Map and Inventory-Based On-Line Purchases

• US 20070192168A1
• Filed: 12/07/2006
• Published: 08/16/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Leviathan Entertainment, LLC
• Original Assignee: Leviathan Entertainment, LLC
• Inventors: Van Luchene, Andrew Stephen
• Application Number:
  US11/608,150
• Publication Number:
  US 20070192168A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.54
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3325 Reformulation based on results of preceding query
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/047 Optimisation of routes or paths, e.g. travelling salesman problem
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search

Abstract

Systems and methods for survey based qualification of keyword searches and survey based qualification of keyword advertising. A searcher provides a search query to a search engine and is presented with at least one query-specific survey question. The searcher'"'"'s original query and/or response to the query-specific survey question(s) are then used to generate a list of advertisers whose in-stock inventory matches user-specified criteria. The list may be provided in the form of an interactive map.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing a survey questionnaire to a user;

receiving answers to the survey questionnaire from the user including a set of criteria for a desired purchasable item;

identifying, from a set of vendors, one or more vendors whose in-stock inventory satisfies the criteria; and

outputting information regarding the one or more vendors to the user.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of outputting information comprises generating a map indicating the location of the one or more vendors.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of outputting information comprises providing an advertisement for the one or more vendors.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the method of indicating the location of one or more vendors comprises providing vendor-specific indicia for each of the one or more vendors.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising displaying additional information related to one of the one or more vendors in response to user-input.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the user-input is provided when the user scrolls over the vendor-specific indicia.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the desired purchasable item is a hotel room reservation.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the set of criteria includes availability dates.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the step of identifying one or more vendors whose in-stock inventory satisfies the criteria comprises identifying one or more hotels having an unreserved room during the availability dates.

10. A system comprising:

a vendor database providing a list of vendors offering purchasable items;

an inventory database for each vendor in the vendor database;

a survey questionnaire module configured to provide one or more survey questions to a user;

a criteria module configured to identify user-specified criteria based on answers provided by the user to the survey questionnaire;

an inventory pinging module configured to search the inventory databases and identify vendors that have inventory that satisfies the user-specified criteria;

an advertisement display module configured to provide information regarding the identified vendors to the user.

11. The system of claim 10 further comprising a map generating module configured to generate a map depicting the locations of the identified vendors to the user.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein at least some of the vendors are hotels.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the inventory database for each vendor is the hotel'"'"'s reservation system.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the user-specified criteria is hotel location.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein the user-specified criteria is room availability for a given date range.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein the user-specified criteria is number of rooms available.

17. The system of claim 13 wherein the user-specified criteria further comprises a price range.

18. The system of claim 13 wherein the user-specified criteria further comprises hotel amenities.

19. A method comprising:

receiving answers to a survey from a user, wherein the answers specify a date and location for a desired hotel room;

identifying hotels in the specified location;

determining which of hotels in the specified location have a room available for the specified date;

generating a map identifying the location of the hotels that have a room available for the specified date;

outputting the map to the user.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

receiving a request to book a reservation from the user;

retrieving a reservation form; and

outputting the reservation form to the user.