Bounded flexibility search and interface for travel reservations
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of searching travel products and providing a plurality of alternative travel itineraries to the user comprising:
- querying the user for a first set of input data, the input data being at least one departure airport or geography range and at least one arrival geography range associated with the travel departure and arrival;
searching the information storage and retrieval system for travel departure and arrival information corresponding to the first set of input data;
displaying the information associated with the selected travel departure and arrival information, including a list of at least one departure airport selected or within the selected travel departure geography and a list of at least one arrival airport within the selected travel arrival geography;
querying the user for exact departure and arrival dates and times, a range of acceptable departure and arrival dates and times or a range of an acceptable length of stay;
querying a travel database comprising travel data including separately maintained travel schedule data items, fare data items, and fare limitation information for matching itineraries with all possible departure and arrival airport, date, time, length of stay, and number of connections combinations; and
displaying the information associated with the travel departure and arrival.
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Abstract
A system and method for selecting travel products, including but not limited to a system having a plurality of selection rules that enable the user to rapidly select the best travel product by using range searches for all search criteria.
91 Citations
94 Claims
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1. A method of searching travel products and providing a plurality of alternative travel itineraries to the user comprising:
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querying the user for a first set of input data, the input data being at least one departure airport or geography range and at least one arrival geography range associated with the travel departure and arrival;
searching the information storage and retrieval system for travel departure and arrival information corresponding to the first set of input data;
displaying the information associated with the selected travel departure and arrival information, including a list of at least one departure airport selected or within the selected travel departure geography and a list of at least one arrival airport within the selected travel arrival geography;
querying the user for exact departure and arrival dates and times, a range of acceptable departure and arrival dates and times or a range of an acceptable length of stay;
querying a travel database comprising travel data including separately maintained travel schedule data items, fare data items, and fare limitation information for matching itineraries with all possible departure and arrival airport, date, time, length of stay, and number of connections combinations; and
displaying the information associated with the travel departure and arrival. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method of searching travel products and providing a plurality of alternative travel itineraries to the user comprising:
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querying the user for a first set of input data, the input data being at least one departure geography range and at least one arrival airport or geography range associated with the travel departure and arrival;
searching the information storage and retrieval system for travel departure and arrival information corresponding to the first set of input data;
displaying the information associated with the selected travel departure and arrival information, including a list of at least one departure airport within the selected travel departure geography and a list of at least one arrival airport selected or within the selected travel arrival geography;
querying the user for exact arrival departure and arrival dates and times, a range of acceptable departure and arrival dates and times or a range of an acceptable length of stay;
querying a travel database comprising travel data including separately maintained travel schedule data items, fare data items, and fare limitation information for matching itineraries with all possible departure and arrival airport, date, time, length of stay, and number of connections combinations; and
displaying the information associated with the travel departure and arrival. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A system of searching travel products and providing a plurality of alternative travel itineraries to the user comprising:
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querying means for querying the user for input data, the input data being at least one departure airport or geography range and at least one arrival geography range associated with the travel departure and arrival;
searching means for searching the information storage and retrieval system for travel departure and arrival information corresponding to the first set of input data;
displaying means for displaying the information associated with the selected travel departure and arrival information, including a list of at least one departure airport selected or within the selected travel departure geography and a list of at least one arrival airport within the selected travel arrival geography;
querying means for querying the user for exact departure and arrival dates and times, a range of acceptable departure and arrival dates and times or a range of an acceptable length of stay;
querying means for querying a travel database comprising travel data including separately maintained travel schedule data items, fare data items, and fare limitation information for matching itineraries with all possible departure and arrival airport, date, time, length of stay, and number of connections combinations; and
displaying means for displaying the information associated with the travel departure and arrival. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A system of searching travel products and providing a plurality of alternative travel itineraries to the user comprising:
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querying means for querying the user for a first set of input data, the input data being at least one departure geography range and at least one arrival airport or geography range associated with the travel departure and arrival;
searching means for searching the information storage and retrieval system for travel departure and arrival information corresponding to the first set of input data;
displaying means for displaying the information associated with the selected travel departure and arrival information, including a list of at least one departure airport within the selected travel departure geography and a list of at least one arrival airport selected or within the selected travel arrival geography;
querying means for querying the user for exact departure and arrival dates and times, a range of acceptable departure and arrival dates and times or a range of an acceptable length of stay;
querying means for querying a travel database comprising travel data including separately maintained travel schedule data items, fare data items, and fare limitation information for matching itineraries with all possible departure and arrival airport, date, time, length of stay, and number of connections combinations; and
displaying means for displaying the information associated with the travel departure and arrival. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method of searching travel products and providing a plurality of alternative travel itineraries to the user comprising:
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querying the user for a first set of input data, the input data being at least one departure airport or geography range and at least one arrival geography range associated with the travel departure and arrival;
searching the information storage and retrieval system for travel departure and arrival information corresponding to the first set of input data;
displaying the information associated with the selected travel departure and arrival information, including a list of at least one departure airport selected or within the selected travel departure geography and a list of at least one arrival airport within the selected travel arrival geography;
querying the user for a range of acceptable departure and arrival dates and times and a range of an acceptable length of stay;
querying a travel database comprising travel data including separately maintained travel schedule data items, fare data items, and fare limitation information for matching itineraries with all possible departure and arrival airport, date, time, length of stay, and number of connections combinations; and
displaying the information associated with the travel departure and arrival. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A method of searching travel products and providing a plurality of alternative travel itineraries to the user comprising:
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querying the user for a first set of input data, the input data being at least one departure geography range and at least one arrival airport or geography range associated with the travel departure and arrival;
searching the information storage and retrieval system for travel departure and arrival information corresponding to the first set of input data;
displaying the information associated with the selected travel departure and arrival information, including a list of at least one departure airport within the selected travel departure geography and a list of at least one arrival airport selected or within the selected travel arrival geography;
querying the user for a range of acceptable departure and arrival dates and times and a range of an acceptable length of stay;
querying a travel database comprising travel data including separately maintained travel schedule data items, fare data items, and fare limitation information for matching itineraries with all possible departure and arrival airport, date, time, length of stay, and number of connections combinations; and
displaying the information associated with the travel departure and arrival. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. A system of searching travel products and providing a plurality of alternative travel itineraries to the user comprising:
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querying means for querying the user for a first set of input data, the input data being at least one departure airport or geography range and at least one arrival geography range associated with the travel departure and arrival;
searching means for searching the information storage and retrieval system for travel departure and arrival information corresponding to the first set of input data;
displaying means for displaying the information associated with the selected travel departure and arrival information, including a list of at least one departure airport selected or within the selected travel departure geography and a list of at least one arrival airport within the selected travel arrival geography;
querying means for querying the user for a range of acceptable departure and arrival dates and times and a range of an acceptable length of stay;
querying means for querying a travel database comprising travel data including separately maintained travel schedule data items, fare data items, and fare limitation information for matching itineraries with all possible departure and arrival airport, date, time, length of stay, and number of connections combinations; and
displaying means for displaying the information associated with the travel departure and arrival. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54)
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55. A system of searching travel products and providing a plurality of alternative travel itineraries to the user comprising:
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querying means for querying the user for a first set of input data, the input data being at least one departure geography range and at least one arrival airport or geography range associated with the travel departure and arrival;
searching means for searching the information storage and retrieval system for travel departure and arrival information corresponding to the first set of input data;
displaying means for displaying the information associated with the selected travel departure and arrival information, including a list of at least one departure airport within the selected travel departure geography and a list of at least one arrival airport selected or within the selected travel arrival geography;
querying means for querying the user for a range of acceptable departure and arrival dates and times and a range of an acceptable length of stay;
querying means for querying a travel database comprising travel data including separately maintained travel schedule data items, fare data items, and fare limitation information for matching itineraries with all possible departure and arrival airport, date, time, length of stay, and number of connections combinations; and
displaying means for displaying the information associated with the travel departure and arrival. - View Dependent Claims (56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64)
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65. A method of creating a database to be used in travel product searches, comprising:
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inputting information concerning a plurality of travel departure and arrival airports into an information storage and retrieval system for storing, referencing and retrieving the travel departure and arrival airport information; and
inputting information concerning a plurality of travel departure and arrival geography ranges into said information storage and retrieval system for storing, referencing and retrieving the travel departure and arrival geography information.
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66. A method for providing online travel reservation services, said method comprising the steps of:
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providing a user selectable first date range corresponding to an outbound flight from a first geographic location and a user selectable second date range corresponding to an inbound flight from a second geographic location, wherein each of the first and second date ranges are selectable from one or more calendar days and wherein at least one of the first or second date ranges comprising more than one calendar day; and
generating one or more user selectable combinations of available travel schedules each comprising an outbound flight corresponding to a selected first date range and an inbound flight corresponding to a selected second date range. - View Dependent Claims (67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73)
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74. A method for providing online travel reservation services, said method comprising the steps of:
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providing a user selectable first date range corresponding to an outbound flight from a first geographic location and a user selectable second date range corresponding to an inbound flight from a second geographic location, wherein each of the first and second date ranges are selectable from one or more calendar days;
providing a user selectable length of stay; and
generating one or more user selectable combinations of available travel schedules comprising an outbound flight and an inbound flight scheduled between selected first and second date ranges, wherein the length of time between the outbound and inbound flights of each of the one or more travel schedules does not exceed a selected length of stay. - View Dependent Claims (75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81)
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82. An online travel reservation system, said system comprising:
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a user interface that allows a user to select a first date range corresponding to an outbound flight from a first geographic location and a second date range corresponding to an inbound flight from a second geographic location, wherein each of the first and second date ranges are selectable from one or more calendar days and wherein at least one of the first or second date ranges comprises more than one calendar day; and
a database coupled to the user interface and configured to store one or more user selectable combinations of available travel schedules each comprising an outbound flight corresponding to a selected first date range and an inbound flight corresponding to a selected second date range. - View Dependent Claims (83, 84, 85)
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86. A method for providing online travel reservation services, said method comprising the steps of:
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providing a user selectable geographic region, providing a user selectable first date corresponding to an outbound flight from a first geographic location and a user selectable second date corresponding to an inbound flight from a second geographic location, wherein at least one of the first and second geographic locations is a user selected geographic region;
generating one or more user selectable combinations of available travel schedules comprising an outbound flight and an inbound flight scheduled between selected first and second dates and first and second locations. - View Dependent Claims (87, 88, 89, 90, 91)
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92. An online travel reservation system, said system comprising:
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a user interface that allows a user to select a geographic region, a first date corresponding to an outbound flight from a first geographic location, and a second date corresponding to an inbound flight from a second geographic location, wherein at least one of the first and second geographic locations is a user selected geographic region;
a database coupled with the user interface and configured to store one or more user selectable combinations of available travel schedules comprising an outbound flight and an inbound flight scheduled between selected first and second dates and first and second locations. - View Dependent Claims (93, 94)
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Specification