METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING AVAILABILITY OF AIRLINE SEATS
First Claim
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1. A method executed on a computer system for managing a cache including entries that correspond to seat availability information stored in the cache, the method comprises:
- monitoring, by the computer system, availability queries made to the cache by a travel planning system;
determining in the computer system a demand for availability information of travel segments included in the queries for a mode of transportation;
prioritizing for update, stored answers in the cache based on the determined demand for travel segments included in the answers relative to each other;
retrieving stored answers pertaining to seat availability information from the cache;
determining if the retrieved answers are stale, and for those that are stale sending, by the computer system, availability queries to a source of seat availability information for the mode of transportation to update the answers that were determined to be stale with sending being according to the prioritizing of the stored answers.
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Abstract
An availability system used for a travel planning system includes a cache having entries of availability information of seats for a mode of transportation. The system includes a cache manager that manages entry information in the cache so that information in the cache is correct, current, complete or otherwise as useful as possible. The cache manager determines when a stored answer is stale and, if a stored answer is stale, sends an availability query to a source of availability information.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A method executed on a computer system for managing a cache including entries that correspond to seat availability information stored in the cache, the method comprises:
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monitoring, by the computer system, availability queries made to the cache by a travel planning system; determining in the computer system a demand for availability information of travel segments included in the queries for a mode of transportation; prioritizing for update, stored answers in the cache based on the determined demand for travel segments included in the answers relative to each other; retrieving stored answers pertaining to seat availability information from the cache; determining if the retrieved answers are stale, and for those that are stale sending, by the computer system, availability queries to a source of seat availability information for the mode of transportation to update the answers that were determined to be stale with sending being according to the prioritizing of the stored answers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. An availability system used for a travel planning system comprises:
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a cache implemented using one or more computers, the cache storing a plurality of entries of availability information of seats for a mode of transportation, the entries including previously posed availability queries, answers to the queries, and user characteristic parameters associated with users posing the availability queries; and a computer to manage the entries in the cache, the computer configured to; proactively populate the cache with seat availability information; determine a quality level of entries in the cache, with the quality level of the entries in the cache determined by evaluating entries in the cache according to criteria applied to one or more of the user characteristic parameters, the computer evaluating with greater frequency, within a given time frame, those entries that meet the criteria, wherein evaluating includes sending an availability query to a source of seat availability information for the mode of transportation based on determining that the seat availability information in the cache was stale; and populate the cache with seat availability information provided by the source of seat availability information. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A computer program product residing on a computer readable medium for managing a cache for predicting availability information for a mode of transportation, comprises instructions to cause a computer to:
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monitor availability queries made to the cache by a travel planning system; determine a demand for availability information of travel segments included in the queries for a mode of transportation; prioritize for update, stored answers in the cache based on the determined demand for travel segments included in the answers relative to each other; retrieve stored answers pertaining to seat availability information from the cache; determine if the retrieved answers are stale, and for those that are stale send, by the computer system, availability queries to a source of seat availability information for the mode of transportation to update the answers that were determined to be stale with sending being according to the prioritizing of the stored answers. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16)
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17. A computer program product residing on a computer readable medium for proactively populating a cache with seat availability information, the computer program product comprising instructions to cause a computer to:
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store in the cache, a plurality of entries of availability information of seats for a mode of transportation, the entries including previously posed availability queries, answers to the queries, and user characteristic parameters associated with users posing the availability queries; determine a quality level of entries in the cache, with the quality level of the entries in the cache determined by applying criteria to one or more of the user characteristic parameters, evaluate with greater frequency, within a given time frame, those entries that meet the criteria, wherein evaluating includes sending an availability query to a source of seat availability information for the mode of transportation based on determining that the seat availability information in the cache was stale; and populate the cache with seat availability information provided by the source of seat availability information. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A method executed on a computer system for managing availability information for a seat on mode of transportation, the method comprises:
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filtering, by the computer system, travel scheduling data received from a seat availability source to produce instances of transportation between markets within a date range; monitoring, by the computer system, availability queries made to the cache by a travel planning system; determine high-demand instances of transportation included in the availability queries, the high-demand instances of transportation having a higher than average or higher than expected demand determined for the instances of transportation produced by the seat availability source; prioritizing the high-demand instances of transportation for update over other instances of transportation produced by the seat availability source; sending, by the computer system, availability queries to a source of seat availability information to update the instances of transportation determined to be stale, with sending being according to the prioritizing of the high-demand instances of transportation. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26)
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Specification