SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MULTI-FACTORED-BASED RANKING OF TRIPS
First Claim
1. A method for assisting a user in planning a trip comprising:
- receiving a request for a trip from a user;
accessing a user profile for the user, the user profile including user preferences for each of a plurality of transportation modes, user goals, and optionally user constraints on trips, the user preferences each including an inferred user preference value and, where stated, a stated user preference value; and
the user goals each including an inferred user goal value and, where stated, a stated user goal value;
building a set of candidate itineraries for the trip which meet the user'"'"'s constraints, the candidate itineraries each specifying a respective set of the plurality of transportation modes;
for each of the user preferences, aggregating the stated preference value, where stated, and the inferred preference value to generate a weight for the preference;
for each of the user goals, aggregating the stated goal value, where stated, and the inferred goal value to generate a weight for the goal;
for each of the candidate itineraries, computing a cost for each of the goals;
with a processor, for each of the candidate itineraries, ranking the itinerary based on the preference weights, goal weights, and the computed cost for each of the goals; and
outputting information on at least a subset of the ranked itineraries for enabling the user to select an itinerary for the trip.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A trip-planning method and system employ a user profile for each user which includes the user'"'"'s preferences for each of a plurality of transportation modes, user goals, and optionally user constraints on trips. Inferred user preference (resp. goal) values and stated user preference (resp. goal) values are aggregated using a coefficient which places more emphasis on stated goals/preferences that have been recently set. Candidate itineraries for a requested user trip that meet the user'"'"'s constraints are ranked based on the aggregated goal and preference values and the costs/contributions of each itinerary to the respective goal/preference. A subset of the ranked itineraries may be output to the user for the user to select one for making the trip.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method for assisting a user in planning a trip comprising:
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receiving a request for a trip from a user; accessing a user profile for the user, the user profile including user preferences for each of a plurality of transportation modes, user goals, and optionally user constraints on trips, the user preferences each including an inferred user preference value and, where stated, a stated user preference value; and
the user goals each including an inferred user goal value and, where stated, a stated user goal value;building a set of candidate itineraries for the trip which meet the user'"'"'s constraints, the candidate itineraries each specifying a respective set of the plurality of transportation modes; for each of the user preferences, aggregating the stated preference value, where stated, and the inferred preference value to generate a weight for the preference; for each of the user goals, aggregating the stated goal value, where stated, and the inferred goal value to generate a weight for the goal; for each of the candidate itineraries, computing a cost for each of the goals; with a processor, for each of the candidate itineraries, ranking the itinerary based on the preference weights, goal weights, and the computed cost for each of the goals; and outputting information on at least a subset of the ranked itineraries for enabling the user to select an itinerary for the trip. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A system for planning a trip comprising:
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a profile manager which manages, for each of a plurality of users, a respective user profile, the user profile including the user'"'"'s preferences for each of a plurality of transportation modes, user goals, and optionally user constraints on trips, the user preferences each including an inferred user preference value and, where stated, a stated user preference value, and the user goals each including an inferred user goal value and, where stated, a stated user goal value; a trip planner which builds a set of candidate itineraries for a trip requested by one of the users, which meet the user'"'"'s constraints on trips, the candidate itineraries each specifying a respective set of the plurality of transportation modes; an aggregation component which, for each of the user preferences, aggregates the stated preference value, where stated, and the inferred preference value to generate a weight for the preference and for each of the user goals, aggregates the stated goal value, where stated, and the inferred goal value to generate a weight for the goal; a ranking component which ranks the candidate itineraries for each of the candidate itineraries based on the preference weights, goal weights, and a computed cost for each of the preferences and of the goals; a representation generator which outputs information on at least a subset of the ranked itineraries for enabling the user to select an itinerary for the trip; and a processor which implements the profile manager, trip planner, aggregation component, ranking component, and representation generator. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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21. A method comprising:
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providing for a user to state preference values for each of a plurality of transportation modes; providing for the user to state goal values for each of a plurality of goals to which the transportation modes employed in a trip itinerary contribute differently; optionally, providing for the user to state a constraint for at least one of the transportation modes; generating a user profile for the user, the user profile including user preferences for each of a plurality of transportation modes, user goals, and optionally user constraints on trips, the user preferences each including an inferred user preference value and, where stated, the stated user preference value, and the user goals each including an inferred user goal value and, where stated, the stated user goal value, the inferred user goal values and inferred user preference values being based on prior user behavior; for each of a set of candidate itineraries for a trip, ranking the candidate itinerary, the ranking comprising computing a utility function which takes into account the stated and inferred preferences and stated and inferred goals and coefficients which place a weight on the inferred goals and inferred preferences as a function of a duration since the respective goal or preference was last stated; and outputting information based on the ranking; and wherein the generating a user profile and ranking the candidate itineraries is performed with a processor.
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Specification