Goal oriented travel planning system

• US 20020156661A1
• Filed: 05/10/2002
• Published: 10/24/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TVL LP (Sabre Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Travelocity.com LP (Expedia Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Offutt, Joseph R. Jr., Jones, Terrell B.
• Granted Patent: US 7,082,400 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/6
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/025 Coordination of plural reservations, e.g. plural trip segments, transportation combined with accommodation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99952 Coherency, e.g. same view to multiple users

Abstract

A travel system for processing travel requests based on a user'"'"'s travel destination goal such as a meeting place and time. The travel system selects a destination terminal, if one is not provided, and estimates a travel time between the destination terminal and the destination goal. An itinerary is then built interactively with the user selecting air, bus or train transportation, ground transportation, and, optionally, hotels, restaurants, and activities.

Claims

1. A data processing system for processing travel requests using a travel database, comprising:

a memory including program instructions; and

a processor operating responsive to the program instructions to;

receive a travel goal specifying a destination location and an appointment time for arrival at the destination location;

access the travel database to locate travel information corresponding to the destination location and the appointment time; and

determine an arrival time within a vicinity of the destination location using the located travel information to ensure arrival at the destination location by the appointment time.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein a plurality of travel stations are within the vicinity of the destination location, and wherein the processor further operates responsive to the program instructions to:

select one of the plurality of travel stations; and

determine available modes of transportation between the selected travel station and the destination location.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the processor further operates responsive to the program instructions to:

display the available modes of transportation; and

receive a selection of one of the available modes of transportation.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the travel information includes a plurality of travel options available at the travel station, and wherein the processor further operates responsive to the program instructions to:

select one of the plurality of travel options that arrives at the travel station at the time of arrival sufficient to ensure arrival at the destination location by the appointment time.

5. The system according to claim 4 wherein the processor further operates responsive to the program instructions to

display data listing the plurality of travel options;

and

receive an indication of a selected travel conveyance.

6. The system according to claim 4 wherein the processor further operates responsive to the program instructions to

display data listing the plurality of travel options;

and

receive an indication of a selected travel flight.

7. The system according to claim 4, further comprising instructions to:

maintain a profile of travel preferences, wherein the travel option selection is based on the travel preferences.

8. The system according to claim 1 wherein the processor further operates responsive to the program instructions to:

receive a travel return date; and

display a list of return travel options from the travel station on the travel return date.

9. The system according to claim 1 wherein the processor further operates responsive to the program instructions to:

determine whether an overnight stay is required; and

display a list of hotels for selection.

10. The system according to claim 9 wherein the processor further operates responsive to the program instructions to:

receive a selection of one of the hotels; and

reserve a room at the selected hotel.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the processor further operates responsive to the program instructions to locate restaurants in a vicinity of the destination site.

12. The system according to claim 11 wherein the processor further operates responsive to the program instructions to:

search a restaurant database for restaurants in the vicinity of the destination location.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor further operates responsive to the program instructions to locate restaurants includes an instruction to:

display the determined restaurants.

14. The system according to claim 1 wherein the processor further operates responsive to the program instructions to locate activities in a vicinity of the destination location.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the processor further operates responsive to the program instructions to locate activities includes an instruction to:

search an activities database for the activities in the vicinity of the destination location.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein the processor further operates responsive to the program instructions to locate activities includes an instruction to:

display a list of the determined activities.

17. The system of claim 1 wherein the processor further operates responsive to the program instructions to provide travel information in accordance with the determined arrival time.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the travel information includes geographic data for travel between the travel station and the destination.

19. The system of claim 1 wherein the travel goal may include a plurality of legs of travel each leg of travel including a different destination location and appointment time for arrival at the destination location.

20. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for processing travel requests using a travel database by:

receiving a travel goal specifying a destination location and an appointment time for arrival at the destination location;

accessing the travel database to locate travel information corresponding to the destination location and the appointment time; and

determining an arrival time within a vicinity of the destination location using the located travel information to ensure arrival at the destination location by the appointment time.

21. The medium of claim 20 wherein a plurality of travel stations are within a vicinity of the destination location, and wherein the instruction for determining includes instructions to:

select one of the plurality of travel stations; and

determine available modes of transportation between the selected travel station and the destination location.

22. The medium of claim 21 wherein the instruction for determining available modes of transportation further includes instructions to:

display the available modes of transportation; and

receive a selection of one of the available modes of transportation.

23. The medium of claim 20 wherein a plurality of travel options are available at a travel station, and wherein the instruction for determining includes instructions to:

select one of the plurality of travel options that arrives at the travel station at the time of arrival sufficient to ensure arrival at the destination location by the appointment time.

24. The medium according to claim 23 wherein the instruction for selecting further includes instructions to:

display data listing the plurality of travel options; and

receive an indication of a selected travel conveyance.

25. The medium according to claim 23 wherein the instruction for selecting further includes instructions to:

display data listing the plurality of travel options; and

receive an indication of a selected travel flight.

26. The medium according to claim 23 further including instructions to:

maintain a profile of travel preferences, wherein the travel option selection is based on the travel preferences.

27. The medium according to claim 20 further including instructions to:

receive a travel return date; and

display a list of return travel options from the travel station on the travel return date.

28. The medium according to claim 20 further including instructions to:

determine whether an overnight stay is required; and

display a list of hotels for selection.

29. The medium according to claim 28 further including instructions to:

receive a selection of one of the hotels; and

reserve a room at the selected hotel.

30. The medium of claim 20 further including an instruction to locate restaurants in a vicinity of the destination site.

31. The medium according to claim 30 wherein the instruction to locate restaurants includes an instruction to:

search a restaurant database for restaurants in the vicinity of the destination location.

32. The medium of claim 30, wherein the instruction to locate restaurants includes an instruction to:

display the determined restaurants.

33. The medium according to claim 20 further including an instruction to locate activities in a vicinity of the destination location.

34. The medium of claim 33 wherein the instruction to locate activities includes an instruction to:

search an activities database for the activities in the vicinity of the destination location.

35. The medium of claim 33 wherein the instruction to locate activities includes an instruction to:

display a list of the determined activities.

36. The medium of claim 20 further including an instruction to provide travel information in accordance with the determined arrival time.

37. The medium of claim 36 wherein the travel information includes geographic data for travel between the travel station and the destination.

38. The medium of claim 21 wherein the travel goal may include a plurality of legs of travel each leg of travel including a different destination location and appointment time for arrival at the destination location.

40. The method of claim 39 wherein a plurality of travel stations are within a vicinity of the destination location, and wherein the step for determining includes steps to:

select one of the plurality of travel stations; and

determine available modes of transportation between the selected travel station and the destination location.

41. The method of claim 40 wherein the step for determining available modes of transportation further includes steps to:

display the available modes of transportation; and

receive a selection of one of the available modes of transportation.

42. The method of claim 39 wherein a plurality of travel options are available at a travel station, and wherein the step for determining includes the step of:

selecting one of the plurality of travel options that arrives at the travel station at the time of arrival sufficient to ensure arrival at the destination location by the appointment time.

43. The method according to claim 42 wherein the step for selecting further includes steps to:

display data listing the plurality of travel options; and

receive an indication of a selected travel conveyance.

44. The method according to claim 42 wherein the step for selecting further includes steps to:

display data listing the plurality of travel options; and

receive an indication of a selected travel flight.

45. The method according to claim 42 further comprising the step of:

maintaining a profile of travel preferences, wherein the travel option selection is based on the travel preferences.

46. The method according to claim 39 further including steps to:

receive a travel return date; and

display a list of return travel options from the travel station on the travel return date.

47. The method according to claim 39 further including steps to:

determine whether an overnight stay is required; and

display a list of hotels for selection.

48. The method according to claim 47 further including steps to:

receive a selection of one of the hotels; and

reserve a room at the selected hotel.

49. The method of claim 39 further including the step of locating restaurants in a vicinity of the destination site.

50. The method according to claim 49 wherein the step of locating restaurants includes the step of:

searching a restaurant database for restaurants in the vicinity of the destination location.

51. The method of claim 49, wherein the step of locating restaurants includes the step of:

displaying the determined restaurants.

52. The method according to claim 39 further including the step of locating activities in a vicinity of the destination location.

53. The method of claim 52 wherein the step of locating activities includes the step of:

searching an activities database for the activities in the vicinity of the destination location.

54. The method of claim 51 wherein the step of locating activities includes the step of:

displaying a list of the determined activities.

55. The method of claim 39 further including a step of providing travel information in accordance with the determined arrival time.

56. The method of claim 55 wherein the travel information includes geographic data for travel between the travel station and the destination.

57. The method of claim 39 wherein the step of receiving a travel goal includes the steps of

receiving a plurality of legs of travel each leg of travel including a different destination location and appointment time for arrival at the destination location.

39. A method for processing travel requests using a travel database comprising the steps of:

receiving a travel goal specifying a destination location and an appointment time arrival at the destination location;

accessing the travel database to locate travel information corresponding to the destination location and the appointment time; and

determining an arrival time within a vicinity of the destination location using the located travel information to ensure arrival at the destination location by the appointment time.

58. A method for processing travel requests including the steps of:

receiving a travel goal including a destination location and an appointment time;

recommending a plurality of travel options and recommending a plurality of secondary modes of transportation based on the travel goal;

invoking a transportation decision system to select one of the plurality of travel options and one of the secondary modes of ground transportation based on the recommended travel options and the recommended secondary ground transportation;

determining whether an overnight stay is required;

invoking a hotel decision support system to select a hotel when it is determined that an overnight stay is required; and

invoking an activity and restaurant decision support system to select activities and restaurants in a vicinity of the destination location.

59. A memory for access by a computational entity being executed by a processor including:

a transportation subsystem having instructions to select modes and times of transportation;

a hotel subsystem having instructions to select hotels in a vicinity of a destination site;

activity and restaurant subsystem having instructions to select activities or restaurants near a destination site; and

ground transportation subsystem having instructions to select ground transportation to a destination site.

60. A system for searching for travel alternatives in a travel database including:

a memory including program instructions; and

a processor operating responsive to the program instructions to;

receive a request indicating a travel plan;

adjust the travel plan in accordance with stored travel constraints; and

search the travel database for travel alternatives that meet the adjusted travel plan.