Systems, methods, and media for managing a travel itinerary

• US 20060155591A1
• Filed: 01/10/2005
• Published: 07/13/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/10/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Ravi, Kumar, Silveyra, Manuel, Altaf, Faheem, Rybczynski, Eric Siegfried
• Application Number:
  US11/032,261
• Publication Number:
  US 20060155591A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/047 Optimisation of routes or paths, e.g. travelling salesman problem
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting

Abstract

Systems, methods and media for managing a travel itinerary of a user are disclosed. More particularly, hardware and/or software for managing the user'"'"'s travel itinerary based on the location of the user are disclosed. Embodiments may include receiving user location information and estimating the arrival time of the user at the departure point for a scheduled first trip of the user based on the user location information. Embodiments may also include comparing the estimated arrival time of the user at the destination with a departure time for the scheduled first trip and, if the arrival time is substantially earlier than the departure time or equal to or later than the departure time, rescheduling by the travel itinerary computer the user for a different second trip. Further embodiments may include transmitting notification to the user that he has been rescheduled to a second trip.

Claims

1. A method for managing a travel itinerary for a user on a wireless device connected to a wireless network, the method comprising:

receiving by a travel itinerary computer user location information from the user on the wireless device, the user location information providing an indication of the location of the user;

estimating by the travel itinerary computer the arrival time of the user at a destination based on the user location information, wherein the destination is related to a departure point for a scheduled trip of the user;

comparing by the travel itinerary computer the estimated arrival time of the user with a departure time for the scheduled trip; and

if the arrival time is substantially earlier than the departure time or equal to or later than the departure time, rescheduling by the travel itinerary computer the user for a different second trip.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising querying the user by the travel itinerary computer to determine whether the user desires to have the scheduled trip rescheduled to the second trip.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving by the travel itinerary computer supplementary information from a supplementary information computer; and

wherein the estimating step comprises estimating by the travel itinerary computer the arrival time of the user at a destination based on the user location information and the supplementary information.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating by the travel itinerary server supplementary information; and

wherein the estimating step comprises estimating by the travel itinerary computer the arrival time of the user at a destination based on the user location information and the supplementary information.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting by the travel itinerary computer notification that the user has been rescheduled to a second trip to at least one of the user on the wireless device or a third party.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising rescheduling services by the travel itinerary computer based on the second trip.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising rescheduling services by a services computer based on the second trip.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising checking-in user for at least one of the user'"'"'s first trip or the user'"'"'s second trip.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the comparing step comprises comparing the estimated arrival time at the destination with the departure time for the scheduled trip to determine if the user will be ahead of schedule, behind schedule, or on schedule for the scheduled trip.

10. A machine-accessible medium containing instructions effective, when executing in a data processing system, to cause said data processing system to perform operations comprising:

receiving by a travel itinerary computer user location information from the user on the wireless device, the user location information providing an indication of the location of the user;

estimating by the travel itinerary computer the arrival time of the user at a destination based on the user location information, wherein the destination is related to a departure point for a scheduled trip of the user;

comparing by the travel itinerary computer the estimated arrival time of the user with a departure time for the scheduled trip; and

if the arrival time is substantially earlier than the departure time or equal to or later than the departure time, rescheduling by the travel itinerary computer the user for a different second trip.

11. The machine-accessible medium of claim 10, further comprising querying the user by the travel itinerary computer to determine whether the user desires to have the scheduled trip rescheduled to the second trip.

12. The machine-accessible medium of claim 10, further comprising transmitting by the travel itinerary computer notification that the user has been rescheduled to a second trip to at least one of the user on the wireless device or a third party.

13. A data processing system for managing a travel itinerary for a user on a wireless device connected to a wireless network, the system comprising:

a user interaction module, the user interaction module being adapted to receive user location information from the user, wherein the user has a scheduled trip as part of an itinerary;

a travel time determiner, the travel time determiner being adapted to estimate the time for the user to travel to a departure point associated with the scheduled trip based on the user location information; and

an itinerary manager, the itinerary manager being adapted to determine whether the user'"'"'s itinerary should be changed based on the estimated time for the user to travel to the departure point, the itinerary manager being further adapted to change the user'"'"'s itinerary by scheduling a second trip to replace the user'"'"'s scheduled trip.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising a supplementary information interface, the supplementary information interface being adapted to receive supplementary information from the supplementary information computer.

15. The system of claim 13, further comprising a supplementary information interface, the supplementary information interface being adapted to generate supplementary information.

16. The system of claim 13, further comprising a services interface, the services interface being adapted to request changes in scheduled service from a services computer based on the changes in the user'"'"'s itinerary.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the user interaction module is further adapted to transmit a notification of the new trip to at least one of the user on a wireless device or a third party associated with the user.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the travel time determine estimates the time for the user to travel from the current location to a departure point associated with the scheduled trip based on supplementary information received from a supplementary information computer.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the user'"'"'s scheduled trip has an earlier departure time than the new trip.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein the user'"'"'s scheduled trip has a later departure time than the new trip.