Apparatus and Method for Seat Management in an Audience Venue

摘要

A novel mass audience venue seat is disclosed, which seat can be locked and unlocked by one or more of a variety of security tokens. The seat is designed to prevent ticket holders from ‘cheating down’ into more expensive seats thereby annoying fellow customers. By being electronically connected into a seat management inventory system, moviegoers and sports fans are provided with a legitimate way to upgrade their seat (much like a seat upgrade on a commercial airline), also creating a new revenue stream for venue and stadium owners. The instant mass audience venue seat can be embodied in an item of original equipment manufacture or in a less-costly retrofit kit.

主权项

1. A mass audience venue seat comprising:
a) a back support member; b) a seat support member associated with said back support member having a closed position when placed relatively parallel to said back support member, and having an open position when placed relatively perpendicular to said back support member so as to allow the patron to sit thereon; c) a locking mechanism releasably associated with said mass audience seat, having a locked mode keeping the seat support member in the closed position and having a released mode allowing the mass audience seat to be in the open position; and; d) a controller-reader able to read a patron's payment token and activate the locking mechanism to release the seat support member from the closed position to the open position.