Graphical user interface for travel planning system

• US 7,263,664 B1
• Filed: 11/01/2000
• Issued: 08/28/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ITA Software, Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Daughtrey, Rodney S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kincaid; Kristine
• Assistant Examiner(s): VU, THANH T
• Application Number:
  US09/704,218
• Time in Patent Office: 2,491 Days
• Field of Search: 345763-765, 345/700, 345/760, 345853-855, 345/968, 705/5, 705/26, 705/27, 715/763, 715/765, 715/760
• US Class Current: 715/764
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events

Abstract

A user interface for presenting travel itineraries to a user includes an itinerary region for displaying travel itineraries and a filter region. Each travel itinerary has a corresponding value for a first travel criterion and the travel itineraries are grouped into categories based on the values of the first travel criterion. The filter region includes a plurality of cells, each of which is associated with one of the categories of travel itineraries. When a user selects a cell, the itinerary region displays only travel itineraries in the category associated with the selected cell.

Claims

1. A user interface displayed on a display and produced by execution of instructions residing on a computer readable medium, the user interface for presenting travel itineraries to a user, the user interface comprising:

an itinerary region for displaying segments of travel itineraries, each travel itinerary having a corresponding value for a first travel criterion, the travel itineraries being grouped into a first set of categories based on the values of the first travel criterion; and

a filter region including a plurality of cells, each cell associated with one of the first set of categories of travel itineraries, with selecting of one of the plurality of cells in the filter region, causing the itinerary region to display only travel itineraries in the one of the first set of categories associated with the selected cell in the filter region; and

an indicator applied to any first segment of any itinerary that has a location of arrival for the first segment that is different from a location of departure for the next segment of the itinerary to indicate to the user that the itinerary has different locations of arrival and departure for the first and the next segments.

2. The user interface of claim 1 wherein each travel itinerary has a corresponding value for a second different travel criterion, the travel itineraries being grouped into the first set of categories based also on the value of the second different travel criterion and the cells are arranged in rows and columns, with cells associated with the first set of categories having the same value for the first travel criterion being positioned in the same row and cells associated with the first set of categories having the same value for the second travel criterion being positioned in the same column.

3. The user interface of claim 1 wherein the filter region further includes a plurality of tabs;

and the user causes the filter region to display the plurality of cells associated with the first set of categories based on the first criterion by selecting a tab.

4. The user interface of claim 1 wherein the indicator is at least one of italic, font size, font type, bold face font, print color, or background color applied to the text representing the airports.

5. The user interface of claim 4 wherein the at least one of the plurality of cells displays a cost of travel.

6. The user interface of claim 1 wherein the first travel criterion is selected from a group that includes airline, departure time, arrival time, location of departure, location of arrival, number of stops, cost, travel restrictions, expected delays, and safety records.

7. The user interface of claim 1 wherein the indicator is applied to the airports associated with the segments.

8. The user interface of claim 1 wherein at least one of the itinerary and filter regions is represented in a tagged format and the tagged format is either Hypertext Markup Language or extensible Markup Language.

9. The user interface of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of cells is associated with a link, the link causing the itinerary region to display only travel itineraries in the one of the first set of categories associated with the cell when a user selects the cell.

10. The user interface of claim 9 wherein the link is either an xlink or a uniform resource location link.

11. The user interface of claim 1 wherein the itinerary region further displays a detail link associated with each itinerary, the detail link being configured to display detailed information about the itinerary associated with the link when the link is selected.

12. An article comprising a machine-readable medium which stores machine-executable instructions for generating a user interface for presenting travel itineraries to a user, the instructions operable to cause a machine to generate a user interface comprising:

an itinerary region for displaying travel itineraries, each travel itinerary having a corresponding value for a first travel criterion, the travel itineraries being grouped into a first set categories based on the value of the first travel criterion; and

a filter region including a plurality of cells and each cell associated with one of the first set of categories of travel itineraries; and

an indicator that is applied to any first segment of an itinerary having a location of arrival for the first segment that is different from a location of departure for the next segment of the itinerary to indicate to the user that the itinerary has a different location of arrival for the first segment from the location of departure for the next segment.

13. The article of claim 12 wherein each travel itinerary has a corresponding value for a second different travel criterion, the travel itineraries being grouped into the first set of categories based also on the value of the second different travel criterion and the cells are arranged in rows and columns, with cells associated with first categories having the same value for the first travel criterion being positioned in the same row and cells associated with first categories having the same value for the second travel criterion being positioned in the same column.

14. The article of claim 12 wherein the filter region further includes a plurality of tabs;

and

the user causes the filter region to display the plurality of cells associated with categories based on the first criterion by selecting a tab.

15. The article of claim 12 wherein the indicator is at least one of italic, font size, font type, bold face font, print color, or background color applied to the text representing the airports.

16. The user interface of claim 15 wherein the at least one of the plurality of cells displays a cost of travel.

17. The article of claim 12 wherein the first travel criterion is selected from a group that includes airline, departure time, arrival time, location of departure, location of arrival, number of stops, cost, travel restrictions, expected delays, and safety records.

18. The article of claim 17 wherein the tagged format is either Hypertext Markup Language or eXtensible Markup Language.

19. The article of claim 17 wherein at least one of the plurality of cells is associated with a link, the link causing the itinerary region to display only travel itineraries in the one of the first set of categories associated with the cell when a user selects the cell.

20. The article of claim 12 wherein the indicator is applied to the airports associated with the segments.

21. The article of claim 20 wherein the link is either an xlink or a uniform resource location link.

22. The article of claim 12 wherein the itinerary region further displays a detail link associated with each itinerary, the detail link being configured to display detailed information about the itinerary associated with the link when the link is selected.

23. A user interface displayed on a display and produced by execution of instructions residing on a computer readable medium, the user interface for presenting travel itineraries to a user the user interface comprising:

a first region to display a first segment of an itinerary including a location of departure and a location of arrival for the first segment; and

a second region to display the next segment of the itinerary including a location of departure and a location of arrival for the next segment with the location of arrival for the first segment being different from the location of departure for the next segment and at least one of the first region and the second region is emphasized to indicate to the user that the itinerary has a different location of arrival for the first segment from the location of departure for the next segment.

24. The user interface of claim 23 wherein at least one of the location of arrival for the first segment and the location of departure for the next segment is emphasized by at least one of italics, font size, font type, bold face font, print color, and background color.

25. An article comprising a machine-readable medium which stores machine-executable instructions for generating a user interface for presenting a travel itinerary to a user, the instructions operable to cause a machine to generate a user interface comprising:

a first region to display a first segment of the itinerary including a location of departure and a location of arrival for the first segment; and

a second region to display the next segment of the itinerary including a location of departure and a location of arrival for the next segment; and

an indicator to indicate that the location of arrival for the first segment is different from the location of departure for the next segment.

26. The article of claim 25 wherein the indicator is at least one of italics, font size, font type, bold face font, print color, and background color applied to at least one of the location of arrival for the first segment and the location of departure for the next segment.