Data processing: financial – business practice – management – or co – Automated electrical financial or business practice or... – Reservation – check-in – or booking display for reserved space
Reexamination Certificate
1998-12-11
2001-10-23
Stamber, Eric W. (Department: 2162)
Data processing: financial, business practice, management, or co
Automated electrical financial or business practice or...
Reservation, check-in, or booking display for reserved space
Reexamination Certificate
active
06308159
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to network transactions. In particular, the present invention relates to using network capabilities to donate or return products.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
For certain kinds of events, such as college and professional basketball, hockey, and baseball, season ticket holders purchase their tickets in advance of the season. Many of these ticket holders do not attend all games, but buy the season tickets nevertheless. For the unused tickets, the ticket holder typically absorbs the cost of those tickets. This practice obviously results in money lost for the ticket holder. Additionally, this practice denies others the opportunity to enjoy the sporting events because the seats are left unfilled by others who would like to attend the event. For the various teams who are playing in the event, they are denied the support of fans, and the home teams and stadium owners are often embarrassed by an abundance of empty seats.
There are a variety of ways in existence to deal with this problem, some legal, some not. For example, the ticket holder can stand outside the stadium some time before the game and attempt to sell their unused tickets to fans who would like to attend the game. This technique, however, necessitates that the ticket holder actually show up outside the stadium, thereby spending valuable time and energy in an endeavor that may bear little fruit.
Another known way of dealing with the problem of unused tickets is to give the tickets to another individual, commonly referred to as a scalper who then stands outside the stadium prior to the game in an effort to sell the ticket, typically at a substantially marked-up price. This method has several drawbacks, not the least of which is the fact that this practice is illegal in many jurisdictions and can result in jail time for the ticket holder. Unlawfulness aside, the scalper will typically charge a commission, thereby resulting in some kind of transaction cost to the ticket holder.
In light of the above discussion, it would be advantageous to develop a system that would reduce the monetary loss to the ticket holder and minimize efforts needed for the ticket holder to recoup the ticket's cost.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To alleviate the problems inherent in the prior art, a system and method are disclosed for recycling tickets that a ticket holder does not intend to use.
To recycle the tickets, a request from a ticket holder is received over a network to recycle a ticket. Also received from the ticket holder is information about the ticket. A database then marks the ticket as available for resale and the ticket is resold.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1
is a system overview of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2
is a flow chart of a method of performing an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3
is a block diagram of an apparatus embodiment of the present invention.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5333257 (1994-07-01), Merrill et al.
patent: 5621797 (1997-04-01), Rosen
patent: 5724518 (1998-03-01), Helbling
patent: 5754654 (1998-05-01), Hiroya et al.
patent: 5930761 (1999-07-01), O'Toole
patent: 6058379 (2000-05-01), Odom et al.
patent: 6067532 (2000-05-01), Gebb
patent: WO 98/10361 (1998-03-01), None
“Winning partnership helps speed up resale of tickets and raises cash for charity.” Business Wire (Jun. 28, 1999) p. 1496.
AT&T Corporation
Stamber Eric W.
Young John Leonard
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