Method and tour planner for planning tour for a group

• US 8,798,928 B2
• Filed: 03/23/2011
• Issued: 08/05/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/08/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Infosys Limited
• Original Assignee: Infosys Limited
• Inventors: Muthuramalingam, Prathesh Santh, Meganathan, Sathis Kumar
• Primary Examiner(s): To, Tuan C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kan, Yuri
• Application Number:
  US13/069,632
• Publication Number:
  US 20120016585A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,231 Days
• Field of Search: 701/202, 701/210, 701/527, 701/533, 705/5, 705/6, 705/7, 705/10, 705/13, 455/414.1, 455/456.3
• US Class Current: 701/527
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

The invention describes a method, a tour planner, and a computer program product for planning a tour for a group including one or more travelers. In various embodiments of the invention, the tour planner enables a traveler to select a travel route and simultaneously share the selected travel route with at least one other traveler. Thereafter, based on the feedback of the other traveler, the selected travel route is either changed or finalized by the group. Further, the method facilitates the group of travelers on the day of the travel by providing each one of them with one or more alerts relating the finalized travel route.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for planning a tour for a group on a travel day, the group comprising one or more travelers, each traveler of the group having a communication device, the method comprising:

a. selecting a travel route by a traveler of the group, via program instructions executed by a microprocessor, from a departure point to a destination point, the travel route being selected from one or more travel routes available between the departure point and the destination point;

b. transmitting the selected travel route by the traveler of the group simultaneously to at least one other traveler'"'"'s communication device of the group along with one or more details associated with the travel route over a network, via program instructions executed by the microprocessor, during the course of travel on the travel day, the travelers of the group interactively communicating with each other using their corresponding communication devices on the travel day;

c. receiving feedback on the transmitted travel route in real-time, via program instructions executed by the microprocessor, from the at least one other traveler'"'"'s communication device during the course of travel on the travel day;

d. finalizing the travel route for the group, via program instructions executed by the microprocessor, wherein the travel route is finalized after implementing changes to the travel route in real-time based on the received feedback during the course of travel on the travel day;

e. transmitting, via program instructions executed by the microprocessor, the finalized travel route to other travelers of the group during the course of travel on the day of travel; and

f. receiving, via program instructions executed by the microprocessor, one or more alerts associated with the finalized travel route during the course of travel on the day of travel.

2. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 further comprising storing the finalized travel route on a central server.

3. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the travel route is shared over a network using the communication device by at least one of a Short Message Service (SMS), a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), a voice SMS, and an Electronic mail (Email).

4. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 further comprising displaying at least one of the one or more travel routes, via program instructions executed by the microprocessor, the selected travel route, and the finalized travel route on a digitized map.

5. The computer-implemented method according to claim 4 further comprising displaying at least one information data point, via program instructions executed by the microprocessor, associated with the one or more travelers of the group on the digitized map on the day of travel.

6. The computer-implemented method according to claim 5 further comprising facilitating the traveler, via program instructions executed by the microprocessor, to contact the at least one other traveler based on the corresponding at least one information data point displayed on the digitized map.

7. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the one or more alerts comprise information associated with at least one of a traffic condition, a weather condition, and at least one important place.

8. The computer-implemented method according to claim 7 further comprising facilitating the traveler, via program instructions executed by the microprocessor, to contact the at least one important place.

9. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein at least one alternative travel route is communicated to at least one traveler of the group based on the one or more alerts.

10. The computer-implemented method according to claim 9, wherein the at least one alternative travel route is communicated through at least one of a Short Message Service (SMS), a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), a voice call, an Electronic mail (Email) and a conference call.

11. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the traveler and the at least one other traveler is facilitated to provide a rating, via program instructions executed by the microprocessor, corresponding to at least one important place associated with the finalized travel route.

12. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the one or more alerts are associated with a location of the traveler of the group, wherein the location of the traveler is identified by at least one of a Global Positioning System (GPS), a Cellular Identification (Cellular ID) based database and a Wireless Fidelity (WIFI) access point based database.

13. A tour planner for planning a tour for a group, the group comprising one or more travelers, each traveler of the group having a communication device, the tour planner being integrated in the communication device, the tour planner comprising:

a. a selecting module in communication with a microprocessor and operative to facilitate a traveler of the group to select a travel route from a departure point to a destination point, the travel route being selected from one or more travel routes available between the departure point and the destination point;

b. a sharing module in communication with the microprocessor and operative to facilitate the traveler of the group to transmit the selected travel route simultaneously to at least one other traveler'"'"'s communication device of the group along with one or more details associated with the travel route, via program instructions executed by the microprocessor, during the course of travel on the travel day, the travelers of the group interactively communicating with each other using their corresponding communication devices on the travel day;

c. a feedback receiving module in communication with the microprocessor and operative to receive feedback on the transmitted travel route in real-time, via program instructions executed by the microprocessor, from the at least one other traveler'"'"'s communication device of the group during the course of travel on the travel day, the feedback being received over a network;

d. a finalizing module in communication with the microprocessor and operative to finalize the transmitted travel route, the travel route being finalized by the group after implementing changes to the travel route in real-time based on the received feedback during the course of travel on the travel day, wherein the finalized travel route being shared with other travelers of the group; and

e. an alert receiving module in communication with the microprocessor and operative to receive one or more alerts associated with the finalized travel route during the course of travel on the day of travel.

14. The tour planner according to claim 13 further comprising a memory module in communication with the microprocessor and operative to store the finalized travel route on a central server.

15. The tour planner according to claim 13, wherein the sharing module shares the travel route by at least one of a Short Message Service (SMS), a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), a voice SMS, and an Electronic mail (Email).

16. The tour planner according to claim 13 further comprising a digitized map module in communication with the microprocessor and operative to display at least one of the one or more travel routes, the selected travel route, and the finalized travel route on a digitized map.

17. The tour planner according to claim 16 further comprising an information module in communication with the microprocessor and operative to provide at least one information data point associated with the one or more travelers of the group on the digitized map on the day of travel.

18. The tour planner according to claim 17 further comprising a contact module in communication with the microprocessor and operative to contact the at least one other traveler based on the corresponding at least one information data point displayed on the digitized map.

19. The tour planner according to claim 18, wherein the contact module in communication with the microprocessor and is further operative to facilitate the traveler to contact at least one important place associated with the finalized travel route.

20. The tour planner according to claim 13 further comprising a rating module in communication with the microprocessor and operative to facilitate the traveler to provide the rating corresponding to at least one important place associated with the finalized travel route.

21. A computer program product for planning a tour for a group on a travel day, the group comprising one or more travelers, each traveler of the group having a communication device, the computer program product comprising:

computer-usable medium having program code stored thereon, the program code comprising instructions that, when executed by a microprocessor, cause the microprocessor to;

a. select a travel route from a departure point to a destination point, the travel route being selected from one or more travel routes available between the departure point and the destination point, the travel route being selected by a traveler of the group;

b. transmit the selected travel route by the traveler of the group simultaneously to at least one other traveler'"'"'s communication device of the group along with one or more details associated with the travel route, the travel route being shared over a network during the course of travel on the travel day, the travelers of the group interactively communicating with each other using their corresponding communication devices on the travel day;

c. receive feedback on the transmitted travel route in real-time from the at least one other traveler'"'"'s communication device of the group during the course of travel on the travel day, the feedback being received over the network;

d. finalize the transmitted travel route based on the feedback, the travel route being finalized by the group after implementing changes to the travel route in real-time based on the received feedback during the course of travel on the travel day;

e. transmitting the finalized travel route to other travelers of the group during the course of travel on the day of travel; and

f. receive one or more alerts associated with the finalized travel route during the course of travel on the day of travel.

22. The computer program product according to claim 21 wherein the program code further comprises instructions that, when executed by the microprocessor, cause the microprocessor to store the finalized travel route on a central server.

23. The computer program product according to claim 21 wherein the program code further comprises instructions that, when executed by the microprocessor, cause the microprocessor to display at least one of the one or more travel routes, the selected travel route, and the finalized travel route on a digitized map.

24. The computer program product according to claim 23 wherein the program code further comprises instructions that, when executed by the microprocessor, cause the microprocessor to display at least one information data point associated with the one or more travelers of the group on the digitized map on the day of travel.

25. The computer program product according to claim 24 wherein the program code further comprises instructions that, when executed by the microprocessor, cause the microprocessor to facilitate the traveler to contact the at least one other traveler based on the corresponding at least one information data point displayed on the digitized map.

26. The computer program product according to claim 21, wherein the one or more alerts comprise information associated with at least one of a traffic condition, a weather condition, and at least one important place.

27. The computer program product according to claim 26 wherein the program code further comprises instructions that, when executed by the microprocessor, cause the microprocessor to facilitate the traveler to contact the at least one important place.

28. The computer program product according to claim 21 wherein the program code further comprises instructions that, when executed by the microprocessor, cause the microprocessor to facilitate at least one of the traveler and the at least one other traveler to provide a rating corresponding to at least one important place associated with the finalized travel route.