Methods and systems for validating real time network communications

• US 8,126,991 B2
• Filed: 09/04/2008
• Issued: 02/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Live Nation Entertainment Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Ticketmaster LLC (Live Nation Entertainment Incorporated)
• Inventors: Smith, Michael, Giannantonio, Frank
• Primary Examiner(s): Avellino, Joseph
• Assistant Examiner(s): MCLEOD, MARSHALL M
• Application Number:
  US12/204,648
• Publication Number:
  US 20090063667A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,272 Days
• Field of Search: 709/220, 709/221, 709/222, 709/223
• US Class Current: 709/222
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561

Abstract

Methods and systems for managing network communications are described. An example resource management system includes a communications manager configured to access information regarding communication protocols used by corresponding broker systems and to provide message translations based on an origin and/or destination of the message to be transmitted. A message processor is coupled to the communications manager and is configured to serialize incoming and/or outgoing broker messages and to facilitate queuing of incoming and outgoing message traffic with broker systems. A communications configurer is configured to track one or more communication attributes of broker systems and changes thereto to ensure communications between the resource management systems are broker systems are conducted in accordance with the communication attributes of the broker systems. A communications rules provider is configured to determine which broker system is to be communicated with in order to fulfill a resource request.

Claims

1. A method for managing network communications, comprising:

receiving a request for a first resource from a first requester at a resource management system, the resource management system coupled to a first plurality of broker systems,

wherein the resource management system is separate from the first plurality of broker systems, wherein at least one broker system in the first plurality of broker systems is operated by a different entity than an entity operating the resource management system, and at least one broker system in the first plurality of broker systems maintains a different inventory of resources than another broker system in the first plurality of broker systems, and wherein at least one broker system in the first plurality of broker system utilizes a different message format than at least other broker system in the first plurality of broker systems;

maintaining a resource data store storing resource identifiers and associated statuses updated in substantially real time based on status data received from the first plurality of broker systems;

identifying a first broker system in the first plurality of broker systems controlling the first resource using the resource data store;

identifying a message format that will be understood by the first broker system based at least in part on information obtained from a module associated with the first broker system;

formatting a message in accordance with the identified message format of the first broker system, the message including an identifier associated with the first resource and an identifier associated with the first requester, wherein the message is configured to cause, at least in part, the first resource to be marked as sold and/or on hold by the first broker system;

at least partly causing the message to be serialized, wherein the serialized message is transmitted over a network to the first broker system;

receiving an indication via the first broker system as to whether the first broker system has placed a hold on the first resource and/or marked the first resource as sold for the first requester; and

if an indication is received from the first broker system that a hold has been placed on the first resource for the first requester and/or the first resource has been marked as sold for the first requester, at least partly causing the first resource to be transferred to the first requester.

2. The method as defined in claim 1, the method further comprising,

causing at least in part a first resource request to be formatted as an XML message.

3. The method as defined in claim 1, the method further comprising causing the module to be provided via the resource management system to one or more broker systems.

4. The method as defined in claim 1, the method further comprises receiving an indication as to whether at least one resource request requested a quantity of resources that exceeds a broker specified maximum of offered resources, wherein the offered resources are offered tickets.

5. The method as defined in claim 1, the method further comprises receiving an indication as to whether at least one resource request requested a quantity of resources that was less than a broker specified minimum of offered resources, wherein the offered resources are offered tickets.

6. The method as defined in claim 1, the method further comprising maintaining a blacklist specified by at least one broker that indicates which potential purchasers are not permitted to obtain resources from the at least one broker.

7. The method as defined in claim 1, the method further comprising maintaining a blacklist specified by least one broker that indicates by name which potential purchasers are not permitted to obtain resources from the at least one broker.

8. The method as defined in claim 1, the method further comprising maintaining a blacklist specified by at least one broker that indicates by type of potential purchaser which potential purchasers are not permitted to obtain resources from the at least one broker.

9. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the request specifies a quantity of resources greater than one.

10. The method as defined in claim 1, the method further comprising assigning unique resource identifiers to corresponding resources from the first plurality of broker systems.

11. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first resource is an event admission voucher.

12. The method as defined in claim 1, the method further comprising:

providing an auto-updater module for the first broker system, the auto-updater module configured to perform operations comprising;

detecting a communication error between the first broker system and the resource management system; and

at least partly in response to detecting the communication error between the first broker system and the resource management system, causing at least one software application or setting on the first broker system to be automatically updated.

13. The method as defined in claim 1, the method further comprising:

providing software that receives an indication as to a configuration change on at least one broker system; and

at least partly causing the module associated with the first broker system to be updated or replaced based at least in part on receiving an indication regarding a first configuration change of the first broker system.

14. The method as defined in claim 1, the method further comprising receiving an indication that a software configuration of the first broker system has changed.

15. A method for managing network communications, comprising:

receiving at a resource management system over a network from a first plurality of broker systems substantially real-time status information regarding resources managed by respective broker systems in the first plurality of broker systems, wherein the resource management system is separate from the first plurality of broker systems, wherein at least one broker system in the first plurality of broker systems is operated by a different entity than an entity operating the resource management system, and at least one broker system in the first plurality of broker systems maintains a different inventory of resources than another broker system in the first plurality of broker systems;

maintaining a resource data store storing resource identifiers and associated real-time status information;

receiving a request for a first resource from a first requester at the resource management system;

identifying a first broker system in the first plurality of broker systems controlling the first resource using the resource data store;

formatting a message including an identifier associated with the first resource and an identifier associated with the first requester;

transmitting the message over the network to the first broker system;

receiving an indication from the first broker system as to whether the first resource has been reserved for the first requester; and

if an indication is received from the first broker system that the first resource has been reserved for the first requester, facilitating the transfer of the first resource to the first requester.

16. The method as defined in claim 15, transmitting code configured to execute on the first broker system, wherein the code is configured to store an indication that a specified ticket is sold in response to a communication from the resource management system.

17. The method as defined in claim 15, the method further comprising:

monitoring the communication status with the first plurality of broker systems;

if the communication status of a given broker system is determined to be unsatisfactory, storing an indication that the status of resources managed by the given broker system is not reliable and inhibiting the offering of resources from the given broker system.

18. The method as defined in claim 15, the method further comprising:

receiving communication protocol information from a plurality of broker systems, wherein at least one broker system uses a different communication protocol than at least one other broker system;

at least partly based on the received protocol information, identifying a communication protocol associated with the first broker system; and

formatting the message in accordance with the identified protocol and using information related to the identified protocol in determining when a communications error has occurred with respect to the first broker system.

19. The method as defined in claim 15, wherein the first request specifies a quantity of resources greater than one.

20. The method as defined in claim 15, wherein the message is a serialized XML message.

21. The method as defined in claim 15, the method further comprising assigning unique resource identifiers to corresponding resources from the first plurality of broker systems.

22. The method as defined in claim 15, wherein the first resource is an event admission voucher.

23. The method as defined in claim 15, wherein the first resource is a ticket.

24. The method as defined in claim 15, wherein the first resource is a ticket, wherein the ticket includes an association between a user identification device and a right to access an event stored in a data store.

25. The method as defined in claim 15, the method further comprising providing an updater module for the first broker system, the updater module configured to perform operations comprising:

detecting a communication error between the first broker system and the resource management system; and

at least partly in response to detecting the communication error between the first broker system and the resource management system, causing at least one software application or setting on the first broker system to be automatically updated.

26. The method as defined in claim 15, the method further comprising receiving an indication that a software configuration of the first broker system has changed.

27. The method as defined in claim 15, wherein a first request for at least one resource includes:

a ticket quantity; and

a ticket identifier.

28. The method as defined in claim 15, wherein a first request for at least one resource includes:

a seat section;

a starting seat; and

an ending seat.

29. The method as defined in claim 15, the method further comprising processing a first plurality of ticket request responses from at least a first portion of the plurality of broker systems, wherein a first plurality of ticket responses include the following status:

success;

insufficient quantity;

requested tickets do not exist;

requested tickets already on hold or sold.

30. The method as defined in claim 15, the method further comprising processing at least one response to a resource request for a ticket from at least one broker system indicating that seats corresponding to the at least one request are contiguous.

31. The method as defined in claim 15, the method further comprising processing at least one response to a resource request for a ticket from at least one broker system indicating a ticket ship date.

32. The method as defined in claim 15, the method further comprising processing at least one response to a resource request for a ticket from at least one broker system indicating an order cross reference identifier.

33. The method as defined in claim 15, the method further comprising automatically tracking the configuration or a of the first plurality of broker systems and facilitating the provision of software updates to one or more of the first plurality of broker systems at least partly based on configuration changes of the one or more of the first plurality of broker systems.

34. The method as defined in claim 15, the method further comprising:

storing a plurality of rules defined by one or more brokers;

receiving a second request from a second requester for a second resource, wherein the second requester is a broker;

identifying a second ticket broker that controls the second resource;

accessing a rule defined by the second broker, wherein the second broker defined rule indicates whether the second broker will approve an order from another broker; and

applying the second broker rule to the second request.

35. The method as defined in claim 15, the method further comprising providing information regarding:

the percentage and/or number of brokers available to accept ticket orders; and

the percentage and/or number of brokers that have not reported information regarding their ticket inventory for one or more specified periods of time.

36. The method as defined in claim 15, the method further comprising providing information regarding:

the percentage and/or number of brokers that have not upgraded a first software to a first software version; and

the number of brokers utilizing a first version of the first software.

37. The method as defined in claim 15, the method further comprising providing information regarding:

a unique identifier associated with a first broker associated with the first broker system; and

a time the first broker system last connected to and/or provided an inventory updates to the resource management system.

38. The method as defined in claim 15, further comprising provide a report indicating the percent of tickets sold in a specified time period using a specified process.

39. The method as defined in claim 15, further comprising provide a report indicating the percent of an inventory of tickets that is eligible to be sold using a specified process.

40. The method as defined in claim 15, further comprising providing a report indicating the success rate for at least a portion of the first plurality of brokers relating to completion of ticket transactions.

41. The method as defined in claim 15, further comprising provide a report indicating an amount of time that a given broker is connected to the management system.

42. Programmatic code stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium, that when executed by a computing system comprising one or more computing devices is configured to cause the computing system perform operations comprising:

receive from a first plurality of broker systems substantially real-time status information regarding resources managed by the first plurality of broker systems,

wherein at least one broker system in the first plurality of broker systems is separate from at least one other broker system in the first plurality of broker systems, and at least one broker system in the first plurality of broker systems uses a different message format than at least one other broker system in the first plurality of broker systems, and at least one broker system in the first plurality of broker systems maintains a different inventory of resources than another broker system in the first plurality of broker systems;

maintain a resource data store storing resource identifiers and associated real-time status information;

receive a request for a first resource from a first requester;

identify a first broker system controlling the first resource using the resource data store;

generate a message including an identifier associated with the first resource and an identifier associated with the first requester;

transmit the message to the first broker system;

receive an indication as to whether the first broker system has made available the first resource to the first requester; and

if an indication is received from the first broker system that the first broker system has made available the first resource to the first requester, facilitate the transfer of the first resource to the first requester.

43. The programmatic code as defined in claim 42, wherein the programmatic code is further configured to cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:

process at least one response to a resource request for at least one ticket from at least one broker system indicating that seats corresponding to the at least one resource request for at least one ticket are contiguous.

44. The programmatic code as defined in claim 42, wherein the programmatic code is further configured to cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:

process at least one response to a resource request for a ticket from at least one broker system indicating a ticket ship date.

45. The programmatic code as defined in claim 42, wherein the programmatic code is further configured to cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:

process at least one response to a resource request for a ticket from at least one broker system indicating an order cross reference identifier.

46. The programmatic code as defined in claim 42, wherein the programmatic code is further configured to cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:

automatically track the configuration of the first plurality of broker systems and facilitate the provision of software updates to one or more of the first plurality of broker systems at least partly based on configuration changes of the one or more of the first plurality of broker systems.

47. The programmatic code as defined in claim 42, wherein the programmatic code is further configured to cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:

to store a plurality of rules defined by one or more brokers;

receive a second request from a second requester for a second resource, wherein the second requester is a broker;

identify a second ticket broker that controls the second resource;

access a rule defined by the second broker, wherein the second broker defined rule indicates whether the second broker will approve an order from another broker; and

apply the second broker rule to the second request.

48. The programmatic code as defined in claim 42, wherein the programmatic code is further configured to cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:

provide information regarding;

the percentage and/or number of brokers available to accept ticket orders; and

the percentage and/or number of brokers that have not reported information regarding their ticket inventory for one or more specified periods of time.

49. The programmatic code as defined in claim 42, wherein the programmatic code is further configured to cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:

provide information regarding;

the percentage and/or number of brokers that have not upgraded a first software to a first software version; and

the number of brokers utilizing a first version of the first software.

50. The programmatic code as defined in claim 42, wherein the resources are event tickets.

51. A system for managing network communications, comprising:

a computing device;

programmatic code stored in a non-transitory computer readable medium, that when executed by a computing system comprising one or more computing devices is configured to cause the computing system to perform operations comprising;

receiving a request for a first resource from a first requester at a resource management system, the resource management system coupled to a first plurality of broker systems

wherein at least one broker system in the first plurality of broker systems is separate from at least one other broker system in the first plurality of broker systems, and at least one broker system in the first plurality of broker systems uses a different message format than at least one other broker system in the first plurality of broker systems, and at least one broker system in the first plurality of broker systems maintains a different inventory of resources than another broker system in the first plurality of broker systems;

maintaining a resource data store storing resource identifiers and associated statuses updated in substantially real time based on status data received from the first plurality of broker systems;

identifying a broker system controlling the first resource using the resource data store;

identifying a message format that will be understood by the broker system based at least in part on information obtained from a module associated with the broker system;

formatting a message in accordance with the identified message format, the message including an identifier associated with the first resource and an identifier associated with the first requester, wherein the message instructs the broker system to cause the first resource to be marked as sold and/or on hold;

transmitting the message over a network to the broker system;

receiving an indication via the broker system as to whether the broker system has placed a hold on the first resource and/or marked the first resource as sold for the first requester; and

if an indication is received from the broker system that a hold has been placed on the first resource for the first requester and/or the first resource has been marked as sold for the first requester, at least partly causing the first resource to be transferred to the first requester.

52. The system as defined in claim 51, the operations further comprising,

causing at least in part a first resource request to be formatted as an XML message.

53. The system as defined in claim 51, the operations further comprising causing the module to be provided via the resource management system to one or more broker systems.

54. The system as defined in claim 51, the operations further comprises receiving an indication as to whether at least one resource request requested a quantity of resources that exceeds a broker specified maximum of offered resources, wherein the offered resources comprise offered tickets.

55. The system as defined in claim 51, the operations further comprises receiving an indication as to whether at least one resource request requested a quantity of resources that was less than a broker specified minimum of offered resources, wherein the offered resources comprise offered tickets.

56. The system as defined in claim 51, the operations further comprising maintaining a blacklist specified by at least one broker that indicates which potential purchasers are not permitted to obtain resources from the at least one broker.

57. The system as defined in claim 51, the operations further comprising maintaining a blacklist specified by least one broker that indicates by name which potential purchasers are not permitted to obtain resources from the at least one broker.

58. The system as defined in claim 51, the operations further comprising maintaining a blacklist specified by at least one broker that indicates by type of potential purchaser which potential purchasers are not permitted to obtain resources from the at least one broker.

59. The system as defined in claim 51, wherein the request specifies a quantity of resources greater than one.

60. The system as defined in claim 51, the operations further comprising assigning unique resource identifiers to corresponding resources from the first plurality of broker systems.

61. The system as defined in claim 51, wherein the first resource is an event admission voucher.

62. The system as defined in claim 51, the operations further comprising providing a module for the broker system, the updater module configured to perform operations comprising:

detecting a communication error between the broker system and the resource management system; and

at least partly in response to detecting the communication error between the broker system and the resource management system, causing at least one software application or setting on the broker system to be automatically updated.

63. The system as defined in claim 51, the operations further comprising:

providing software that receives an indication as to a configuration change on at least one broker system; and

at least partly causing the module on the at least one at least one broker system for which an indication of a configuration change has been received to be updated or replaced based at least in part on receiving an indication regarding a first configuration change regarding the at least one broker system.

64. The system as defined in claim 51, the operations further comprising receiving an indication that a software configuration of the broker system has changed.

65. Programmatic code stored in a non-transitory computer readable medium, that when executed by a computing system comprising one or more computing devices is configured to cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:

receiving a request for a first resource from a first requester at a resource management system, the resource management system coupled to a plurality of broker systems,

wherein the resource management system is separate from the first plurality of broker systems, and at least one broker system in the first plurality of broker systems maintains a different inventory of resources than another broker system in the first plurality of broker systems, and wherein at least one broker system in the first plurality of broker system utilizes a different message format than at least other broker system in the first plurality of broker systems;

maintaining a resource data store storing resource identifiers and associated statuses updated in substantially real time based on status data received from the first plurality of broker systems;

identifying a broker system controlling the first resource using the resource data store;

identifying a message format that will be understood by the broker system based at least in part on information obtained from a module associated with the broker system;

formatting a message in accordance with the identified message format, the message including an identifier associated with the first resource and an identifier associated with the first requester, wherein the message instructs the broker system to cause the first resource to be marked as sold and/or on hold;

transmitting the message over a network to the broker system;

receiving an indication via the broker system as to whether the broker system has placed a hold on the first resource and/or marked the first resource as sold for the first requester; and

if an indication is received from the broker system that a hold has been placed on the first resource for the first requester and/or the first resource has been marked as sold for the first requester, at least partly causing the first resource to be transferred to the first requester.

66. The programmatic code as defined in claim 65, the operations further comprising,

causing at least in part a first resource request to be formatted as an XML message.

67. The programmatic code as defined in claim 65, the operations further comprising causing the module to be provided via the resource management system to one or more broker systems.

68. The programmatic code as defined in claim 65, the operations further comprises receiving an indication as to whether at least one resource request requested a quantity of resources that exceeds a broker specified maximum of offered resources, wherein the offered resources comprise offered tickets.

69. The programmatic code as defined in claim 65, the operations further comprises receiving an indication as to whether at least one resource request requested a quantity of resources that was less than a broker specified minimum of offered resources, wherein the offered resources comprise offered tickets.

70. The programmatic code as defined in claim 65, the operations further comprising maintaining a blacklist specified by at least one broker that indicates which potential purchasers are not permitted to obtain resources from the at least one broker.

71. The programmatic code as defined in claim 65, the operations further comprising maintaining a blacklist specified by least one broker that indicates by name which potential purchasers are not permitted to obtain resources from the at least one broker.

72. The programmatic code as defined in claim 65, the operations further comprising maintaining a blacklist specified by at least one broker that indicates by type of potential purchaser which potential purchasers are not permitted to obtain resources from the at least one broker.

73. The programmatic code as defined in claim 65, wherein the request specifies a quantity of resources greater than one.

74. The programmatic code as defined in claim 65, the operations further comprising assigning unique resource identifiers to corresponding resources from the first plurality of broker systems.

75. The programmatic code as defined in claim 65, wherein the first resource is an event admission voucher.

76. The programmatic code as defined in claim 65, the operations further comprising providing a module for the broker system, the updater module configured to perform operations comprising:

detecting a communication error between the broker system and the resource management system; and

at least partly in response to detecting the communication error between the broker system and the resource management system, causing at least one software application or setting on the broker system to be automatically updated.

77. The programmatic code as defined in claim 65, the operations further comprising:

providing software that receives an indication as to a configuration change on at least one broker system; and

at least partly causing the module on the broker system to be updated or replaced based at least in part on receiving an indication regarding a first configuration change of the broker system.

78. The programmatic code as defined in claim 65, the operations further comprising receiving an indication that a software configuration of the broker system has changed.