Computer-implemented method and system for interacting with a user

• US 20120272169A1
• Filed: 06/16/2011
• Published: 10/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Amadeus (Amadeus Global Travel Distribution S.A.)
• Original Assignee: Amadeus (Amadeus Global Travel Distribution S.A.)
• Inventors: Alberola, Bertrand, Chauvin, Stphane, Chapeland, Jean-Baptiste, Corbucci, Serge, Bzodek, Gatan
• Application Number:
  US13/134,755
• Publication Number:
  US 20120272169A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/765
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/38 for implementing user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events

Abstract

A computer-implemented method is disclosed for interacting with a user. The method includes receiving information from a user via a configuration tool, the information being related to a request made by the user to implement a user interface for a bilateral special service request (SSR); and using the received information, in conjunction with a passenger name record service framework (PSF), implementing a user-specific user interface to permit one or more passenger name record elements associated with an instance of the requested bilateral SSR to be included as an element of an instance of a passenger name record (PNR). Also disclosed is a system that is configured to perform the steps of the method with the use of at least one data processor.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method to interact with a user, comprising:

receiving information from a user via a configuration tool, the information being related to a request made by the user to implement a user interface for a bilateral special service request; and

using the received information, in conjunction with a passenger name record service framework, implementing a user-specific user interface to permit one or more passenger name record elements associated with an instance of the requested bilateral special service request to be included as an element of an instance of a passenger name record.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, where the user interface is configured to enable the creation of the instance of the bilateral special service request to be included as the element in the instance of the passenger name record, as well as to enable the modification of a previously created instance of the bilateral special service request that was previously included as the element in the instance of the passenger name record.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising verifying consistency of the implemented bilateral special service request at least in part by verifying passenger name record element format consistency.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, where the user interface is configured to input from the user passenger name record service framework data objects, and further comprising formatting the passenger name record service framework data objects into passenger name record data element objects for storage in the instance of the passenger name record.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to a receipt of a request from the user to retrieve a passenger name record, accessing a database to retrieve the requested passenger name record;

converting at least a portion of the passenger name record into corresponding passenger name record service framework element data objects;

converting the passenger name record service framework element data objects into passenger name record service framework user interface data and returning the data to the user.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising enabling the user to define a passenger name record service framework group comprised of at least one mandatory passenger name record service framework element comprised of at least one passenger name record service framework parameter, and an optional at least one passenger name record service framework remark comprised of a passenger name record service framework free text parameter.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, where the mandatory passenger name record service framework element is further comprised of at least one passenger name record service framework comment comprised of a free text parameter.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising retrieving a passenger name record service framework group from passenger name record data by steps of checking if a passenger name record element is compatible with configured passenger name record configuration framework element constraint(s);

parsing free text of the passenger name record element and extracting passenger name record service framework parameters as retrieved passenger name record service framework elements; and

merging retrieved passenger name record service framework elements into the passenger name record service framework group.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, where merging comprises sorting a list of configured passenger name record service framework elements according to their granularity, where some elements are most fine-grained in terms of passenger and segment association, and considering the most fine-grained elements first when creating a passenger name record service framework group, and further comprising building a list of alike elements groups each contains passenger name record service framework elements sharing the same free text and characteristics, where at least one alike element group is built for each passenger name record service framework element, and merging passenger name record service framework elements passenger name record service framework groups by iterating over alike element groups starting from the most fine-gained PSF elements.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, where an alike element group returns a combination of passenger name record service framework elements, further comprising verifying if the returned combination is compliant with the passenger name record service framework group being built in terms of passenger and segment association, where if the returned combination is not compliant requesting another combination of passenger name record service framework elements from the alike element group and repeating the step of verifying, and where if the returned combination is compliant considering a next element from the passenger name record service framework group until all passenger name record service framework elements have been retrieved and the passenger name record service framework group is completed, and continuing for a next instance of the passenger name record service framework group until no further passenger name record service framework Group instance can be built.

11. The computer-implemented method as in claim 8, where the step of merging is performed in accordance with element merging rules, where individual ones of the elements are subject to at least one associated parameter rule and association rule.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, where a particular passenger name record service framework group is retrieved only if all mandatory elements of the group are retrieved, and where retrieving a passenger name record service framework group comprises interpreting passenger name record content based on the passenger name record service framework configuration.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, where the passenger name record elements are selected to be one or more of a Remark (RM), an Other Service Information (OSI), an Option Element (OP), a Special Service Request (SSR) or a Special Keyword (SK).

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium that contains software program instructions, where execution of the software program instructions by at least one data processor results in performance of operations that comprise execution of the method as in claim 1.

15. System to interact with a user characterized in that it is arranged to perform the following steps with at least one data processor:

receiving information from a user via a configuration tool, the information being related to a request made by the user to implement a user interface for a bilateral special service request; and

using the received information, in conjunction with a passenger name record service framework, implementing a user-specific user interface to permit one or more passenger name record elements associated with an instance of the requested bilateral special service request to be included as an element of an instance of a passenger name record.

16. The system of claim 15, where the user interface is configured to enable the creation of the instance of the bilateral special service request to be included as the element in the instance of the passenger name record, as well as to enable the modification of a previously created instance of the bilateral special service request that was previously included as the element in the instance of the passenger name record.

17. The system of claim 15, further comprising verifying consistency of the implemented bilateral special service request at least in part by verifying passenger name record element format consistency.

18. The system of claim 15, where the user interface is configured to input from the user passenger name record service framework data objects, and further comprising formatting the passenger name record service framework data objects into passenger name record data element objects for storage in the instance of the passenger name record.

19. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

in response to a receipt of a request from the user to retrieve a passenger name record, accessing a database to retrieve the requested passenger name record;

converting at least a portion of the passenger name record into corresponding passenger name record service framework element data objects;

converting the passenger name record service framework element data objects into passenger name record service framework user interface data and returning the data to the user.

20. The system of claim 15, further comprising enabling the user to define a passenger name record service framework group comprised of at least one mandatory passenger name record service framework element comprised of at least one passenger name record service framework parameter, and an optional at least one passenger name record service framework remark comprised of a passenger name record service framework free text parameter.

21. The system of claim 20, where the mandatory passenger name record service framework element is further comprised of at least one passenger name record service framework comment comprised of a free text parameter.

22. The system of claim 20, further comprising retrieving a passenger name record service framework group from passenger name record data by steps of checking if a passenger name record element is compatible with configured passenger name record configuration framework element constraint(s);

parsing free text of the passenger name record element and extracting passenger name record service framework parameters as retrieved passenger name record service framework elements; and

merging retrieved passenger name record service framework elements into the passenger name record service framework group.

23. The system of claim 22, where merging comprises sorting a list of configured passenger name record service framework elements according to their granularity, where some elements are most fine-grained in terms of passenger and segment association, and considering the most fine-grained elements first when creating a passenger name record service framework group, and further comprising building a list of alike elements groups each contains passenger name record service framework elements sharing the same free text and characteristics, where at least one alike element group is built for each passenger name record service framework element, and merging passenger name record service framework elements passenger name record service framework groups by iterating over alike element groups starting from the most fine-gained PSF elements.

24. The system of claim 23, where an alike element group returns a combination of passenger name record service framework elements, further comprising verifying if the returned combination is compliant with the passenger name record service framework group being built in terms of passenger and segment association, where if the returned combination is not compliant requesting another combination of passenger name record service framework elements from the alike element group and repeating the step of verifying, and where if the returned combination is compliant considering a next element from the passenger name record service framework group until all passenger name record service framework elements have been retrieved and the passenger name record service framework group is completed, and continuing for a next instance of the passenger name record service framework group until no further passenger name record service framework Group instance can be built.

25. The system as in claim 22, where the step of merging is performed in accordance with element merging rules, where individual ones of the elements are subject to at least one associated parameter rule and association rule.

26. The system of claim 22, where a particular passenger name record service framework group is retrieved only if all mandatory elements of the group are retrieved, and where retrieving a passenger name record service framework group comprises interpreting passenger name record content based on the passenger name record service framework configuration.

27. The system of claim 15, where the passenger name record elements are selected to be one or more of a Remark (RM), an Other Service Information (OSI), an Option Element (OP), a Special Service Request (SSR) or a Special Keyword (SK).

28. A computer-implemented method, comprising the following steps performed with at least one data processor:

inputting from a user passenger name record service framework data objects that are associated with an instance of a special service request; and

formatting the passenger name record service framework data objects into passenger name record data element objects for storage in an instance of the passenger name record.

29. The computer-implemented method of claim 28, further comprising:

in response to a receipt of a request from the user to retrieve a passenger name record, accessing a database to retrieve the requested passenger name record;

converting at least a portion of the passenger name record into corresponding passenger name record service framework element data objects;

converting the passenger name record service framework element data objects into passenger name record service framework user interface data and returning the data to the user.

30. The computer-implemented method of claim 28, further comprising enabling the user to define a passenger name record service framework group comprised of at least one mandatory passenger name record service framework element comprised of at least one passenger name record service framework parameter, and an optional at least one passenger name record service framework remark comprised of a passenger name record service framework free text parameter.

31. The computer-implemented method of claim 30, where the mandatory passenger name record service framework element is further comprised of at least one passenger name record service framework comment comprised of a free text parameter.

32. The computer-implemented method of claim 30, further comprising retrieving a passenger name record service framework group from passenger name record data by steps of checking if a passenger name record element is compatible with configured passenger name record configuration framework element constraint(s);

parsing free text of the passenger name record element and extracting passenger name record service framework parameters as retrieved passenger name record service framework elements; and

merging retrieved passenger name record service framework elements into the passenger name record service framework group.

33. The computer-implemented method of claim 32, where merging comprises sorting a list of configured passenger name record service framework elements according to their granularity, where some elements are most fine-grained in terms of passenger and segment association, and considering the most fine-grained elements first when creating a passenger name record service framework group, and further comprising building a list of alike elements groups each contains passenger name record service framework elements sharing the same free text and characteristics, where at least one alike element group is built for each passenger name record service framework element, and merging passenger name record service framework elements passenger name record service framework groups by iterating over alike element groups starting from the most fine-gained PSF elements.

34. The computer-implemented method of claim 33, where an alike element group returns a combination of passenger name record service framework elements, further comprising verifying if the returned combination is compliant with the passenger name record service framework group being built in terms of passenger and segment association, where if the returned combination is not compliant requesting another combination of passenger name record service framework elements from the alike element group and repeating the step of verifying, and where if the returned combination is compliant considering a next element from the passenger name record service framework group until all passenger name record service framework elements have been retrieved and the passenger name record service framework group is completed, and continuing for a next instance of the passenger name record service framework group until no further passenger name record service framework Group instance can be built.

35. The computer-implemented method as in claim 32, where the step of merging is performed in accordance with element merging rules, where individual ones of the elements are subject to at least one associated parameter rule and association rule.

36. The computer-implemented method of claim 32, where a particular passenger name record service framework group is retrieved only if all mandatory elements of the group are retrieved, and where retrieving a passenger name record service framework group comprises interpreting passenger name record content based on the passenger name record service framework configuration.

37. The computer-implemented method of claim 28, comprising initial steps of

receiving information from the same or a different user via a configuration tool, the information being related to a request made by the user to implement a user interface for the special service request;

and

using the received information, in conjunction with a passenger name record service framework, implementing a user-specific user interface to permit one or more passenger name record elements associated with an instance of the requested special service request to be included as an element of an instance of a passenger name record.

38. The computer-implemented method of claim 37, where the passenger name record elements are selected to be one or more of a Remark (RM), an Other Service Information (OSI), an Option Element (OP), a Special Service Request (SSR) or a Special Keyword (SK).

39. The computer-implemented method of claim 37, where the user interface is configured to enable the creation of the instance of the special service request to be included as the element in the instance of the passenger name record, as well as to enable the modification of a previously created instance of the special service request that was previously included as the element in the instance of the passenger name record.

40. The computer-implemented method of claim 37, further comprising verifying consistency of the implemented special service request at least in part by verifying passenger name record element format consistency.