Method and Apparatus for Customer Direct On-Line Reservation of Rental Vehicles Including Deep-Linking
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An apparatus comprising:
- a processor; and
a memory;
wherein the processor is configured to interact with the memory to (1) access an account that is associated with a customer, the account having a rate for a rental vehicle corresponding to the rental vehicle reservation transaction, (2) receive data corresponding to a deep-link Uniform Resource Locator (“
URL”
) from a customer computer, the deep-link URL comprising a domain name and a portion following the domain name, the portion following the domain name comprising encoded data representative of (i) the account and (ii) a parameter for a rental vehicle reservation, (3) process the deep-link URL encoded data to determine (i) the account corresponding thereto and (ii) the rental vehicle reservation parameter corresponding thereto, (4) retrieve the rate from the determined account, (5) provide the customer computer with deep-link access to a website page from a rental vehicle reservation booking website in response to the receiving and processing operations without requiring the customer computer to access at least a home page of the website such that the website page is configured to solicit input from the customer regarding a rental vehicle reservation transaction, the rental vehicle reservation transaction having (i) an applicable rate that is pre-set in accordance with the retrieved rate, and (ii) an applicable parameter that is pre-set to match the rental vehicle reservation parameter determined from the encoded data, and (6) create a rental vehicle reservation in accordance with the pre-set rate, the pre-set parameter, and other data provided by the customer computer for the rental vehicle reservation transaction.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus are disclosed for expediting how rental vehicle reservations can be booked by employing deep-link uniform resource locators (URLs) that encode aspects of a rental vehicle reservation transaction to relieve users of a need to enter reservation data themselves when booking a rental vehicle reservation.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. An apparatus comprising:
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a processor; and a memory; wherein the processor is configured to interact with the memory to (1) access an account that is associated with a customer, the account having a rate for a rental vehicle corresponding to the rental vehicle reservation transaction, (2) receive data corresponding to a deep-link Uniform Resource Locator (“
URL”
) from a customer computer, the deep-link URL comprising a domain name and a portion following the domain name, the portion following the domain name comprising encoded data representative of (i) the account and (ii) a parameter for a rental vehicle reservation, (3) process the deep-link URL encoded data to determine (i) the account corresponding thereto and (ii) the rental vehicle reservation parameter corresponding thereto, (4) retrieve the rate from the determined account, (5) provide the customer computer with deep-link access to a website page from a rental vehicle reservation booking website in response to the receiving and processing operations without requiring the customer computer to access at least a home page of the website such that the website page is configured to solicit input from the customer regarding a rental vehicle reservation transaction, the rental vehicle reservation transaction having (i) an applicable rate that is pre-set in accordance with the retrieved rate, and (ii) an applicable parameter that is pre-set to match the rental vehicle reservation parameter determined from the encoded data, and (6) create a rental vehicle reservation in accordance with the pre-set rate, the pre-set parameter, and other data provided by the customer computer for the rental vehicle reservation transaction. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method comprising:
using a processor, (1) storing a profile, the profile having (i) a rate for a rental vehicle reservation, and (ii) a parameter for a rental vehicle reservation, (2) receiving data corresponding to a deep-link Uniform Resource Locator (“
URL”
) from a customer computer, the deep-link URL comprising a domain name and a portion following the domain name, the portion following the domain name comprising encoded data representative of the profile, (3) processing the deep-link URL encoded data to determine the profile corresponding thereto, (4) retrieving the rate and the rental vehicle reservation parameter from the determined profile, (5) providing the customer computer with deep-link access to a website page from a rental vehicle reservation booking website in response to the receiving and processing steps without requiring the customer computer to access at least a home page of the website such that the website page is configured to solicit input from the customer regarding a rental vehicle reservation transaction, the rental vehicle reservation transaction having (i) an applicable rate that is pre-set in accordance with the retrieved rate, and (ii) an applicable parameter that is pre-set to match the rental vehicle reservation parameter, and (6) creating a rental vehicle reservation in accordance with the pre-set rate, the pre-set parameter, and other data provided by the customer computer for the rental vehicle reservation transaction.- View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An apparatus comprising:
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a processor; and a memory; wherein the processor is configured to interact with the memory to (1) store a profile that is associated with a customer, the account having (i) a rate for a rental vehicle reservation, and (ii) a parameter for a rental vehicle reservation, (2) receive data corresponding to a deep-link Uniform Resource Locator (“
URL”
) from a customer computer, the deep-link URL comprising a domain name and a portion following the domain name, the portion following the domain name comprising encoded data representative of the profile, (3) process the deep-link URL encoded data to determine the profile corresponding thereto, (4) retrieve the rate and the rental vehicle reservation parameter from the determined profile, (5) provide the customer computer with deep-link access to a website page from a rental vehicle reservation booking website in response to the receiving and processing operations without requiring the customer computer to access at least a home page of the website such that the website page is configured to solicit input from the customer regarding a rental vehicle reservation transaction, the rental vehicle reservation transaction having (i) an applicable rate that is pre-set in accordance with the retrieved rate, and (ii) an applicable parameter that is pre-set to match the rental vehicle reservation parameter, and (6) create a rental vehicle reservation in accordance with the pre-set rate, the pre-set parameter, and other data provided by the customer computer for the rental vehicle reservation transaction. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method comprising:
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providing an intranet site for access by a plurality of user computers via a network, the intranet site corresponding to an entity and including an intranet page, the intranet site page including a user-selectable option for initiating a booking of a rental vehicle reservation with a rental vehicle service provider, the entity having a customer account with the rental vehicle service provider, the customer account including a negotiated rate for a rental vehicle reservation; receiving input from a user computer, the received input indicative of a selection of the user-selectable option; responsive to the received input, communicating a deep-link uniform resource locator (URL) to a remote server, the deep-link URL comprising a domain name and a portion following the domain name, the portion following the domain name comprising encoded data representative of (i) a customer account corresponding to the entity and (ii) a parameter for a rental vehicle reservation; receiving data for automatically populating a screen for display on the user computer, the received data comprising the rental vehicle reservation parameter, the screen configured to solicit input for booking the rental vehicle reservation; receiving further input from the user computer, the received further input indicative of a request to book the rental vehicle reservation in accordance with the rental vehicle reservation parameter and the negotiated rate; and communicating the received further input to the remote server to thereby book the rental vehicle reservation with the rental vehicle service provider; and wherein the method steps are performed by a processor. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18)
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19. An apparatus comprising:
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a processor; and a memory; wherein the processor is configured to interact with the memory to; provide an intranet site for access by a plurality of user computers via a network, the intranet site corresponding to an entity and including an intranet page, the intranet site page including a user-selectable option for initiating a booking of a rental vehicle reservation with a rental vehicle service provider, the entity having a customer account with the rental vehicle service provider, the customer account including a negotiated rate for a rental vehicle reservation; receive input from a user computer, the received input indicative of a selection of the user-selectable option; responsive to the received input, communicating a deep-link uniform resource locator (URL) to a remote server, the deep-link URL comprising a domain name and a portion following the domain name, the portion following the domain name comprising encoded data representative of (i) a customer account corresponding to the entity and (ii) a parameter for a rental vehicle reservation; receive data for automatically populating a screen for display on the user computer, the received data comprising the rental vehicle reservation parameter, the screen configured to solicit input for booking the rental vehicle reservation; receive further input from the user computer, the received further input indicative of a request to book the rental vehicle reservation in accordance with the rental vehicle reservation parameter and the negotiated rate; and communicate the received further input to the remote server to thereby book the rental vehicle reservation with the rental vehicle service provider. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21)
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Specification