Invention for System and Methods for Notifying upcoming Events and Mobile Purchase

Invented by Ashley Gibson, Adam Debussy, Stubhub Inc

The Stubhub Inc invention works as follows

Background for System and Methods for Notifying upcoming Events and Mobile Purchase

Computer systems and networks have made it easier to buy, sell and transfer goods. Global computer networks such as the Internet have made it possible for purchasers to search and buy goods online relatively quickly and efficiently. Global computer networks are also an effective and affordable medium for sellers to offer, sell, and provide their products. Electronic commerce companies offer buyers and sellers online services, as well as the infrastructure necessary to receive orders from distant purchasers and confirm and complete sales. They also ship or distribute goods to remote customers and perform other logistics. “Sellers actively use the Internet to sell, distribute and offer a variety of products to take advantage the benefits of electronic commerce and the Internet.

The secondary ticket market is an example of a good market within electronic commerce. The secondary ticket market includes all situations in which tickets for live events are traded after the initial point of purchase. The secondary ticket market is a result of several factors. Event tickets are particularly time-sensitive. Every year, many tickets go unused because there’s no way to efficiently buy or sell secondary tickets. A ticket that expires before an event is over loses its value. If the ticket holder is unable to attend the event, they can only sell the ticket on the secondary market. Many venues, universities, and/or sporting franchises, for example, offer “season tickets”. These tickets are usually packaged in bulk and require the buyer to buy several at once. Season ticket holders are often in possession of a large number of tickets to events they can’t attend and want to sell them on the secondary market.

Event venues also have a limited supply of seats.” The number of tickets available for an event is therefore limited. This means that events with high demand can generate significant secondary trading. Demand and supply are further distorted by buyers who want to sit in specific seats. Each seat in a venue has a unique location, so there may be a demand for one specific seat that is greater than the supply, even if the venue isn’t sold out on the primary market. This favors the secondary market. While tickets to certain events, such as football matches of the same team at the same venue, may be priced similarly, the supply and demand may be very different. This favors the secondary market.

StubHub is a network-based ticketing system that allows buyers and sellers to trade tickets online for live entertainment such as concerts, sports, theater and other events. StubHub’s online secondary ticket market facilitates legitimate, convenient and reliable transactions at fair value, as well as providing ticket fulfillment services for “sold-out” events. events. The StubHub secondary ticket marketplace offers benefits to fans who want to buy, transfer, or sell secondary tickets, as well as teams, artists and venues.

Various embodiments are related to the general subject of providing event notifications and mobile purchases. More specifically, but not exclusively, they relate to systems and methods that allow users of an online secondary marketplace to receive notifications about upcoming events and to purchase tickets for upcoming events via a mobile device. In one embodiment, the network-based system receives a request for registration from a user who wants to receive alert notifications about upcoming events. Registration requests may include a user’s mobile phone number. The network-based device may send a notification alerting the user to an upcoming event via a mobile phone network. The alert notification can be a text message that includes relevant static or dynamic information about the event, as well as a hyperlink embedded to allow the user make a mobile transaction. The hyperlink can be a hyperlinked phone number that allows the user to call an agent from the network-based system to transact the mobile purchase. The hyperlink can also or alternatively include a uniform Resource Locator (URL) or uniform resource identifiers (URI) to navigate to the network-based systems for transacting mobile purchases. “Other embodiments are described, and claims.

Different embodiments are described to provide users of an online secondary ticket marketplace the ability to receive notifications about upcoming events and to purchase goods, such as event tickets, using a smartphone. To provide a complete understanding of the embodiments, numerous specific details are provided. Those skilled in the art will understand, however, the embodiments can be implemented without these specifics. Other times, well-known components, circuits, and operations have not been described to avoid obscuring the embodiments. “It can be understood that the structural and functional details described herein are representative and may not limit the scope or the embodiments.

The specification makes reference to “various embodiments” throughout. ?some embodiments,? ?one embodiment,? or ?an embodiment? At least one embodiment includes a certain feature, structure or characteristic that is described in relation to the embodiment. The phrase ‘in various embodiments’ is used to indicate this. “in some embodiments” In one embodiment? “In an embodiment” or “in one embodiment” are not necessarily the same. In some places, the specification does not refer to the same embodiment. The particular features, characteristics, or structures may also be combined in a suitable way in one or several embodiments.

FIG. The system 110 is a communications-network-based system that can be used to implement various embodiments. The elements of the communication network-based system 100 may include physical or logical entities that communicate information. In some cases, they may be implemented in hardware, software or combinations thereof depending on a set of design parameters and performance constraints. The FIG. “Although FIG.

The described embodiments allow for the implementation of various elements in the communications network-based systems 110 using one or more computing device with computing and/or communication capabilities. Examples of computing devices include, but are not limited to, mobile devices, personal digital assistants (PDA), mobile computing devices, communications systems, telephones, mobile telephones, smart phones, handsets, two-way pagers, messaging systems, mini-computers, servers, server computers, server arrays, server farms, Internet servers, web servers, network-based server, mainframe computers, supercomputers, control systems, consumer electronics equipment, media players, gaming consoles, televisions, digital televisions, set-top boxes (STB

The computing devices used by the communications system-based system 100 may be implemented using various hardware or software components according to the described embodiments. Hardware components that may be used include processors such as the central processing unit (CPU), other processors such as microprocessors and application processors such as radio processors and baseband processors. Other components can also be included such as semiconductor devices, chips, microchips and chip sets. Software components that are exemplary include operating system software, middleware (middleware), firmware, computer programs, applications and application programs. They may also include software for system programs, application programs, baseband processors, radio processors, digital signal processors (DSP), circuits, circuit elements (e.g., transistors, resistors, capacitors, inductors, etc. ), semiconductor devices, chips, microchips, chip sets, memory such as volatile or non-volatile memory, input devices

According to the described embodiments, “Various elements of a communications network-based systems 110 may support wired or wireless communications functionality.” Some computing devices, for example, may be configured to transmit information via one or more communication links, such as a cable, wire, bus, printed-circuit board (PCB), switch fabric, semiconductor materials, twisted pair wire, coaxial cable, Ethernet connection (P2P), fiber optic cable, radio, satellite, television, broadcast, infrared channel (IR), radio-frequency (RF), a portion or spectrum of the radio-frequency spectrum, or one or more licensed frequency bands.

The following description of the components of the communication network-based system shown in FIG. will help you better understand and appreciate the various aspects of embodiments. 1. “Although certain exemplary implementations and embodiments are illustrated and described in a way that includes a specific combination of elements or performs a specific set of operations, the principles and techniques discussed do not limit themselves to these examples.

As shown in the figure, the client 102 can be communicatively connected via one or multiple networks 108 to an network-based system. The network-based systems 110 can be structured, arranged and/or configured so that the client 102 may establish one or multiple communications sessions with them using different computing devices 104, and/or client software 106. A communications session between the network-based 110 and the client 102 may include a unidirectional or bidirectional information exchange and may take place over one or multiple types of networks 108, depending on the communication mode. The embodiment shown in FIG. The communications network-based systems 110 are shown in FIG.

Data and/or Voice Communications between the Client 102 and the Network-based System 110 can be sent and received via one or more networks, such as Internet, WWAN, WLAN, mobile telephone networks, landline telephone networks, VoIP networks, and other suitable networks. The client 102 can communicate with the system 110 via the Internet, or another suitable WAN, by sending or receiving information through a web page, e mail, IM session and/or video message session. Client 102 may also communicate with network-based system via a phone call to a customer support agent or interactive voice response system (IVR), made over a landline, mobile, and/or VoIP network. In wireless implementations the client 102 can communicate with the system 110 via the Internet using a WLAN or cellular telephone network that supports WWAN communication services. Client 102 may also communicate via a mobile phone network using SMS or MMS messages. The embodiments of the invention are not restricted in this respect.

In different usage scenarios, the communication sessions or messaging between the client and the network-based systems 110 can involve multiple communication modes and/or networks. In some instances, the client may initiate communication by interacting on a website. The network-based system may then communicate with the client 102 via a number of different methods, including e-mails, IMs, SMSs, MMSs, or telephone calls from a customer support agent and/or an IVR system. Communication from the network-based systems 110 can be in the form of a message, e.g. e-mails, IMs, SMSs, MMSs, containing static or dynamic content. It may also include an embedded hyperlinked URL to direct the client 102 towards a website, and/or a linked telephone number to allow the client 102 click to place a phone call to an agent, e.g. customer service agent, IVR system, etc.

The client 102 can use one or more client programs 106 and/or client devices 104 to communicate with the network-based systems 110. In different implementations, client devices 104 or client programs 106 can host or provide one of more interfaces to communicate with the network-based systems 110. In accordance with embodiments, examples of interfaces include a messaging or API interface. Client programs 106 that communicate with the network-based systems 110 can be pre-installed computer programs, authored programs, downloaded programs, or web-based programs.

In some embodiments, a web client can be implemented or comprise a web application, web interpreter and/or virtual computer for requesting content, receiving it, presenting it and/or updating the information hosted by the system network 110. In such embodiments the web client can use various programming languages, including interpreted, compiled scripting, virtual machines, etc. The API implementation may be based on a Software Development Kit (SDK), provided by the system-based network 110.