Method and Apparatus for Expedited Rental Vehicle Reservation Creation Following a Previous Reservation

• US 20130030847A1
• Filed: 07/30/2012
• Published: 01/31/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: The Crawford Group Incorporated (Jack Taylor Family Voting Trust U A D 4 14 99)
• Original Assignee: The Crawford Group Incorporated (Jack Taylor Family Voting Trust U A D 4 14 99)
• Inventors: Fitzgerald, Neil, Belanger, Hugues, Boruff, Kelli, Tucker, Paul, Everson, Jeffrey Lee
• Application Number:
  US13/561,765
• Publication Number:
  US 20130030847A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0645 Rental transactions; Leasing transactions

Abstract

A method and apparatus are disclosed for expediting the ability of a customer to book a new rental vehicle reservation after booking a previous rental vehicle reservation. A link can be provided on a screen such as a confirmation page for a previous rental vehicle reservation that, upon customer selection, causes a new reservation transaction to be automatically loaded with data from the previous rental vehicle reservation.

Claims

1. A method of processing a rental vehicle reservation transaction between a customer computer and a rental vehicle reservation-making entity via a rental vehicle reservation booking server accessed by a customer computer over a computer network, the method comprising:

receiving reservation data from the customer computer;

booking a reservation transaction in accordance with the received reservation data; and

communicating data to the customer computer for display thereon after the reservation transaction has been booked, wherein the communicated data includes a link that is selectable by the customer to create a new reservation transaction, wherein the new reservation transaction is pre-loaded with the received reservation data; and

wherein the method steps are performed by the server.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

the server receiving input from the customer computer indicative of customer-selection of the link; and

the server permitting the customer to modify at least one type of the received reservation data for the new reservation transaction.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the permitting step comprises the server permitting the customer to modify each type of the received reservation data for the new reservation transaction.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the data communicating step comprises the server providing data to the customer computer for a website page to be displayed on the customer computer, the link being for display on the website page.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the website page comprises a confirmation page for the booked reservation transaction.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

in response to the server receiving the input indicative of customer-selection of the link, the server (1) providing data to the customer computer for a verify page for the new reservation transaction, the verify page to be displayed on the customer computer, and (2) automatically populating the verify page with the pre-loaded reservation data, the verify page being configured to accept modification by the customer of the pre-loaded reservation data.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the pre-loaded reservation data comprises all of the reservation data for the booked reservation transaction.

8. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

the server receiving modification data from the customer computer; and

the server booking the new reservation transaction in response to a combination of the received reservation data and the received modification data.

9. An apparatus for processing a rental vehicle reservation transaction with a customer computer, the apparatus comprising:

a server configured for access by a customer computer via a network, the server configured to;

receive reservation data from the customer computer;

book a reservation transaction in accordance with the received reservation data; and

communicate data to the customer computer for display thereon after the reservation transaction has been booked, wherein the communicated data includes a link that is selectable by the customer to create a new reservation transaction, wherein the new reservation transaction is pre-loaded with the received reservation data.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the server is further configured to:

receive input from the customer computer indicative of customer-selection of the link; and

permit the customer to modify at least one type of the received reservation data for the new reservation transaction.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the server is further configured to permit the customer to modify each type of the received reservation data for the new reservation transaction.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the server is further configured to communicate the data to the customer computer by providing data to the customer computer for a website page to be displayed on the customer computer, the link being for display on the website page.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the website page comprises a confirmation page for the booked reservation transaction.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the server is further configured to:

in response to receipt of the input indicative of customer-selection of the link, (1) provide data to the customer computer for a verify page for the new reservation transaction, the verify page to be displayed on the customer computer, and (2) automatically populate the verify page with the pre-loaded reservation data, the verify page being configured to accept modification by the customer of the pre-loaded reservation data.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the pre-loaded reservation data comprises all of the reservation data for the booked reservation transaction.

16. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the server is further configured to:

receive modification data from the customer computer; and

book the new reservation transaction in response to a combination of the received reservation data and the received modification data.

17. An apparatus comprising:

a server configured for access by a customer computer via a network, the server configured to;

interact with the customer computer to receive a plurality of data values for creating a first rental vehicle reservation;

provide data to the customer computer for populating a confirmation screen for display on the customer computer, the confirmation screen being configured to communicate to the customer that the first rental vehicle reservation has been created, the confirmation screen including a customer-selectable option to create a second rental vehicle reservation based on the first rental vehicle reservation;

receive a selection by the customer of the customer-selectable option to initiate a creation of a second rental vehicle reservation based on the first rental vehicle reservation; and

in response to the received selection by the customer of the customer-selectable option to initiate creation of a second rental vehicle reservation based on the first rental vehicle reservation, provide additional data to the customer computer for automatically populating a verify screen for display on the customer computer with a plurality of data values from the first rental vehicle reservation, the verify screen configured with a customer-selectable option to create the second rental vehicle reservation;

receive data from the customer computer indicative of a selection by the customer of the customer-selectable option to create the second rental vehicle reservation; and

in response to the received selection by the customer of the customer-selectable option to create the second rental vehicle reservation, create the second rental vehicle reservation in accordance with the data values of the verify screen.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the server is further configured to provide a website for access by the customer computer, the website comprising a plurality of web pages for access by the customer computer via the network, the plurality of web pages including a web page for the confirmation screen and a web page for the another screen.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the server is further configured to automatically populate the verify screen such that the customer is permitted to create the second rental vehicle reservation through selection of the customer-selectable option to create the second rental vehicle reservation without an entry by the customer of an additional data value for the second rental vehicle reservation.

20. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the server is further configured to receive input from the customer computer for modifying the data values automatically populated into the verify screen.

21. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the automatically populated data values comprise renter information, a vehicle type, and a branch location for the reservation.