method of queuing ticketing requests using a ticketing computer system, the method comprising:
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receiving at a ticketing computer system an electronic request for a ticket transmitted from a user browser; queuing the request within the ticketing computer system; transmitting an instruction from the ticketing computer system to the browser, the instruction causing the browser to transmit messages at a periodic rate to the ticketing computer system during a first period; determining if the browser has ceased transmitting messages for at least a first duration during the first period; determining if the browser is transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period; in response to determining that the browser has ceased transmitting messages during the first period or that the browser is transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period, determining that the request is not to be fulfilled; and responding to the request when the browser has not ceased transmitting messages during the first period and is not transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period, wherein instructing the browser to transmit messages at a periodic rate further comprises instructing the browser to cease sending requests to the ticketing computer system for a designated time period and to then connect to a predetermined web address with a specified request message.
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10. A method of queuing ticketing requests using a ticketing computer system, the method comprising:
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receiving at a ticketing computer system an electronic request for a ticket transmitted from a user browser; queuing the request within the ticketing computer system; transmitting an instruction from the ticketing computer system to the browser, the instruction causing the browser to transmit messages at a periodic rate to the ticketing computer system during a first period; determining if the browser has ceased transmitting messages for at least a first duration during the first period; determining if the browser is transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period; in response to determining that the browser has ceased transmitting messages during the first period or that the browser is transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period, determining that the request is not to be fulfilled; and responding to the request when the browser has not ceased transmitting messages during the first period and is not transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period, and generating a redirect web page in response to determining that a first transaction has failed to complete.
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11. A method of queuing ticketing requests using a ticketing computer system, the method comprising:
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receiving at a ticketing computer system an electronic request for a ticket transmitted from a user browser; queuing the request within the ticketing computer system; transmitting an instruction from the ticketing computer system to the browser, the instruction causing the browser to transmit messages at a periodic rate to the ticketing computer system during a first period; determining if the browser has ceased transmitting messages for at least a first duration during the first period; determining if the browser is transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period; in response to determining that the browser has ceased transmitting messages during the first period or that the browser is transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period, determining that the request is not to be fulfilled; responding to the request when the browser has not ceased transmitting messages during the first period and is not transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period; and recording in computer readable memory a browser identifier, a session identifier, and a time stamp associated with the ticket request.
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12. A method of queuing ticketing requests using a ticketing computer system, the method comprising:
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receiving at a ticketing computer system an electronic request for a ticket transmitted from a user browser; queuing the request within the ticketing computer system; transmitting an instruction from the ticketing computer system to the browser, the instruction causing the browser to transmit messages at a periodic rate to the ticketing computer system during a first period; determining if the browser has ceased transmitting messages for at least a first duration during the first period; determining if the browser is transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period; in response to determining that the browser has ceased transmitting messages during the first period or that the browser is transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period, determining that the request is not to be fulfilled; responding to the request when the browser has not ceased transmitting messages during the first period and is not transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period; and determining if a rule violation occurred based at least in part on a network CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing) block.
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14. A method of queuing ticketing requests using a ticketing computer system, the method comprising:
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receiving at a ticketing computer system an electronic request for a ticket transmitted from a user browser; queuing the request within the ticketing computer system; transmitting an instruction from the ticketing computer system to the browser, the instruction causing the browser to transmit messages at a periodic rate to the ticketing computer system during a first period; determining if the browser has ceased transmitting messages for at least a first duration during the first period; determining if the browser is transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period; in response to determining that the browser has ceased transmitting messages during the first period or that the browser is transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period, determining that the request is not to be fulfilled; responding to the request when the browser has not ceased transmitting messages during the first period and is not transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period; and examining a source IP address associated with a second request, and determining whether to block the second request based at least in part on the source IP address.
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16. A method of queuing ticketing requests using a ticketing computer system, the method comprising:
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receiving at a ticketing computer system an electronic request for a ticket transmitted from a user browser; queuing the request within the ticketing computer system; transmitting an instruction from the ticketing computer system to the browser, the instruction causing the browser to transmit messages at a periodic rate to the ticketing computer system during a first period; determining if the browser has ceased transmitting messages for at least a first duration during the first period; determining if the browser is transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period; in response to determining that the browser has ceased transmitting messages during the first period or that the browser is transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period, determining that the request is not to be fulfilled; responding to the request when the browser has not ceased transmitting messages during the first period and is not transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period; and routing the request to a server associated with a server identifier; and associating the server identifier with the request.
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17. A method of queuing ticketing requests using a ticketing computer system, the method comprising:
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receiving at a ticketing computer system an electronic request for a ticket transmitted from a user browser; queuing the request within the ticketing computer system; transmitting an instruction from the ticketing computer system to the browser, the instruction causing the browser to transmit messages at a periodic rate to the ticketing computer system during a first period; determining if the browser has ceased transmitting messages for at least a first duration during the first period; determining if the browser is transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period; in response to determining that the browser has ceased transmitting messages during the first period or that the browser is transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period, determining that the request is not to be fulfilled; responding to the request when the browser has not ceased transmitting messages during the first period and is not transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period; and initiating a task in response to receiving the request; and associating a cache identifier with the task.
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19. A method of queuing ticketing requests using a ticketing computer system, the method comprising:
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receiving at the ticketing computer system an initial request for a ticket for a first event, wherein the initial ticket request is received over a network from a browser associated with a user; queuing the initial ticket request for the first event within the ticketing computer system; determining a load on at least a first portion of the ticketing computer system; based at least in part on the load, determining using the ticketing computer system how long to queue the initial ticket request; transmitting an instruction from the ticketing computer system to the browser, the instruction causing the browser to automatically transmit messages at a specified rate to the ticketing computer system, wherein instructing the browser to transmit messages at the specified rate further comprises; instructing the browser to cease sending requests to the ticketing computer system for a designated time period; and to then connect to a predetermined web address with a specified request message, wherein the specified rate is selected based at least in part on a load on the ticketing computer system; in response to the ticketing computer system determining that the browser has not transmitted messages at the specified rate or that the determining that the request is not to be fulfilled and removing the initial ticket request from the queue; notifying the user that the user has a first period of time to complete a first form in a ticket purchase process; determining if the user completed the first form within the first period of time; in response to the ticketing computer system determining that the user did not complete the first form in the first period of time, inhibiting successful completion of the ticket purchase process; and fulfilling the ticket request at least partly based on determining, using the ticketing computer system that the user completed the first form in the first period of time. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30)
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31. Non-transitory computer readable media storing instructions, that when executed by a computing device, are configured to perform operations comprising:
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receiving at a ticketing computer system an electronic request for a ticket transmitted from a user browser; queuing the request within the ticketing computer system; transmitting an instruction from the ticketing computer system to the browser, the instruction causing the browser to transmit messages at a periodic rate to the ticketing computer system during a first period; determining if the browser has ceased transmitting messages for at least a first duration during the first period; determining if the browser is transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period; in response to determining that the browser has ceased transmitting messages during the first period or that the browser is transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period, determining that the request is not to be fulfilled; responding to the request when the browser has not ceased transmitting messages during the first period and is not transmitting messages at greater than a first frequency during the first period; and routing the request to a server associated with a server identifier; and associating the server identifier with the request.
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Specification