Method and apparatus for providing availability of airline seats
First Claim
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1. A computer implemented method of providing a seat availability prediction in response to a seat availability query, the method comprising:
- receiving a query for seat availability data, the query specifying characteristics of a specific flight;
determining;
by one or more computer systems;
from the query, seat availability query factors comprising an airline, a booking code, and a number of days prior to a date of travel;
accessing, by one or more computer systems, a data structure stored in memory, the data structure configured to store seat availability answers derived from past seat availability queries, and the data structure indexed at least according to the seat availability query factors; and
retrieving, by one or more computer systems, from the data structure, using the seat availability query factors, a probability that a seat is available for the flight and booking code;
comparing the retrieved probability that a seat is available to a predetermined threshold probability;
determining that the retrieved probability that a seat is available satisfies the predetermined threshold probability; and
providing a response to the query indicating that a seat is available for the flight and booking code.
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Abstract
A computer program product, method and system for producing seat availability information for a mode of travel such as airline travel produce a prediction of availability of a seat in accordance with an availability query. The prediction is used in place of making an actual query to an airline or other travel mode availability system.
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Citations
35 Claims
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1. A computer implemented method of providing a seat availability prediction in response to a seat availability query, the method comprising:
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receiving a query for seat availability data, the query specifying characteristics of a specific flight; determining;
by one or more computer systems;
from the query, seat availability query factors comprising an airline, a booking code, and a number of days prior to a date of travel;accessing, by one or more computer systems, a data structure stored in memory, the data structure configured to store seat availability answers derived from past seat availability queries, and the data structure indexed at least according to the seat availability query factors; and retrieving, by one or more computer systems, from the data structure, using the seat availability query factors, a probability that a seat is available for the flight and booking code; comparing the retrieved probability that a seat is available to a predetermined threshold probability; determining that the retrieved probability that a seat is available satisfies the predetermined threshold probability; and providing a response to the query indicating that a seat is available for the flight and booking code. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A computer program product tangibly embodied on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium for providing a seat availability prediction of seat availability in response to a seat availability query, the computer program product comprising instructions for causing a one or more computers to:
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receive a query for seat availability data, the query specifying characteristics of a specific flight; determine from the query seat availability query factors comprising an airline, a booking code, and a number of days prior to a date of travel; access a data structure stored in a memory of a computer system, the data structure storing seat availability answers, the seat availability answers derived from past seat availability queries and indexed at least according to the seat availability query factors; and retrieve from the data structure, using the seat availability query factors, a probability that a seat is available for the flight and booking code; compare the retrieved probability that a seat is available to a predetermined threshold probability; determine that the retrieved probability that a seat is available satisfies the predetermined threshold probability; and provide a response to the query indicating that a seat is available for the flight and booking code. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A computer system for providing a predicted answer in response to a seat availability query from a user, the computer system comprising:
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a processor; and a computer readable medium storing a computer program product comprising instructions for causing the computer system to; receive a query for seat availability data, the query specifying characteristics of a specific flight; determine, from the query, seat availability query factors comprising an airline, a booking code, and a number of days prior to a date of travel; access a data structure stored in a memory of a computer system, the data structure storing seat availability answers, the seat availability answers derived from past seat availability queries and indexed at least according to the seat availability query factors; and retrieve from the data structure, using the seat availability query factors, a probability that a seat is available for the flight and booking code; compare the retrieved probability that a seat is available to a predetermined threshold probability; determine that the retrieved probability that a seat is available satisfies the predetermined threshold probability; and provide a response to the query indicating that a seat is available for the flight and booking code. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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Specification