System and methods for logging and searching history events such as airline flight or crew history

• US 10,360,084 B1
• Filed: 09/13/2018
• Issued: 07/23/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Airlines Incorporated (American Airlines Group Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: American Airlines Incorporated (American Airlines Group Incorporated)
• Inventors: Hawkins, Mark Alan, Wagner, Andrea Denise, Castle, Cary Andreas
• Primary Examiner(s): Sough, S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jordan, Kimberly L
• Application Number:
  US16/130,553
• Time in Patent Office: 313 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/252 between a Database Management System and a front-end application
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/26 Visual data mining; Browsing structured data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues

Abstract

A system and method according to which history events, such as airline flight or crew history events, are logged and searched. In one embodiment, sequenced information is obtained from one or more applications. In one embodiment, a user can input a single query and obtain sequenced information from new and legacy applications using the single query. In some embodiments, audit trail-like tracking of changes made to airline information is provided. In one embodiment, the system includes: a message handling system adapted to transform an event message; a message processor adapted to receive the event message and parse the event message; a database to which history data of the event message is persisted; and a query processor adapted to read airline flight or crew history event data in response to a query request, the airline flight or crew history event data comprising the history data.

Claims

1. A method of interacting with a data center to log airline history events from multiple locations and types of sources to facilitate subsequent multiple and simultaneous secure searches of data associated with the airline history events, the method comprising:

generating a plurality of first event records using a Transaction Processing Facility (“

TPF”

) application,

wherein each of the first event records has an event type and comprises one or more data elements,

wherein the event type of the each first event record is either an airline flight event or an airline crew event, and

wherein a code is assigned to each of the one or more data elements of the each first event record, each of the codes identifying either a type of airline flight event or a type of airline crew event;

transmitting each of the first event records from the TPF application to a message handling system;

transforming, using the message handling system, each of the first event records so that each of the first event records conforms to a standard Extensible Markup Language (“

XML”

) schema;

transmitting each of the first event records from the message handling system to an event logger application;

storing, in a database in communication with the event logger application, each of the first event records, wherein each of the first event records, as transmitted from the message handling system to the event logger application, conforms to the standard XML schema;

generating a plurality of second event records using a non-TPF application, wherein the second event records are generated independently of the first event records and thus the second event records are not based on the first event records;

wherein each of the second event records has an event type and comprises one or more data elements,

wherein the event type of the each second event record is either an airline flight event or an airline crew event, and

wherein a code is assigned to each of the one or more data elements of the each second event record, each of the codes identifying either a type of airline flight event or a type of airline crew event;

transmitting each of the second event records from the non-TPF application to the message handling system;

transforming, using the message handling system, each of the second event records so that each of the second event record conforms to the same standard XML schema as the standard XML schema to which each of the first event records is conformed;

transmitting each of the second event records from the message handling system to the event logger application; and

storing, in the database, each of the second event records, wherein each of the second event records, as transmitted from the message handling system to the event logger application, conforms to the same standard XML schema as the standard XML schema to which each of the first event records is conformed, and thus each of the first and second event records transmitted from the message handling system to the event logger application conforms to the same standard XML schema notwithstanding that;

each of the first event records is generated using the TPF application, and each of the second event records is generated using the non-TPF application and the generation of the second event records is independent of the generation of the first event records and thus the second event records are not based on the first event records;

load balancing, using one or more traffic manager (“

TM”

) devices associated with the data center, respective query requests by users, wherein the respective query requests by the users are load balanced by the one or more TM devices;

validating a first query request of the load-balanced respective query requests;

retrieving airline flight history data from the database, wherein the airline flight history data is retrieved in response to the first query request of the load-balanced respective query requests; and

presenting, using a graphical user interface (“

GUI”

) of the event logger application, the airline flight history data in accordance with search parameters of the first query request;

wherein the message handling system comprises;

first and second read queues at a first location; and

third and fourth read queues at a second location.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first event records is transmitted to the event logger application via the second read queue at the first location;

and

wherein at least one other of the first event records is transmitted to the event logger application via the fourth read queue at the second location.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the event logger application comprises a first message-driven bean (“

MDB”

), a second MDB, a third MDB, and a fourth MDB;

and wherein the method further comprises;

reading, using the first MDB, the one or more data elements of the at least one of the first event records; and

reading, using the second MDB, the one or more data elements of the at least one other of the first event records.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein storing, in the database in communication with the event logger application, each of the first event records comprises:

storing, in the database via a first write queue, the at least one of the first event records using a first session bean, which is in communication with the first MDB and which is in communication with the database via the first write queue; and

storing, in the database via a second write queue, the at least one other of the first event records using a second session bean, which is in communication with the second MDB and which is in communication with the database via the second write queue.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein at least one of the second event records is transmitted to the event logger application via the first read queue at the first location;

wherein at least one other of the second event records is transmitted to the event logger application via the third read queue at the second location;

wherein the method further comprises;

reading, using the third MDB, the one or more data elements of at least one of the second event records;

reading, using the fourth MDB, the one or more data elements of the least one other of the second event records;

storing, in the database via the first write queue, the at least one of the second event records using the first session bean, which is in communication with the third MDB; and

storing, in the database via the second write queue, the at least one other of the second event records using the second session bean, which is in communication with the fourth MDB.

6. A system for logging airline history events from multiple locations and types of sources to facilitate subsequent multiple and simultaneous secure searches of data associated with the airline history events, the system comprising:

a data center including a database;

one or more traffic manager (“

TM”

) devices, wherein at least one of the one or more TM devices is located within the data center;

first and second read queues at a first location, and third and fourth read queues at a second location, wherein the second location is different from, and is remotely located from, the first location, and wherein neither the first location nor the second location is within the data center;

a first session bean in communication with the database via a first write queue;

first and second message-driven beans (“

MDBs”

), each of which is in communication with the first session bean;

a second session bean in communication with the database via a second write queue;

third and fourth MDBs, each of which is communication with the second session bean;

a first machine of which the first session bean, and the first and third MDBs, are a part, wherein the first machine is in communication with the one or more TM devices, and wherein the first machine is in communication with the database via a fifth read queue; and

a second machine of which the second session bean, and the second and fourth MDBs, are a part, wherein the second machine is in communication with the one or more TM devices, and wherein the second machine is in communication with the database via the fifth read queue;

wherein the one or more TM devices load balance respective query requests by users, wherein the respective query requests by the users are load balanced between at least the first and second machines by the one or more TM devices; and

wherein each of the first and second machines further comprises;

a plugin from which a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (“

HTTP”

) header is adapted to be forwarded; and

a graphical user interface (“

GUI”

) to which the HTTP header is adapted to be forwarded from the plugin.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein each of the first and second machines further comprises:

a query processor in communication with the database via the fifth read queue, wherein the query processor is adapted to read airline flight or crew history data from the database in response to a query request by a user, the query request comprising a plurality of search parameters;

wherein the GUI is adapted to generate the query request and present to the user the airline flight or crew event history data read from the database in accordance with the search parameters.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein a user profile is associated with the query request by the user, and wherein the user profile is a part of application group(s) adapted to be retrieved from a lightweight directory access protocol (“

LDAP”

) directory.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein a user profile is associated with the query request by the user, and wherein the user profile is a part of application group(s) adapted to be passed in the HTTP header from the plugin to determine privilege(s) for the application group(s) of which the user profile is a part.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein a user profile is associated with the query request by the user, and wherein the user profile is a part of application group(s) adapted to be retrieved from a lightweight directory access protocol (“

LDAP”

) directory and passed in the HTTP header from the plugin to determine privilege(s) for the application group(s) of which the user profile is a part.

11. A system, comprising:

a data center including a database;

one or more traffic manager (“

TM”

) devices associated with the data center;

a first session bean in communication with the database via a first write queue;

first and second message-driven beans (“

MDBs”

), each of which is in communication with the first session bean;

a second session bean in communication with the database via a second write queue;

third and fourth MDBs, each of which is communication with the second session bean;

a first machine of which the first session bean, and the first and third MDBs, are a part, wherein the first machine is in communication with the one or more TM devices, and wherein the first machine is in communication with the database via a fifth read queue; and

a second machine of which the second session bean, and the second and fourth MDBs, are a part, wherein the second machine is in communication with the one or more TM devices, and wherein the second machine is in communication with the database via the fifth read queue;

wherein the one or more TM devices load balance respective query requests by users, wherein the respective query requests by the users are load balanced between at least the first and second machines by the one or more TM devices; and

wherein each of the first and second machines further comprises;

a query processor in communication with the database via the fifth read queue, wherein the query processor is adapted to read airline flight or crew history data from the database in response to a query request by a user, the query request comprising a plurality of search parameters;

and

wherein each of the first and second machines further comprises;

a plugin from which a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (“

HTTP”

) header is adapted to be forwarded; and

a graphical user interface (“

GUI”

) to which the HTTP header is adapted to be forwarded from the plugin, via which the query request by the user is adapted to be generated, and via which the airline flight or crew event history data read from the database is adapted to be presented to the user.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein a user profile is associated with the query request by the user;

and

wherein the user profile is a part of application group(s) adapted to be;

retrieved from a lightweight directory access protocol (“

LDAP”

) directory; and

/or

passed in the HTTP header from the plugin to determine privilege(s) for the application group(s) of which the user profile is a part.