Importance

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Abstract

An electronic ticket exchange system enables venue owners to sell tickets to patrons at a fair market value for each event, and patrons to more easily trade and transfer the tickets among one another after they have been purchased from the venue owner. Tickets for an event are initially offered to the public by the venue owner, using a market-making system. Patrons submit bids over a limited time period, for seats of different quality, and an initial price is established for each quality of seat. A trading system provides for a secondary market in which patrons who have purchased tickets for an event can readily transfer them to other patrons, without requiring the services of a broker or the like. In this system, physical tickets are not required. Rather, all of the rights associated with a ticket, such as entry into the venue, parking privileges, designated seating, etc., are stored in a electronic form. An electronic venue entry control system verifies that a person owns an electronic ticket property right, and authorizes the privileges associated with the ticket, such as access to parking facilities, entry to the venue, purchase of concessions and/or merchandise, and the like. A seating system is employed to determine an optimal seating configuration based upon patron-specific preferences, after the initial sale of tickets and prior to entry into the venue. The specific assigned seats are indicated to the ticket holder at the time of entry. Patrons who regularly purchase tickets can join an organization associated with the ticket exchange system. All transactions carried out within the system can then be easily accomplished through a single membership number, which is permanent and unique to the member. Each such member can be provided with a suitable device which interfaces with the entry system to provide access to the venue, and parking if appropriate.

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First Claim