JPH05233932A - Seat selecting device and ticket selling transaction processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To select a seat based on the scenery of a stage seen from a seat position by selecting specified data from among displayed plural visual data, and in response to selected result, reading and outputting a corresponding seat symbol out of a storage device. CONSTITUTION:A first seat symbol is taken out of a first storage device 1, and is stored in a fourth storage device 4. A converting device 6 into a visual data storage address determines the storage address of the visual data corresponding to the seat symbol stored in the fourth storage device 4 by using correspondence relation between the storage address of the visual data stored in a third storage device 3 and the seat symbol. Then, a visual data retriving, converting device 7 retrieves the visual data stored in a second storage device 2, and converts this data into displayable data form, and displays it on a display device 8. That displayed contents are the scernery of the stage seen from the specified seat, etc., and a ticket purchaser looks at the displayed contents, and if he is pleased with this, he selects displayed data.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

[Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to an automatic transaction processing device that can reserve or purchase tickets for events such as concerts and sports games.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When purchasing an admission ticket (hereinafter referred to as a ticket) for an event such as a concert or sports game, a seat may be designated at the time of ticket reservation or at the time of ticket purchase. Currently, seat positions are generally assigned by lottery or first-come-first-served basis. When allocating on a first-come-first-served basis, seat positions are determined in an order considered to be the best by an algorithm pre-installed in the computer.

[0003]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The seats assigned at the time of ticket purchase can be known from the seating chart, but it is necessary to know what the stage looks like from that seat until you actually go to the venue. I can't.
It is an object of the present invention, when purchasing an admission ticket (ticket) for an event, a ticket purchaser selects a visually considered best seat among the remaining seats at the time of ticket reservation or ticket purchase. Is to provide a seat selection device for. It is another object of the present invention to provide a ticket sales transaction processing device including the seat selection device. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a ticket sales transaction processing system in which one or more ticket sales transaction processing devices are connected to a host computer.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, means for storing a symbol (seat symbol) indicating a seat position which is vacant and means for storing visual data such as image data and computer graphics ( Specifically, the correspondence between the analog video signal recorded like a laser disk, the digital image recorded like a CD-ROM, etc.) and the seat symbol and the storage address of the visual data. , A means for storing the currently displayed seat symbol, a control means for sequentially reading the empty seat symbols from the means for storing the empty seat symbols, and corresponding visual data from the seat symbols. Means for obtaining the storage address of the data, means for retrieving visual data from the address and converting it into displayable data, and means for displaying the displayable data. And an input means for selecting specific visual data from a plurality of displayed visual data, the control means receives a selection result input from the input means, and a seat corresponding to the selection result. By configuring so as to output symbols, it is possible to obtain a seat selection device capable of visually selecting the most preferable seat.

Further, by providing the above-mentioned seat selecting means with a storage means for storing the correspondence between the seats and the ticket price, a means for paying the ticket price, a means for issuing a ticket and a transaction processing control means, the offline ( It is possible to configure a ticket sales transaction processing device that automatically sells tickets in a stand-alone manner.

Further, means for communicating with the host computer is provided in the above-mentioned ticket sales transaction processing device, and one or more ticket sales transaction processing devices are connected to the host computer via a communication line, whereby tickets are automatically generated online. Since it is not necessary to allocate tickets to be sold to each ticket sales transaction processing device in advance, one ticket sales transaction processing device sells tickets, but another ticket sales transaction processing device The device can prevent the unfairness of surplus tickets.

[0007]

[Operation] A case where a ticket purchaser selects a seat at an event venue when purchasing a ticket or making a reservation will be described. The seat symbol that can be sold by a specific transaction processing device is stored in the means for storing the seat symbol. The control means extracts one seat symbol from the means for storing the seat symbol and stores it in the means for storing the currently displayed seat symbol. By using the correspondence between the storage address of the visual data and the symbol indicating the seat position stored in the means for storing the correspondence between the seat symbol and the storage address of the visual data, Find the storage address of the corresponding visual data. Visual data stored in the means for storing visual data at the storage address is searched, the data is converted into a displayable data format, and then displayed on the display means.

The displayed contents are the scenery of the stage seen from a specific seat, etc. If the ticket purchaser is interested in the displayed contents, he / she selects the display data using the input means. The selection result is input to the control means. If there is no input from the ticket purchaser, the control means retrieves another seat symbol, and in the same manner, sequentially displays the scenery of the stage seen from the vacant seat until there is an input from the ticket purchaser. When there is an input from the ticket purchaser, the control means then outputs the seat position corresponding to the seat symbol stored in the means for storing the currently displayed seat symbol. Finally, the seat symbol stored in the means for storing the currently displayed seat symbol is deleted from the means for storing the empty seat symbol. This allows ticket buyers to
It becomes possible to select the visually most preferable seat from the vacant seats.

When the seat is confirmed by the above processing procedure, the ticket price is obtained from the seat position by using the storage means for storing the correspondence between the seat and the ticket price, and the price is displayed on the display means. After the ticket price is settled by a cash processing unit or a ticket price settlement unit that reads a magnetic stripe such as a cash card or a credit card, a ticket is issued by a ticket issuing unit such as a printer. With the above processing procedure, tickets can be sold automatically.

Further, by utilizing the communication means with the host computer, the vacant seat information can be shared in advance by a plurality of transaction processing devices by obtaining the vacant seat information from the host computer each time a ticket is started to be sold. It will be possible and the reliability of card payment will be improved.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(1) Seat Selection Device FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing an outline of processing contents performed by the seat selection device of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the seat selection device. Reference numeral 1 is a first storage device that stores a symbol indicating a seat position that is an empty seat (hereinafter, referred to as a seat symbol). 2 is a second for storing visual data such as image data and computer graphics.
Storage device. Specifically, a medium such as a laser disc on which an analog video signal is recorded, or a CD-RO
There is a medium such as M in which an image is digitally recorded.
It may also be a storage device such as a hard disk or a magneto-optical disk. A third storage device 3 stores the correspondence between the seat symbol and the storage address of the visual data. Four
Is a fourth storage device for storing a seat symbol corresponding to the currently displayed visual data.

Numeral 5 sequentially reads the seat symbols from the first storage device, stores them in the fourth storage device, sends them to the conversion device 6 for converting the visual data storage address, and also in response to the input from the input device 9. The seat selection control device reads out a new seat symbol or sends the seat symbol stored in the fourth storage device to another device 10 described later. Reference numeral 6 is a conversion device for converting a seat symbol read from the first storage device into a visual data storage address for obtaining a storage address of visual data corresponding thereto. Reference numeral 7 is a visual data retrieval / conversion device that retrieves visual data from the address and converts it into displayable data. Specifically, there are a laser disc player and a CD-ROM driver.
A display device 8 displays the displayable data.
Reference numeral 9 is an input device for selecting specific visual data from the plurality of displayed visual data. Specifically, there is a touch panel or the like installed on the display device.
Reference numeral 10 is another device that sends a command to the seat selection control device 5 of the seat selection device, and is specifically a control device in a ticket sales transaction processing device.

Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 1, a description will be given of the contents of processing in the seat selection device which is performed based on an operation in which the ticket purchaser visually selects the best seat at the time of purchasing a ticket or making a reservation. In the first storage device 1,
A symbol representing a seat position that can be sold by the ticket sales transaction processing device (that is, a seat symbol representing an empty seat position) is stored in advance. FIG. 3 shows an example of the data 30 stored in the first storage device 1.

When the seat selection control device 5 receives a seat selection command from another device 10, it starts a seat selection process. First, 1 is substituted for i (step 100). The i-th seat symbol (for example, "A-1") is taken out from the first storage device 1 and stored in the fourth storage device 4 (step 110).
The visual data storage address conversion device 6 uses the correspondence between the visual data storage address (eg, “FR0001”, the first frame) stored in the third storage device 3 and the seat symbol. , The storage address of the visual data corresponding to the seat symbol stored in the fourth storage means 4 is obtained (step 120). FIG. 4 shows an example of the data 31 stored in the third storage device. The visual data retrieval / conversion device retrieves visual data stored in the second storage means at the storage address, converts the visual data into a displayable data format (step 130), and then displays it on the display means. (Step 140). The display content is a scene of the stage seen from a specific seat, etc. If the ticket purchaser is interested in the display content, he or she selects the display data using the input means (step 150).

If there is no input from the ticket purchaser even after a predetermined time has passed (step 160), the seat selection control device 5 increments i (step 17).
0). If i becomes larger than the number of seats n (step 180), 1 is substituted for i (step 190). If not, nothing is done and the process returns to step 110. if,
If there is input from the ticket purchaser (step 16
0), the seat symbol stored in the fourth storage device at that time represents the position of the selected seat. The seat selection control device 5 deletes the seat symbol stored in the fourth storage device 4 from the first storage device 1 (step 200),
The seat symbol stored in the fourth storage device is notified to the other device 10 which is the command issuer (step 210). This completes the process.

In this way, the scenery of the stage that can be seen from the vacant seats is sequentially displayed until there is an input from the ticket purchaser, and the scenery that the ticket purchaser likes the most is selected,
The ticket purchaser will be able to visually select the most preferred seat from among the available seats.

(2) Offline Ticket Sales Transaction Processing Device FIG. 5 shows an offline ticket sales transaction processing device 11
FIG. This is the fifth storage device 1 for storing the correspondence between the seat symbol and the ticket price in the device configuration of FIG.
2, a sixth storage device 13 for storing information regarding the date and time of the event, an event such as the organizer, and a ticket price settlement device 14.
And a ticket issuing device 15 and a transaction processing control device 16 for controlling them. Specifically, the ticket price settlement device 14 is an automatic cash processing device (AT
It refers to a cash processing unit, magnetic card reader, etc. used in M). In this embodiment, the case of a cash processing unit will be described.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the processing contents of the transaction processing apparatus. Transaction processing control device 11
First, in response to the operation of the ticket purchaser, the information regarding the event is read from the sixth storage device 13 (step 30).
0), and display on the display device 8 (step 310). This information includes the date and time of the event, performers, organizers, ticket prices, and so on. When there is an input to purchase a ticket from the input device 9 (step 320), "Please select the desired seat in the scenery seen from the seat" is displayed on the display device 8 (step 330), and then transaction processing control is performed. The device 16 sends a seat selection start command to the seat selection control device 5 (step 340). The seat selection control device 5 selects the seat desired by the ticket purchaser by the process of FIG. 1 and returns the seat symbol to the transaction processing control device 16 (step 3).
45).

When the transaction processing control device 16 receives the seat symbol from the seat selection control device 5 (step 350),
A ticket price for the selected seat is obtained using the fifth storage device 12 (step 360), displayed on the display device 8 (step 370), and a payment instruction is sent to the ticket price payment device 14 (step 380). .. When the ticket purchaser inputs cash, the ticket price settlement device 14 counts the cash, and if it is equal to the ticket price, returns a settlement completion notification to the transaction processing control device 16. If the input amount is larger than the ticket price, the ticket purchaser returns the fishing amount, and if the input amount is small, the shortage amount is requested. When the transaction processing control device 16 receives the settlement completion notification from the ticket price settlement device 16 (step 390), it sends a ticket issuing command to the ticket issuing device 15 (step 400).
The ticket issuing device 15 obtains the information related to the event, the seat sign, and the ticket price through the transaction processing control device 16, prints it on the ticket, and issues it to the ticket purchaser. When the issuance is completed, the transaction processing control device 16 is notified of the completion of ticketing. When the transaction processing control device 16 receives the ticket completion notification (step 410), the transaction processing control device 16 again executes step 3
Return to 00. As described above, it becomes possible for the ticket purchaser to automatically sell the ticket for the seat that is visually best.

(3) Online ticket sales transaction processing device By providing a communication device 18 in the offline ticket sales transaction processing device 11 and connecting it to the host computer 19 through a communication line, it is possible to sell tickets online. Become. A seventh storage device 20 stores vacant seat information, and is connected to a host computer 19. A plurality of ticket sales transaction processing devices 11 can be connected to the host computer 19.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of the online ticket sales transaction processing apparatus 17. The processing in the transaction control processing device 17 when online is basically the same as in FIG. However, immediately before issuing a seat selection command to the seat selection control device 5, the transaction processing control device 16 inquires of the host computer 19 about the vacant seat status via the communication device 18, and stores the result in the first storage device 1. , When the seat selection control device 5 returns the seat symbol which is the selection result,
The difference is that the transaction processing control device 16 transmits the seat code to the host computer 19 through the communication device 18.

The host computer is the transaction processor 17
The vacant seat information in the seventh storage device 20 is updated using the seat symbol sent from the. Further, when a magnetic card reader is used as the ticket price settlement device 14, the credit status of the card can be inquired to the host computer 19 via the communication device 18. As a result, the vacancy information can be shared by a plurality of transaction processing devices, so that it is possible to prevent an unfair situation in which one transaction processing device has a vacant seat but another transaction processing device has no vacant seat. .. Further, when a cash card or a credit card is used as a payment method for the ticket price, the validity of the card can be checked through the host computer, so that the reliability of the card payment can be improved.

(4) Seat selection device capable of displaying a plurality of seats In the seat selection device of (1), the scenery seen from one seat is sequentially presented one by one to allow the ticket purchaser to make a selection. However, here, multiple landscapes are displayed in the same way,
The case of selecting from among them will be described.

FIG. 8 shows the structure of a seat selection device for displaying the scenery seen from a plurality of seats. This is an eighth storage device 21 that stores and stores the position of a divided screen when one screen is divided into a plurality of parts in the device configuration of FIG. 2, and a visual that reduces visual data and arranges it on the screen. A dynamic data reduction / placement device 22 is provided.

FIG. 9 shows the data 32 of the eighth storage device 21.
For example: (X1, y1) is the upper left coordinate value and (x
2, y2) is the lower right coordinate value. FIG. 10 shows the position 33 on the screen. In addition, the fourth storage device 4 changes the number of seat symbols that can be stored from 1 to k. Where k is
It is the number of scenery seen from the seats displayed simultaneously on one screen, and in this embodiment, k = 9.

11 and 12 are flowcharts showing the processing in the case of multi-seat display. Substitute 1 for i (step 500). The i-th to i + k-1th seat symbols are read from the first storage device 1 and stored in the fourth storage device 4 (step 510).
Substitute 1 for j (step 520). Utilizing the correspondence relationship between the storage address of the visual data stored in the third storage device 3 and the seat symbol, the visual correspondence corresponding to the seat symbol stored in the j-th position of the fourth storage means 4 is utilized. The storage address of the data is obtained (step 530). The visual data stored in the second storage means is searched at the storage address (step 540), and k pieces of the data are reduced to a size that can be simultaneously displayed on the screen (step 550). Since k = 9 in the present embodiment, the data size is reduced to 1/3 in the vertical and horizontal directions. After converting the reduced visual data into a displayable data format (step 560),
It is displayed at the j-th position on the display means 8 (step 57).
0) (see Figure 10). Next, j is incremented (step 580), and if the value does not exceed k (step 590), the process returns to step 530. When j exceeds k (step 590), the input from the ticket purchaser is waited (step 600), and if there is no input even after a predetermined time has passed (step 610), i + k is substituted for i (step 620). ). If i becomes larger than the number of vacant seats n (step 630), 1 is substituted for i (step 640), otherwise, nothing is done and step 510 is executed.
Return to.

If there is an input from the ticket purchaser (step 610), from the coordinates of the touch panel touched by the ticket purchaser, using the information of the screen position stored in the eighth storage means, the number of It is determined whether the screen is selected and the value is substituted for m (step 650). The m-th seat symbol stored in the fourth storage device at that time represents the position of the selected seat. After deleting the m-th seat symbol stored in the fourth storage device 4 from the first storage device 1 (step 660), m of the fourth storage device is deleted.
The second stored seat code is notified to the other device 10 which is the command issuer (step 670), and the process is completed. As described above, since it is possible to show a plurality of landscapes at once, the selection time can be shortened and the landscapes seen from a plurality of seats can be compared with each other, which facilitates selection.

[0029]

[Effects of the Invention] Since the seats can be selected in the scenery seen from the seats of the event venue, it becomes possible for the ticket purchaser to visually select the best seat at the time of ticket purchase or reservation.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a flowchart showing processing contents of a seat selection device.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a seat processing device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing vacant seat data stored in a first storage device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing data representing a correspondence relationship between seat symbols stored in a third storage device and storage addresses of visual data.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of an offline ticket sales transaction processing apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a flowchart showing processing contents of an offline ticket sales transaction processing apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration of an online ticket sales transaction processing apparatus.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a configuration of a seat selection device that displays a landscape seen from a plurality of seats.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing data stored in an eighth storage device.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an arrangement on the screen when a plurality of landscapes are displayed.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a flowchart showing the processing contents of the seat selection device when a plurality of landscapes are displayed.

12 is a diagram showing a flowchart following the flowchart of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 1st memory | storage device 2 2nd memory | storage device 3 3rd memory | storage device 4 4th memory | storage device 5 Seat selection control device 6 Conversion device to visual data storage address 7 Visual data retrieval / conversion device 8 Display device 9 input device 10 other device 11 offline ticket sales transaction processing device 12 fifth storage device 13 sixth storage device 14 ticket price settlement device 15 ticket issuing device 16 transaction processing control device 17 online ticket sales transaction processing Device 18 Communication Device 19 Host Computer 20 Seventh Storage Device 21 Eighth Storage Device 22 Visual Data Reduction / Arrangement Device 30 Data Stored in First Storage Device 31 Stored in Third Storage Device Data 32 Data stored in eighth storage device 33 Screen division example

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A seat selection device for selecting a seat in a concert, a sports game, or the like, comprising: a storage means for a seat symbol, which is a symbol indicating a seat position that is vacant, and visual data corresponding to the seat position. Storing means for storing correspondence information between a seat symbol and an address for storing visual data; a converting means for searching the means with a seat symbol to obtain a storage address for corresponding visual data; A search / conversion means for retrieving visual data from the means for storing visual data, a display means for displayable data, a selection means for selecting specific visual information from the displayed visual information, and a control means, In response to the seat selection instruction, the control means reads out and stores the seat symbol and sends it to the conversion means, and upon receipt of the seat symbol, the conversion means and the search / conversion means are sequentially operated. A seat selection device, which operates to display displayable data on a display means, and wherein the control means outputs a stored seat symbol when receiving an output from the selection means. 2. The seat selection device according to claim 1,
When the screen of the display means is divided into a plurality of parts, the storage means for the position of the divided screen is connected to the control means, and the search / conversion means is used as a search means for searching visual data from the visual data storage means. Between the search means and the display means, a reduction arrangement means for reducing and converting a plurality of visual data into displayable data in order to display visual information on the display means is arranged and connected, and the control means Seat selection characterized in that visual information corresponding to the read plural seat symbols is displayed on the display means, and the control means outputs the seat symbol corresponding to the visual information selected by the selecting means. apparatus. 3. The seat selection device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the displayed visual information is a landscape image seen from a seat position. 4. A seat selection device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, a means for storing a correspondence between a seat symbol and a ticket price, a means for settling a ticket price, and a ticket. A transaction processing device for ticket sales, characterized in that a transaction processing device including a means for issuing a ticket and a transaction processing control means is connected. 5. The ticket sales transaction processing apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising communication means, and at least one ticket sales transaction processing apparatus provided with the communication means is connected to a host computer through the communication means. An empty seat symbol storage means is connected to the host computer, the transaction processing control means inquires of the host computer about the empty seat symbol and the result is stored in the seat selection device seat symbol storage means. A transaction processing system for ticket sales, characterized in that a seat symbol having a full seat is sent to the host computer to update the contents of the seat symbol storage means connected to the host computer.