Event ticket purchasing

• US 8,510,136 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2008
• Issued: 08/13/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Charania, Rahim A., Gogineni, Gangadhar R., Kalia, Puneet, Sureka, Ashutosh, Srinivasan, Prakash
• Primary Examiner(s): Erb, Nathan
• Application Number:
  US12/241,839
• Publication Number:
  US 20100082374A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,778 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27, 705/14, 705/15, 705/5, 707/102, 707/10, 707/104.1
• US Class Current: 705/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/10 Services

Abstract

A method may include aggregating information regarding events, where for each event the aggregated information includes an event name, an event time, and an event venue. The method may further include receiving a request for a list of events or a list of venues from a user device and obtaining, from the user device, a profile of a user of the user device. The method may further include generating, based on the profile and the aggregated information regarding events, the generated list of events or the list of venues and sending, to the user device, the list of events or the list of venues.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

aggregating, in a network device, information regarding events, wherein for each event the aggregated information includes an event name, an event time, and an event venue, and wherein the aggregated information is stored in a memory in a network device;

receiving, in the network device, a request for a list of events or a list of venues from a user device, wherein the user device is separate from the network device;

receiving, in the network device from the user device, one of a plurality of profiles stored in a user device memory,

wherein the received profile is associated with a user of the user device, wherein each profile is associated with a different user, and wherein the received profile includes;

a number of events for which the user has previously purchased tickets,

a number of venues to which the user has previously purchased tickets, and

a record of venues for which the user has indicated interest by repeatedly selecting each venue in the record of venues, and not purchasing tickets for one or more events corresponding to each venue in the record of venues;

generating the list of events or the list of venues based on an analysis, performed by a computing system in the network device, of the received profile and the aggregated information regarding events, wherein the analysis is based on the record of venues for which the user has indicated interest, and wherein the list of events does not include the number of events for which the user has previously purchased tickets;

sending, from the network device to the user device, the list of events or the list of venues; and

receiving, in the network device from the user device, a selection of a venue from the list of venues or a selection of an event from the list of events.

2. The method of claim 1,

wherein, when the list of venues is sent to the user device, the method further includes sending, from the network device to the user device, a list of events hosted by the selected venue;

and

wherein, when the list of events is sent to the user device, the method further includes sending, from the network device to the user device, a list of venues hosting the selected event.

3. The method of claim 2,

wherein, when the list of venues hosting the selected event is sent to the user device, the method, further includes:

receiving, in the network device from the user device, a selection of a venue in response to sending the list of venues hosting the selected event; and

wherein, when the list of events hosted by the selected venue is sent to the user device, the method further includes;

receiving, in the network device from the user device, a selection of an event in response to sending the list of events hosted by the selected venue.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

querying a venue server regarding purchasing a ticket to the selected event at the selected venue; and

transmitting, from the network device to the user device, information regarding the selected event at the selected venue for recording in the one of the plurality of profiles.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the user device is non-mobile, and wherein the method further comprises transmitting, to a navigation device separate from the user device and associated with the user, information indicative of a geographical location of the selected venue or a venue associated with the selected event.

6. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

sending, to a mobile communication device associated with the user, the information regarding the selected event at the selected venue.

7. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

sending, from the network device to the user device, a list of times associated with the selected event at the selected venue;

receiving, in the network device from the user device, a selection of one of the times;

querying a venue server regarding availability of a ticket at the selected time; and

receiving an instruction, in the network device from the user device, to purchase the ticket to the event for the selected time.

8. The method of claim 1, where sending the list of events or the list of venues includes sending, to the user device from the network device, a plurality of images, each of the plurality of images associated with one of the events or one of the venues, the method further comprising:

displaying, on a display attached to the user device, the plurality of images one at a time next to at least two events in the list of events or at least two venues in the list of venues.

9. A user device comprising:

a memory to store a plurality of profiles, each profile associated with a different user, wherein one of the plurality of profiles includes;

a number of events for which the user has previously purchased tickets,

a number of venues to which the user has previously purchased tickets, and

a record of venues for which the user indicated interest by repeatedly selecting each venue in the record of venues, and not purchasing tickets for one or more events corresponding to each venue in the record of venues;

a transmitter to send the one of the plurality of profiles to a network device, wherein the network device is separate from the user device;

a receiver to receive, from the network device, a list of events or a list of venues for which a user of the user device may purchase tickets, and to receive a plurality of images, wherein each of the images is associated with one of the events or venues, wherein the list of events or the list of venues was generated by the network device based on the transmitted one of the plurality of profiles, wherein the list of events does not include the number of events for which the user has previously purchased tickets, and wherein the memory stores the list of events or the list of venues and the plurality of images; and

a display to show, to the user, the list of events or the list of venues next to one or more of the plurality of images, wherein the display cycles through showing the one or more of the plurality of images so as to display all of the plurality of images over a period of time.

10. The user device of claim 9, where the display shows only one of the images at a time.

11. The user device of claim 10, where the display shows the plurality of images in a random order.

12. The user device of claim 9, further comprising:

a processor, coupled to an input device, to receive a request, from the user, for information indicative of a geographical location of one of the venues to be sent to a navigation device; and

wherein the transmitter sends a signal to initiate sending of the information indicative of the geographical information to the navigation device, wherein the navigation device is separate from the user device.

13. A system comprising:

a network device, the network device comprising;

a memory to store event information for a plurality of events, wherein, for each event, the event information includes an event name, an event time, and an event venue;

a receiver to receive, from a user device separate from the network device, a request for events or venues, wherein the receiver receives, from the user device, one of a plurality of profiles stored in the user device,

wherein the received profile is associated with a user of the user device, wherein the received profile includes information indicative of preferences of the user with respect to venues and events, wherein each of the plurality of profiles is associated with a different user, and wherein the received profile includes;

a number of events for which the user has previously purchased tickets,

a number of venues to which the user has previously purchased tickets, and

a record of venues for which the user has indicated interest by repeatedly selecting each venue in the record of venues, and not purchasing tickets for one or more events corresponding to each venue in the record of venues;

processing logic to generate, based on the received profile and the event information, a list of events or a list of venues in response to the request wherein the list of events does not include the number of events for which the user has previously purchased tickets; and

a transmitter to send, to the user device, the list of events or the list of venues, wherein the receiver is configured to receive, from the user device, a selection of a venue from the list of venues or a selection of an event from the list of events, and wherein the receiver is configured to receive an instruction to send information indicative of a geographical location of the selected venue or a venue associated with the selected event.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising the user device, the user device comprising:

a memory to store the plurality of profiles;

a display to show the list of venues or the list of events to the user; and

a transceiver to send, to the network device, a selection of a venue in response to displaying the list of venues, and receive, from the network device, a list of events hosted by the selected venue,

where the transceiver is configured to send, to the network device, a selection of an event in response to displaying the list of events, and receive, from the network device, a list of venues hosting the selected event.

15. The system of claim 14,

where the receiver in the network device is configured to receive, from the user device, a selection of a venue in response to sending the list of venues hosting the selected event;

and

where the receiver in the network device is configured to receive, from the user device, a selection of an event in response to sending the list of events hosted by the selected venue.

16. The system of claim 15,

where the transmitter in the network device is configured to send a query to a venue server regarding purchasing a ticket to the selected event at the selected venue;

and

where the transmitter in the network device is configured to send, to the user device, information regarding the ticket for storing in the one of the plurality of profiles in the user device.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the user device is non-mobile, and wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit, to a navigation device separate from the user device and associated with the user, the information indicative of the geographical location of the selected venue or the venue associated with the selected event.

18. The system of claim 15,

where the receiver in the network device is configured to receive a request for a confirmation associated with the purchased ticket;

and

where the transmitter in the network device is configured to send, to a mobile communication device associated with the user, the confirmation associated with the purchased ticket.

19. The system of claim 15,

wherein the transmitter in the network device sends, to the user device, a list of times associated with the selected event at the selected venue;

wherein the receiver in the network device is configured to receive, from the user device, a selection of one of the times;

wherein the transmitter in the network device is configured to send a query to a venue server regarding availability of a ticket at the selected time; and

wherein the receiver in the network device is configured to receive an instruction from the user device to purchase the ticket to the selected event at the selected time.

20. The system of claim 13, where the system further comprises the user device, the user device including:

a memory to store the plurality of profiles; and

a display to show the list of venues or the list of events and a plurality of images, where each of the plurality of images corresponds to one of the events or one of the venues, where the display shows one of the plurality of images at a time next to at least two events in the list of events or at least two venues in the list of venues.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable memory device storing instructions executable by at least one processor to cause the at least one processor to perform a method comprising:

receiving a request for a list of events or a list of venues from a user;

sending, from a user device to a network device separate from the user device, one of a plurality of profiles stored in a memory, wherein the one of the plurality of profiles is associated with a user of the user device for the generation, based on the one of the plurality of profiles, of the list of events or the list of venues, wherein the sent profile includes;

a number of events for which the user has previously purchased tickets,

a number of venues to which the user has previously purchased tickets, and

a record of venues for which the user has indicated interest by repeatedly selecting each venue in the record of venues, and not purchasing tickets for one or more events corresponding to each venue in the list of venues, wherein each of the plurality of profiles is associated with a different user;

receiving, in the user device from the network device, the list of events or the list of venues, wherein the list of events does not include the number of events for which the user has previously purchased tickets;

receiving, from the user, a selection of a venue from the list of venues or a selection of an event from the list of events; and

receiving, from the user, an instruction to transmit, to a navigation device separate from the user device and associated with the user, information indicative of a geographical location of the selected venue or a venue associated with the selected event.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable memory device of claim 21, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a plurality of images, each of the plurality of images associated with one of the events or one of the venues in the list of events or the list of venues; and

displaying the plurality of images one at a time next to the list of events or the list of venues.