Patent ID: 7030732

Claim:
A reservation system comprising: a database configured to store information identifying customers who have purchased tickets for an event, information about the scheduled time for the event, and information identifying customers who have arrived; a controller configured to operate on the database; and a wireless transponder in communication with the controller, and an antenna coupled to the wireless transponder, the transponder being configured to periodically send wireless commands requesting wireless responses from portable identification devices, the portable identification devices being configured to transmit identifying data in response to receiving a command, the wireless transponder having a predetermined communications range and being configured to communicate with portable identification devices within the predetermined communications range, the controller being configured to modify the database to indicate that one of the customers who purchased a ticket has arrived, responsive to the wireless transponder receiving a response from the portable identification device associated with that customer, which response includes identifying data for that customer, provided that the scheduled time is less than a predetermined amount of time away.