System and method for emergency tracking

• US 8,458,067 B2
• Filed: 10/15/2009
• Issued: 06/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Liberty Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Edwards, Stacey, Babcock, Dave, Arguelles, Shelley
• Primary Examiner(s): Hammond, III, Thomas M
• Application Number:
  US12/580,060
• Publication Number:
  US 20100057502A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,328 Days
• Field of Search: 705 35- 45
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/265 Personal security, identity or safety

Abstract

An emergency tracking system and method is disclosed that determines location information of individuals based upon travel information and financial transaction information, receives crisis information related to a crisis and determines a subset of individuals potentially impacted by the crisis based on the location information. The system may also notify a third party regarding the subset of individuals and send message to the subset of individuals, wherein the message includes alternative arrangements to at least one of minimize or avoid the crisis. The system also allows an employer to enter search criteria to locate certain types of employees and view such employees on a graphical display of a map.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for notifying individuals impacted by a crisis, the method comprising:

receiving, by a computer-based system comprising at least a computer processor, crisis information related to a crisis;

determining, by the computer-based system, location information for each of a plurality of individuals, wherein the determining comprises cross-referencing travel information and financial transaction information for each of the individuals;

determining, by the computer-based system, a subset of the individuals impacted by the crisis based on the location information, wherein the determination comprises;

matching a first charge in a financial database to a first amount of a travel record in a travel database, and wherein the travel record in the travel database includes the first amount and first data, wherein the first data relates to non-monetary information;

associating a second charge in the financial database with the first data of the travel record in the travel database, wherein the travel record in the travel database does not include the second charge in the financial database, wherein the second charge in the financial database is associated with a change to the travel record in the travel database, and wherein the first charge and the second charge are part of the financial transaction information, and wherein the travel record is part of the travel information;

determining subset selection criteria associated with the crisis information, wherein the subset selection criteria indicates that an individual is impacted by the crisis;

determining, based on the matched first charge, the associated second charge, and the determined selection criteria, a probability for each individual that the individual is impacted by the crisis; and

selecting the subset of individuals determined to be impacted by the crisis based on the determined probability; and

sending, by the computer-based system, a message to the subset of individuals.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising notifying, by the computer-based system, a third party regarding the subset of individuals.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the message includes alternative arrangements to at least one of minimize or avoid the crisis.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising enabling, by the computer-based system, selection of a further subset of individuals using at least one of type of traveler, risk-level, hotel, type of crisis, time of crisis, passenger name record, date, region, length of time in a region, time frame for traveling to the region, associated group, business unit, booked individuals, or ticketed individuals.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the subset of individuals are at least one of employees, travelers or residents.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing, by the computer-based system, a report including at least one of individual name, crisis location, distance from the crisis, time frame for entering a region near the crisis, if individual was already contacted, contact information and method for verifying location.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising graphically displaying, by the computer-based system, locations of the individuals.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing, by the computer-based system, at least one of risk management, security briefings, weather information, visa information and alternative travel information to at least one of the individual or a third party.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the travel information comprises at least one of:

travel profile data, employee identifiers, names of travel companions, destinations, account numbers, e-mail addresses, passport information, global positioning system data, preferred rewards programs, and emergency contact information, computer reservation system (CRS) data, itinerary data, traveler profile, airline ticketing data, car rental data, hotel data, record locator, passenger name, flight number, flight carrier code, flight type, origination airport, depart date of trip, depart time of trip, destination airport, arrival date of trip, arrival time of trip, traveler email address, hotel chain code, hotel name, hotel address, hotel city, hotel state, hotel zip code, hotel country, hotel phone number, city code of airport, hotel check-in date, hotel check-out date, car domestic and international indicator, car vendor code, car vendor name, car pickup city code, car pickup city name, car pickup date and time, car drop-off date and time, statement information, car domestic and international indicator, user defined field, traveler cell or mobile phone number, traveler home phone number, traveler misc phone number, traveler agency phone number, travelers fax number, or identifier if passenger name record is ticketed.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the financial transaction information comprises at least one of:

charge account, debit account, corporate account, bank accounts, credit card accounts, card member details, approval or decline code, authorization date, authorization time, authorization type code, average request amount for previous 12 months, base account id, basic supplementary number, billing decline amount, billing currency code, billing decline amount in us dollars, date when the transaction was declined at the se, decline reason code, sequence number uniquely identifying each transaction on a given day, exposure amount in us dollars, currency code in iso, number of times the limit exceeded in a period, limit id, load timestamp, last updated timestamp, last updated user identifier, maximum requested amount for previous 12 months, priority number for the reason of decline, proposed limit amount for the previous 12 months, report period identifier, service establishment number, dba name, legal name, city name, street address, service establishment types, shops, hotels, restaurants, travel, check cashing, sight draft, check cashing, international, oil companies, department stores, mail order, cash dispensing, travelers check dispensing, car rental, restaurant transactions, taxi/limousine transactions, gasoline purchases, loyalty account data, gift card data, calling account data, club account data, entertainment account data, transportation data, global positioning system data or personal digital assistant data.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining location information comprises determining a percent likelihood the individual is in each of a plurality of locations.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining location information comprises cross-referencing the travel information and the financial transaction information to determine the location information of each of the individuals.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining location information comprises eliminating at least one of web-based transactions, recurring charges, domestic transactions, or non-business transactions.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising confirming, by the computer-based system, at least one of:

the individual is following company guidelines, the individual is spending company funds, the manner in which various sales representatives are distributed throughout a region, the individual is attending certain functions, the individual is not working outside of her territory, and the individual is not near particular people or groups.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

assigning, by the computer-based system, the first charge in the financial database to a department code by writing the department code to a field corresponding to the first charge in the financial database, wherein a department code is associated with the travel record; and

assigning, by the computer-based system, the second charge in the financial database to the department code associated with the travel record in the travel database.

16. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving, by the computer-based system, a request for the report, wherein the request includes data selection criteria comprising a corporate transaction account provider identifier, an air sector, and a fare basis code, and wherein the transaction processor is a host computer;

parsing the request to retrieve the data selection criteria from a natural language query in response to the request including the natural language query, wherein the data selection criteria includes metadata;

receiving a categorized view instruction, wherein the categorized view instruction determines a data placement and format for the report;

formatting the data selection criteria in accordance with the metadata, wherein the plurality of disparate travel sources comprise at least one of;

a Customer Reservations System (CRS) and an air carrier which store the travel transaction data including travel cost data; and

wherein the plurality of disparate financial sources comprise financial account providers which store the financial transaction account data including financial charge data;

retrieving the financial transaction account data, including the financial charge data, from at least one of the plurality of disparate financial sources in accordance with the data selection criteria;

retrieving the travel transaction data from at least one of the plurality of disparate travel sources in accordance with the data selection criteria, wherein the travel transaction data includes the travel cost data, the air sectors, and the fare basis codes provided by the air carrier and, wherein the travel transaction data is obtained by the transaction processor;

adding proprietary information to the financial transaction account data and the travel transaction data, wherein the proprietary information relates to a host supplier network;

adding to the report, line item detail including the financial charge data from the financial transaction account data and from the travel transaction data;

positioning each of the data elements in accordance with the categorized view instruction, wherein the data elements are marked as billed or unbilled;

conditioning the data elements to transform the data elements into the report for transmission to a client;

converting the financial transaction account data and the transaction data from the disparate travel sources and the disparate financial sources into a single format; and

sending the report to a client.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the metadata comprises at least one of:

(i) instructions for where to access travel transaction data, (ii) instructions for where to access financial account data, (iii) instructions for how to access the travel transaction data, (iv) instructions for how to access the financial account data, (v) instructions for retrieving travel transaction data, (vi) instructions for retrieving financial account data, (vii) protocols that are used to access the travel transaction data, (viii) protocols that are used to access the financial account data, (ix) a location identifier corresponding to a plurality of disparate travel sources, (x) protocol instructions for the plurality of disparate travel sources, (xi) a location identifier corresponding to a plurality of disparate financial sources, (xii) protocol instructions for the plurality of disparate financial sources, and (xiii) a defined relationship between attributes and metrics of the natural language query and target data sources.

18. An article of manufacture including a non-transitory, tangible computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a computer-based system for notifying individuals impacted by a crisis, cause the computer-based system to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by the computer-based system, crisis information related to a crisis;

determining, by the computer-based system, location information for each of a plurality of individuals, wherein the determining comprises cross-referencing travel information and financial transaction information for each of the individuals;

determining, by the computer-based system, a subset of the individuals impacted by the crisis based on the location information, wherein the determination comprises;

matching a first charge in a financial database to a first amount of a travel record in a travel database, and wherein the travel record in the travel database includes the first amount and first data, wherein the first data relates to non-monetary information;

associating a second charge in the financial database with the first data of the travel record in the travel database, wherein the travel record in the travel database does not include the second charge in the financial database, wherein the second charge in the financial database is associated with a change to the travel record in the travel database, and wherein the first charge and the second charge are part of the financial transaction information, and wherein the travel record is part of the travel information;

determining subset selection criteria associated with the crisis information, wherein the subset selection criteria indicates that an individual is impacted by the crisis;

determining, based on the matched first charge, the associated second charge, and the determined selection criteria, a probability for each individual that the individual is impacted by the crisis; and

selecting the subset of individuals determined to be impacted by the crisis based on the determined probability; and

sending, by the computer-based system, a message to the subset of individuals.

19. A system comprising:

a processor for notifying individuals impacted by a crisis,

a tangible, non-transitory memory configured to communicate with the processor,

the tangible, non-transitory memory having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving, by the processor, crisis information related to a crisis;

determining, by the processor, location information for each of a plurality of individuals, wherein the determining comprises cross-referencing travel information and financial transaction information for each of the individuals;

determining, by the processor, a subset of the individuals impacted by the crisis based on the location information, wherein the determination comprises;

matching a first charge in a financial database to a first amount of a travel record in a travel database, and wherein the travel record in the travel database includes the first amount and first data, wherein the first data relates to non-monetary information;

associating a second charge in the financial database with the first data of the travel record in the travel database, wherein the travel record in the travel database does not include the second charge in the financial database, wherein the second charge in the financial database is associated with a change to the travel record in the travel database, and wherein the first charge and the second charge are part of the financial transaction information, and wherein the travel record is part of the travel information;

determining subset selection criteria associated with the crisis information, wherein the subset selection criteria indicates that an individual is impacted by the crisis;

determining, based on the matched first charge, the associated second charge, and the determined selection criteria, a probability for each individual that the individual is impacted by the crisis; and

selecting the subset of individuals determined to be impacted by the crisis based on the determined probability; and

sending, by the computer-based system, a message to the subset of individuals.