Method for Completing and Storing an Electronic Rental Agreement
First Claim
1. A method of creating and storing an electronic rental contract for a rental vehicle from a rental car company to permit a user to bypass a rental counter of a car rental facility when creating the electronic rental contract, the method comprising:
- hosting a website on a server system, the website comprising a plurality of web pages for access over a network by any of a plurality of client systems;
creating a rental vehicle reservation in response to data received through the website from a client system;
storing a reservation transaction within the server system, wherein the reservation transaction is representative of the created rental vehicle reservation;
electronically accepting additional data from a user for a potential rental of a rental vehicle based on the rental vehicle reservation;
communicating an electronic rental proposal for display to the user, the electronic rental proposal being based on the rental vehicle reservation and the accepted additional data;
creating an electronic rental contract for a rental vehicle in response to an electronic acceptance by the user of the electronic rental proposal, thereby resulting in the user bypassing the rental counter when creating the electronic rental contract; and
storing a rental transaction within the server system, wherein the rental transaction is representative of the created electronic rental contract; and
wherein the electronically accepting, communicating, electronic rental contract creating and rental transaction storing steps are performed regardless of whether the user has a pre-existing master rental agreement with the rental car company.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and systems are disclosed for creating and storing an electronic rental contract for a rental vehicle from a rental car company to permit a user to bypass a rental counter of a car rental facility when creating the electronic rental contract. A rental vehicle reservation can be created for a user, and then a rental proposal can be created and displayed based upon the reservation. Upon acceptance of the rental proposal by the user, the electronic rental contract is created. A kiosk may be used to form the electric rental contract.
112 Citations
74 Claims
-
1. A method of creating and storing an electronic rental contract for a rental vehicle from a rental car company to permit a user to bypass a rental counter of a car rental facility when creating the electronic rental contract, the method comprising:
-
hosting a website on a server system, the website comprising a plurality of web pages for access over a network by any of a plurality of client systems; creating a rental vehicle reservation in response to data received through the website from a client system; storing a reservation transaction within the server system, wherein the reservation transaction is representative of the created rental vehicle reservation; electronically accepting additional data from a user for a potential rental of a rental vehicle based on the rental vehicle reservation; communicating an electronic rental proposal for display to the user, the electronic rental proposal being based on the rental vehicle reservation and the accepted additional data; creating an electronic rental contract for a rental vehicle in response to an electronic acceptance by the user of the electronic rental proposal, thereby resulting in the user bypassing the rental counter when creating the electronic rental contract; and storing a rental transaction within the server system, wherein the rental transaction is representative of the created electronic rental contract; and wherein the electronically accepting, communicating, electronic rental contract creating and rental transaction storing steps are performed regardless of whether the user has a pre-existing master rental agreement with the rental car company. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
-
-
35. A system for creating and storing an electronic rental contract for a rental vehicle from a rental car company to permit a user to bypass a rental counter of a car rental facility when creating the electronic rental contract, the system comprising a server system configured to:
-
host a website, the website comprising a plurality of web pages for access over a network by any of a plurality of client systems; create a rental vehicle reservation in response to data received through the website from a client system; store a reservation transaction, wherein the reservation transaction is representative of the created rental vehicle reservation; accept additional data from a user for a potential rental of a rental vehicle based on the rental vehicle reservation; communicate an electronic rental proposal for display to the user, the electronic rental proposal being based on the rental vehicle reservation and the accepted additional data; create an electronic rental contract for a rental vehicle in response to an electronic acceptance by the user of the electronic rental proposal, thereby resulting in the user being able to bypass the rental counter when creating the electronic rental contract; and store a rental transaction, wherein the rental transaction is representative of the created electronic rental contract; and wherein the server system is further configured to perform the additional data acceptance, the communication, the electronic rental contract creation and the rental transaction storage regardless of whether the user has a pre-existing master rental agreement with the rental car company. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66)
-
-
67. A system for creating and storing an electronic rental contract for a rental vehicle such that a user need not visit a rental counter to create a rental contract when arriving at a car rental facility to pick up the rental vehicle, the system comprising:
-
a server subsystem; a kiosk in communication with the server subsystem; wherein the server subsystem is configured to host a website, the website comprising a plurality of web pages for access over a network by any of a plurality of client systems; wherein the server subsystem is further configured to interact with a client system over the network and through the website to create a rental vehicle reservation; wherein the server subsystem is further configured to provide a first path and a second path for a user to convert a rental vehicle reservation into an electronic rental contract for a rental vehicle, the first path being a path through the website and the second path being a path through the kiosk; wherein the website is configured to permit a user of the client system to convert a rental vehicle reservation into an electronic rental contract for a rental vehicle via a plurality of web pages within a rental path of the website; wherein the server subsystem is further configured to provide the user with a plurality of options for entering the website'"'"'s rental path, the plurality of options comprising an entry into the website'"'"'s rental path immediately after creating a rental vehicle reservation and an entry into the website'"'"'s rental path during a subsequent visit to the website after creating a rental vehicle reservation; wherein the kiosk is configured to permit the user to convert a rental vehicle reservation into an electronic rental contract for a rental vehicle via user interaction with the kiosk; wherein the server subsystem is further configured to create an electronic rental contract for a rental vehicle from a rental vehicle reservation in response to data input from any of the first and second paths; and wherein the electronic rental contract permits the user to avoid creating a rental contract at the rental counter when arriving at the car rental facility to pick up a rental vehicle in accordance with the electronic rental contract. - View Dependent Claims (68, 69, 70)
-
-
71. A method of creating an electronic rental contract for a rental vehicle from a rental car company such that a user need not visit a rental counter to create a rental contract when arriving at a car rental facility to pick up the rental vehicle, the method comprising:
-
storing data representative of a rental vehicle reservation, the stored data comprising data that associates the reservation with a user who does not have a pre-existing master rental agreement with the rental car company; receiving, through an automated kiosk located at a car rental facility, identification information for the user; retrieving the stored reservation data that is associated with the received user identification information; displaying, through the kiosk, an electronic rental proposal based on the retrieved reservation data; receiving, from the user through the kiosk, an electronic acceptance of the displayed rental proposal to thereby create an electronic rental contract, the electronic rental contract permitting the user to avoid creating a rental contract at the rental counter when arriving at the car rental facility to pick up a rental vehicle in accordance with the electronic rental contract; and storing data representative of the created electronic rental contract. - View Dependent Claims (72, 73, 74)
-
Specification