CLIAMS:What is claimed is:

1. A method for managing a plurality of seats, comprising:

providing a ticket management platform that communicates with a plurality of mobile devices over a communication network;

acquiring ticket information of a plurality of users from one or more ticket information sources by the ticket management platform on booking one or more seats by each of the users, wherein the ticket information comprises mobile device information of the users and seat information of the one or more seats booked by each of the users;

transmitting a verification request within a virtual perimeter around a geographical location during a predefined time interval by the ticket management platform;

receiving verification responses from the mobile devices of the users, wherein the verification responses identify the users for confirming occupation of the booked one or more seats of the users;

verifying the verification responses by the ticket management platform; and

modifying seat status of the seats based on the verified verification responses by the ticket management platform, wherein the seat status is indicative of number of occupied seats among the seats.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more ticket information sources comprise the users and one or more third party websites.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the verification responses are digitally signed using a mobile digital signature application on the mobile devices of the users.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the modified seat status of the seats from the ticket management platform to a display device and displaying the modified seat status on the display device.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the verification response is a security passcode unique to the mobile devices of the users.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a number of unoccupied seats among the seats based on the modified seat status by the ticket management platform.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising reallocating the unoccupied seats to one or more waitlisted users by the ticket management platform, comprising:

assigning the unoccupied seats to the one or more waitlisted users; and

transmitting one or more assignment notifications to one or more mobile devices of the one or more waitlisted users.

8. A system for managing a plurality of seats, comprising:

a ticket management platform that communicates with a plurality of mobile devices over a communication network, wherein the ticket management platform comprises:

a data acquisition module that acquires ticket information of a plurality of users from one or more ticket information sources on booking one or more seats by each of the users;

a transmitter that transmits a verification request within a virtual perimeter around a geographical location during a predefined time interval;

a receiver that receives verification responses from the mobile devices of the users,

a verification module that verifies the verification responses; and

a status modification module that modifies seat status of the seats based on the verified verification responses, wherein the seat status is indicative of number of occupied seats among the seats.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein one or more of the mobile devices further comprise a mobile digital signature application that digitally signs the verification responses.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein one or more of the mobile devices further comprise an encryption module that assigns a security passcode unique to each of the mobile devices.
,TagSPECI:A METHOD AND A SYSTEM FOR MANAGING A PLURALITY OF SEATS

FIELD OF INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to seat management and more particularly, towards a method and a system for managing a plurality of seats using mobile devices.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Seat management, in context of the present invention relates to management of reserved seats so as to ensure that the reserved seats are occupied only by the rightful users, and to identify and reallocate unoccupied but reserved seats to those people who are waiting for seats to become available. This is of particular importance in public venues like stadiums, theaters, etc., or in vehicles such as trains, buses, etc., so as to ensure efficient and optimal usage of public resources.

[0003] Seat management is conventionally performed by management personnel. Typically, the management personnel make routine rounds to verify identities of the users occupying the seats and to identify unoccupied seats. However, this process is rather tedious and time consuming as it is done manually using a paper based mechanism. Moreover, due to delays in updating status of the seats, often, some of the seats remain vacant despite the fact that there are people waiting for seats to become available. Furthermore, as the management personnel cannot monitor all the seats simultaneously, additional delay generally occurs.

[0004] To address these issues some of the prior art solutions (See WO 2003019458, Stephen P. Shoemaker, Jr.; WO 2004025527, Xavier Piednoir et al.) have suggested automation of seat management though the usage of barcodes on paper tickets. As per the suggested method, upon booking, a paper ticket having a barcode is provided to the user. Upon arriving within the proximity of the seats, the user is required to scan the barcode on the paper ticket at a barcode scanner installed near the seats. The barcode reader verifies the barcode to identity the user.

[0005] While this approach does automate the seat management process, it relies on a paper ticket and would typically fail to work in a situation where the user might have lost his ticket. Moreover, tickets which are supposed to be legally non-transferable can be sold or transferred freely and the suggested mechanism would typically be unable to address this problem since this method relies solely on the paper ticket without any additional identity verification mechanisms.

[0006] Therefore, there is a long felt but unresolved need for an automated, efficient, paperless seat management method and system which offers better security and can provide instantaneous updates regarding status of the seats.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

[0007] The principal object of the present invention is to provide an automated seat management method and system.

[0008] Another object of the present invention is to provide a seat management method and system which offers better security.

[0009] Yet another object of the present invention is to provide seat management method and system that provides instantaneous updates regarding status of the seats.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] The above-mentioned shortcomings, disadvantages and problems are addressed herein which will be understood by reading and understanding the following specification.

[0011] A method and system for managing a plurality of seats is provided. A ticket management platform that communicates with a plurality of mobile devices of a plurality of users is provided. The ticket management platform comprises a data acquisition module, a transmitter, a receiver, a verification module, and a status modification module.

[0012] As per the method provided, the ticket management platform acquires ticket information of the users from one or more ticket information sources on booking one or more seats by each of the users.

[0013] The ticket information comprises mobile device information of the users and seat information of the seats booked by each of the users. The ticket information sources comprise, for example, the users, one or more third party websites, etc.

[0014] The ticket management platform transmits a verification request within a virtual perimeter around a geographical location during a predefined time interval. The geographical location is, for example, a stadium, train station, bus station, etc. The ticket management platform receives verification responses from the mobile devices of the users. The verification responses identify the users for confirming occupation of the booked seats of the users.

[0015] In an embodiment, the verification responses are digitally signed using a mobile digital signature application on the mobile devices of the users. In another embodiment, the verification responses are security passcodes unique to the mobile devices of the users, assigned by encryption modules on the mobile devices of the users.

[0016] The ticket management platform verifies the verification responses. The ticket management platform modifies seat status of the seats based on the verified verification responses. The seat status is also indicative of number of occupied seats among the seats.

[0017] In an embodiment, the ticket management platform transmits the modified seat status of the seats from the ticket management platform to a display device and the modified seat status is displayed on the display device.

[0018] In an embodiment, the ticket management platform determines a number of unoccupied seats among the seats based on the modified seat status.

[0019] In an embodiment, the ticket management platform reallocates the unoccupied seats to one or more waitlisted users. The ticket management platform reallocates the unoccupied seats by assigning the unoccupied seats to the waitlisted users and transmitting one or more assignment notifications to one or more mobile devices of the waitlisted users.

[0020] Systems and methods of varying scope are described herein. In addition to the aspects and advantages described in this summary, further aspects and advantages will become apparent by reference to the drawings and with reference to the detailed description that follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] FIG. 1 exemplarily illustrates system for managing a plurality of seats.

[0022] FIG. 2 exemplarily illustrates a method for managing the seats.

[0023] FIG. 2A illustrates an embodiment of the method for managing the seats.

[0024] FIG. 2B illustrates a sequence diagram of the method for managing the seats.

[0025] FIG. 3A exemplarily illustrates a mobile device upon receiving a verification request from the ticket management platform, as per the method for managing the seats.

[0026] FIG. 3B exemplarily illustrates a mobile device upon receiving a verification request from the ticket management platform and requiring the user to enter a security code, as per the method for managing the seats.

[0027] FIG. 3C exemplarily illustrates a mobile device upon receiving a confirmation message from the ticket management platform, upon successful verification, as per the method for managing the seats.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0028] In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific embodiments, which may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the embodiments, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that logical, mechanical, electrical and other changes may be made without departing from the scope of the embodiments. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense.

[0029] The present invention provides a method and a system for managing a plurality of seats. The seats can be located in public venues like stadiums, theaters, etc., or in vehicles such as trains, buses, etc. FIG. 1 exemplarily illustrates a system 100 for managing the seats. The system 100 comprises a ticket management platform 110 that communicates with a plurality of mobile devices 150 over a communication network 170.

[0030] The term “mobile devices” 150 refer to handheld electronic devices that can be used to communicate over a communication network. The mobile devices 150 are, for example, cell phones, smart phones, personal digital assistants (PDA), wireless email terminals, laptops, tablet computers, etc.

[0031] The communication network 170 is, for example, a local area network, a wide area network, a wireless network, a telecommunication network, etc. The telecommunication network 170 is, for example, a global system for mobile communication (GSM) network, a general packet radio service (GPRS) network, a code division multiple access (CDMA) system, enhanced data GSM environment (EDGE), wideband CDMA (WCDMA), etc.

[0032] In an embodiment, the ticket management platform 110 is provided on a single computing device. In another embodiment, the ticket management platform 110 is provided on multiple computing devices which are interconnected via a communication network. The ticket management platform 110 comprises a data acquisition module 130, a transmitter 111, a receiver 120, a verification module 115, and a status modification module 125.

[0033] The data acquisition module 130 of the ticket management platform 110 acquires ticket information of a plurality of users from one or more ticket information sources 140 on booking one or more seats by each of the users.

[0034] Ticket information comprises, for example, mobile device information of the users, seat information of the seats booked by each of the users, etc. As used herein, the term “mobile device information” refers to mobile number of a user’s mobile device, International Mobile Station Equipment Identity number of the mobile devices, etc., which are provided by the users during booking the seats. Seat information comprises, for example, seat positions of the seats booked by each of the users, etc.

[0035] As used herein, the term “ticket information sources” 140 refer to all such sources through which ticket information can be obtained. The ticket information sources 140 comprise, for example, the users, one or more third party websites, etc. The third party websites, for example, are ticket reservation websites, travel booking websites, etc.

[0036] The transmitter 111 of the ticket management platform 110 transmits a verification request within a virtual perimeter around a geographical location during a predefined time interval. The geographical location is, for example, a stadium, train station, bus station, etc. In an example, the geographical location refers to a stadium and a verification request is transmitted within 200 meters of the stadium for an hour before start of a sports event.

[0037] In another example, the geographical location relates to a railway station and a verification request is transmitted within 100 meters of the railway station between 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm with regards to seats booked in a train scheduled to depart at 2:55 pm. In an embodiment, the transmitter multicasts the verification message i.e. the transmission can be limited to the mobile devices 150 whose mobile device information was provided during booking.

[0038] In another embodiment, the transmitter broadcasts i.e. the verification message is sent to all the mobile devices within transmission range. By limiting the transmission range and imposing a temporal limitation, the ticket management platform 110 ensures that the users have to be within the proximity of the seats at the correct time in order to confirm occupancy of the seats booked by each of the users.

[0039] The receiver 120 of the ticket management platform 110 receives verification responses from the mobile devices 150 of the users. The verification responses are sent as a response to the verification request. The verification responses comprise, for example, biometric signatures, mobile digital signatures, etc. In an embodiment, the verification responses are digitally signed using a mobile digital signature application present on the mobile devices 150 of the users. The mobile digital signature application on the mobile devices 150 can either generate a unique digital signature or obtain a digital signature from a secure third party for the purpose of signing the verification responses.

[0040] In another embodiment, the mobile digital signature application on the mobile devices 150 receives digital signatures from a ticketing data server upon booking the seats. In another embodiment, verification responses are security passcodes unique to the mobile devices 150 of the users. The security passcodes are generated by an encryption module present on the mobile devices 150. The security passcodes are used to identify the mobile device uniquely associated with it, thereby serving the purpose of a unique identifier.

[0041] The verification module 115 of the ticket management platform 110 verifies the verification responses received by the receiver 120. In an embodiment, the verification module 115 records the time and date of successful verification along with the verification response in a database, thereby ensuring a precise and accurate timestamp indicating the exact time when the user entered within the virtual perimeter of the geographical location.

[0042] The status modification module 125 modifies seat status of the seats based on the verified verification responses. Upon successful verification, the status modification module 125 updates the seat status of the seats to reflect that the booked seats have been occupied. The seat status is indicative of the number of the occupied seats among the seats.

[0043] FIG. 2 exemplarily illustrates a method for managing a plurality of seats. At step 210, the method provides a ticket management platform 110 that communicates with a plurality of mobile devices 150 over a communication network 170. At step 220, ticket information of a plurality of users is acquired from ticket information sources 140 by the ticket management platform 110 on booking seats by each of the users. In an embodiment, step 220 comprises transmitting a request for ticket information of plurality of users by the ticket management platform 110 to the one or more ticket information sources 140 at step 223, and transmitting ticket information of plurality of users to the ticket management platform 110 by the one or more ticket information sources 140 at step 226.

[0044] At step 230, a verification request is transmitted within a virtual perimeter around a geographical location during a predefined time interval by the ticket management platform 110. In an embodiment, the mobile phones generate a verification request at step 233 and transmit the verification responses to the ticket management platform at step 236.

[0045] At step 240, verification responses are received by the ticket management platform 110, from the mobile devices 150 of the users. FIG. 3A exemplarily illustrates a mobile device of the mobile devices 150, upon receiving the verification request. FIG. 3B exemplarily illustrates a mobile device of the mobile devices 150, upon receiving a verification request from the ticket management platform 110 and requiring the user to enter a security code.

[0046] At step 250, the verification responses are verified by the ticket management platform 110. Finally at step 260, seat status of the seats is modified by the ticket management platform 110, based on the verified verification responses. In an embodiment, the method further comprises transmitting verification results to the mobile devices 150 from the ticket management platform 110 at step 255. The verification results inform the mobile devices 150 about the result of the verification of the verification response by indicating success or failure of verification.

[0047] FIG. 3C exemplarily illustrates a mobile device upon receiving a confirmation message from the ticket management platform, upon successful verification, as per the method for managing the seats. In an embodiment the ticket management platform 110 transmits success messages to the mobile devices 150, upon successful verification.

[0048] FIG. 2A illustrates an embodiment of the method for managing the seats. In this embodiment, the method further comprises transmitting a failed verification message from the ticket management platform 110 to the one mobile device from the mobiles devices 150. The failed verification message is sent by the ticket management platform 110 when the verification response from the one mobile device from the mobile devices 150 does not get verified successfully.

[0049] FIG. 2B exemplarily illustrates a sequence diagram for the method of managing seats. The sequence diagram is drawn to indicate the interaction between one mobile from the mobile phones 150 and the ticket management platform 110.

[0050] In an embodiment, the method further comprises transmitting the modified seat status of the seats from the ticket management platform 110 to a display device and displaying on the display device the modified seat status. The display device would enable the management personnel to keep track of the seats. The display device is, for example, a mobile tablet on which the modified seat status can be displayed in a graphical format.

[0051] In an embodiment, the method further comprises determining a number of unoccupied seats among the seats based on the modified seat status by the ticket management platform 110. By determining the number of unoccupied seats, the management personnel can calculate the number of people to whom these unoccupied seats can be allocated. Moreover, the number of unoccupied seats can be used in analyzing reservation and occupation patterns over a long term, so as to determine the number of tickets that have to be oversold in order to attain better occupancy rates.

[0052] In an embodiment, the method further comprises reallocating unoccupied seats to one or more waitlisted users by the ticket management platform 110. The reallocating step comprises assigning the unoccupied seats to the waitlisted users and transmitting one or more assignment notifications to one or more mobile devices of the waitlisted users. By automatically reallocating the unoccupied seats to the waitlisted users, a low latency rate is ensured.

[0053] This written description uses examples to describe the subject matter herein, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the subject matter. The patentable scope of the subject matter is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they have structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal language of the claims.