Method and apparatus for an itinerary planner

• US 7,895,065 B2
• Filed: 12/17/2003
• Issued: 02/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Purang, Khemdut, Plutowski, Mark Earl
• Primary Examiner(s): Hayes; John W
• Assistant Examiner(s): JOSEPH, TONYA S
• Application Number:
  US10/740,143
• Publication Number:
  US 20040215699A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,624 Days
• Field of Search: 705 5- 6
• US Class Current: 705/5
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/343 Calculating itineraries, i.e. routes leading from a starting point to a series of categorical destinations using a global route restraint, round trips, touristic trips travelling salesman problem G06Q10/04; optimisation of routes G06Q10/047
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/025 Coordination of plural reservations, e.g. plural trip segments, transportation combined with accommodation

Abstract

A method and apparatus for providing an itinerary planner is described. The itinerary planner generates itineraries for visiting locations which are personalized to the user'"'"'s preferences. Unknown conditions are handled by contingency plans that the itinerary planner generates in an anytime manner. The first itineraries are derived in a short time, and as more computation time is allowed, additional itineraries that better suit the preferences of the user are obtained.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of creating a conditional plan on a planning server, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of user preferences through an interface;

retrieving a plurality of possible plan elements from a memory, each element having one or more categories associated with the element;

calculating a user value for each plan element;

automatically generating, by a processor, a conditional plan comprising a plurality of plan items and defining at least one decision point to detect during execution of the conditional plan whether a user is following an original plan item that is associated with the decision point, wherein the conditional plan is generated based on the calculated user values for the plan elements and the at least one decision point is defined prior to execution of the conditional plan and has an associated original plan item and at least one associated alternative plan item that are pre-determined prior to execution of the conditional plan;

presenting the conditional plan in a user system;

detecting the at least one defined decision point during execution of the conditional plan;

determining at the defined decision point that a user is not following the original plan item that is associated with the defined decision point; and

presenting during execution of the conditional plan the pre-determined alternative plan item that is associated with the defined decision point in the user system based on the determination that the user is not following the original plan item that is associated with the defined decision point.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the conditional plan comprises:

identifying a first plan having a utility above a set utility threshold, the utility being a match between the categories associated with the plan elements and the user preferences.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

generating a plurality of complete plans, wherein each complete plan is generated based on the calculated user values for each of the plan elements;

upon indication by the user that the first plan is rejected, identifying a second plan having a utility a predefined delta above the utility of the first plan; and

selecting the second plan.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

for each of the plurality of complete plans, determining whether the complete plan has a utility of a predefined delta greater than the utility of the current selected plan;

selecting a new plan having the utility of the predefined delta greater than the utility of the current selected plan as the current selected plan when a determination is made that there is a plan of greater utility than the first and the second plan.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically generating the conditional plan comprises:

identifying a starting location;

connecting together a plurality of plan segments, the plurality of segments fitting within an allotted time period.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the allotted time period is received from a user.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein each plan segment has associated with it an expected time to complete the plan segment.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the expected time includes an average time, and a minimum time, to complete the plan segment.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a plurality of user preferences comprises:

receiving a user identification from a user; and

retrieving a plurality of user preferences associated with the user identification from a database.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a plurality of user preferences comprises receiving one or more of the following:

a starting location, an available time, a plurality of categories.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the categories, for an itinerary planner, include one or more of the following:

shopping, movies, nature, technology, museums.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the categories available to the user for user preferences, reflect the categories of the plan elements available to the user.