System and Method for Mobile Virtual Mobile Ticketing
Provided herein are systems and methods for allowing mobile users to join a virtual line or queue for high demand tickets to an event. In an embodiment, users pay a small fee to join the virtual line or queue. After the users join the virtual line, the tickets to the event are allocated to the users in the virtual line based on an allocation policy set by the ticket distributor. After the allocation has been made, the users are notified of the allocation decision and each user that has been allocated a ticket is given an opportunity to purchase the ticket, e.g., within a purchase fulfillment period. In an embodiment, a user may purchase virtual tickets to join the virtual line or queue using his/her mobile phone/handset. In this embodiment, the user may be charged through his/her mobile carrier for the purchase of a virtual ticket.
1 . A method for distributing tickets to an event, comprising:
enabling customers to be placed in a queue for tickets to the event;
placing a customer in the queue when the customer purchases an entry into the queue;
allocating the tickets to customers in the queue based on an allocation policy; and
giving each customer that has been allocated a ticket an opportunity to purchase the ticket within a time period.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising enabling the customer to purchase the entry into the queue through a mobile phone.
3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising charging the customer for the entry into the queue through a mobile carrier of the customer, wherein the mobile carrier bills the customer for the purchase.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the allocation policy is on a first come first served basis, in which the tickets are allocated based on an order in which entries are received from the customers.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the allocation policy is based on a random selection of entries in the queue, in which each customer having a selected entry is given an opportunity to purchase the ticket.
6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein each entry is associated with a mobile number of the corresponding customer.
7 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising allowing only one entry per mobile number.
8 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising allowing multiple entries per mobile number.
9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
enabling customers in the queue to place bids on the tickets;
ordering the bids from highest bid to lowest bid; and
allocating the tickets to the customers in the queue based on the order of the bids.
10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising notifying a customer when the customer's bid is not high enough to receive a ticket.
11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
placing customers that have not been allocated a ticket in a wait list; and
when a customer that has been allocated a ticket fails to purchase the ticket within the time period, allocating the ticket to a customer in the wait list.
12 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing each customer that has been allocated a ticket a fulfillment code to purchase the ticket.
13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the fulfillment code comprises an alphanumeric code.
14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising enabling customers that have been allocated a ticket to purchase the ticket through a mobile site using the corresponding fulfillment code.
15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the mobile site comprises a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) site.
16 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising enabling customers that have been allocated a ticket to purchase the ticket through a web site using the corresponding fulfillment code.