Use of ticket for purchasing
View Patent ↗Methods and systems are provided for facilitating payment for products purchased at events. More particularly, a ticket, rather than cash or credit cards, can be used to purchase products at events. For example, ticket holder can purchase food and drinks at a merchant's concession using the ticket or the ticket holder can purchase souvenirs at a gift shop associated with the event using the ticket. A bar code or the like can be scanned by the merchant and communicated to a payment provider to facilitate the transaction. The purchase can be made anonymously, such that information regarding the user cannot be obtained by merchant and/or sold for use by marketing companies.
1. A system comprising:
a non-transitory memory; and
one or more hardware processors coupled to the non-transitory memory and configured to read instructions from the non-transitory memory to cause the system to perform operations comprising:
receiving, through a network from a first user device via a first virtual ticket application, a first request from a user to add purchasing power to a ticket associated with a user account that was purchased for admittance to an event by the user;
creating an ad hoc account that provides funds to the ticket and that is funded by the user account;
adding the purchasing power requested in the first request to the ad hoc account from the user account that identifies the user of the user account without recording information regarding the user account with the ad hoc account;
electronically providing, through the network for display on the first user device via the first virtual ticket application, the ticket having the purchasing power, wherein the ticket is configurable on a display of the first user device to display purchase request information that includes the purchasing power and that, in response to an electronic scan by a merchant device of a merchant, causes a second request from the user to purchase a product to be communicated to the system;
determining, based on the electronic scan of the purchase request information, whether the purchasing power of the ticket is sufficient to purchase the product using the ticket;
authorizing, based on the electronic scan of the purchase request information, purchasing of the product using the ticket if the purchasing power is sufficient, wherein the electronically scanned purchase request information and the ad hoc account lack information that identifies the user of the ticket and the user account to the merchant and causes the merchant device to authorize purchasing of the product using the ticket without receiving any information that identifies the user and the user account;
receiving a third request to transfer the ticket from the first virtual ticket application on the first user device to a second virtual ticket application on a second user device; and
electronically providing, through the network for display on the second user device via the second virtual ticket application, the ticket having the purchasing power.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the purchase request information comprises information regarding features of the ticket that include an identification of the ticket, and wherein the ticket comprises a paper ticket.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein adding the purchasing power requested in the first request to the ticket that is associated with the user account comprises receiving a first amount of funds from the user and adding a second amount of funds to the ticket, wherein the second amount is greater than the first amount, and wherein the purchase request information includes information regarding at least one item selected from a list consisting of:
a bar code of the ticket;
a quick response (QR) code of the ticket; and
a radio frequency identification (RFID) code of the ticket.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the purchase request information includes limitations on use of the ticket; and
wherein the operations further comprise:
determining if any of the limitations on use of the ticket will be violated by the purchase.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the determining, based on the electronic scan of the purchase request information, whether the purchasing power of the ticket is sufficient to purchase the product using the ticket comprises determining if an amount of the purchase will cause a purchasing money limit for the ticket to be exceeded.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise selecting a funding source for the purchase that depends, at least in part, upon the product purchased.
7. A method comprising:
receiving, at a server through a network from a first user device via a first virtual ticket application, a first request from a user to add purchasing power to a ticket associated with a user account that was purchased for admittance to an event by the user;
creating, by the server, an ad hoc account that provides funds to the ticket and that is funded by the user account;
adding, by the server, the purchasing power requested in the first request to the ad hoc account from the user account that identifies the user of the user account without recording information regarding the user account with the ad hoc account;
providing, electronically by the server through the network for display on the first user device via the first virtual ticket application, the ticket having the purchasing power, wherein the ticket is configurable on a display of the first user device to display purchase request information that includes the purchasing power and that, in response to an electronic scan by a merchant device of a merchant causes a second request from the user to purchase a product to be communicated to the server;
determining, based on the electronic scan of the purchase request information, whether the purchasing power of the ticket is sufficient to purchase the product using the ticket;
authorizing, based on the electronic scan of the purchase request information, purchasing of the product using the ticket if the purchasing power is sufficient, wherein the electronically scanned purchase request information and the ad hoc account lack information that identifies the user of the ticket and the user account to the merchant and causes the merchant device to authorize purchasing of the product using the ticket without receiving any information that identifies the user and the user account; and
receiving a third request to transfer the ticket from the first virtual ticket application on the first user device to a second virtual ticket application on a second user device; and
electronically providing, through the network for display on the second user device via the second virtual ticket application, the ticket having the purchasing power.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the purchase request information comprises information regarding features of the ticket that include an identification of the ticket, and wherein the ticket comprises a paper ticket.
9. The method of claim 7 , wherein adding, by the server, the purchasing power requested in the first request to the ticket that is associated with the user account includes receiving a first amount of funds from the user and adding a second amount of funds to the ticket, wherein the second amount is greater than the first amount, and wherein the purchase request information includes information regarding at least one item selected from a list consisting of:
a bar code of the ticket;
a quick response (QR) code of the ticket; and
a radio frequency identification (RFID) code of the ticket.
10. The method of claim 7 , wherein:
the purchase request information includes limitations on use of the ticket; and
wherein the operations further comprise:
determining if any of the limitations on use of the ticket will be violated by the purchase.
11. The method of claim 7 , wherein the operations further comprise selecting funding source for the purchase that depends, at least in part, upon the product purchased.
12. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having stored thereon machine-readable instructions executable to cause a machine to perform operations comprising:
receiving, through a network from a first user device via a first virtual ticket application, a first request from a user to add purchasing power to a ticket associated with a user account that was purchased for admittance to an event by the user;
creating an ad hoc account that provides funds to the ticket and that is funded by the user account;
adding the purchasing power requested in the first request to the ad hoc account from the user account that identifies the user of the user account without recording information regarding the user account with the ad hoc account;
electronically providing, through the network for display on the first user device via the first virtual ticket application, the ticket having the purchasing power, wherein the ticket is configurable on a display of the first user device to display purchase request information that includes the purchasing power and that, in response to an electronic scan by a merchant device of a merchant, causes a second request from the user to purchase a product to be communicated to the server;
determining, based on the electronic scan of the purchase request information, whether the purchasing power of the ticket is sufficient to purchase the product using the ticket;
authorizing, based on the electronic scan of the purchase request information, purchasing of the product using the ticket if the purchasing power is sufficient, wherein the electronically scanned purchase request information and the ad hoc account lack information that identifies the user of the ticket and the user account to the merchant and causes the merchant device to authorize purchasing of the product using the ticket without receiving any information that identifies the user and the user account;
receiving a third request to transfer the ticket from the first virtual ticket application on the first user device to a second virtual ticket application on a second user device; and
electronically providing, through the network for display on the second user device via the second virtual ticket application, the ticket having the purchasing power.
13. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the purchase request information comprises information regarding features of the ticket that include an identification of the ticket, and wherein the ticket comprises a paper ticket.
14. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the adding the purchasing power requested in the first request to the ticket that is associated with the user account includes receiving a first amount of funds from the user and adding a second amount of funds to the ticket, wherein the second amount is greater than the first amount, and wherein the purchase request information includes information regarding at least one item selected from a list consisting of:
a bar code of the ticket;
a quick response (QR) code of the ticket; and
a radio frequency identification (RFID) code of the ticket.
15. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein:
the purchase request information includes limitations on use of the ticket; and
wherein the operations further comprise:
determining if any of the limitations on use of the ticket will be violated by the purchase.
16. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the determining, based on the electronic scan of the purchase request information, whether the purchasing power of the ticket is sufficient to purchase the product using the ticket includes determining if an amount of the purchase will cause a purchasing money limit for the ticket to be exceeded.
17. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise selecting a funding source for the purchase that depends, at least in part, upon the product purchased.
18. The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
removing the ticket from the first virtual ticket application on the first user device in response to the electronically providing, through the network for display on the second user device via the second virtual ticket application, the ticket having the purchasing power.
19. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
removing the ticket from the first virtual ticket application on the first user device in response to the electronically providing, through the network for display on the second user device via the second virtual ticket application, the ticket having the purchasing power.
20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise:
removing the ticket from the first virtual ticket application on the first user device in response to the electronically providing, through the network for display on the second user device via the second virtual ticket application, the ticket having the purchasing power.