Creating a database that stores information about individual habitable units

• US 8,930,334 B2
• Filed: 08/11/2011
• Issued: 01/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Expedia Inc. (Expedia Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Room 77, Inc. (Lexyl Travel Technologies LLC)
• Inventors: Gerstner, Brad, Yang, Calvin, Fliess, Kevin, Jones, Hee-Jung, Abbas, Syed
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Taelor
• Application Number:
  US13/208,147
• Publication Number:
  US 20120066275A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,244 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/705
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/444 Spatial browsing, e.g. 2D maps, 3D or virtual spaces

Abstract

Techniques for creating and searching a database that stores information about a plurality of individual habitable units (IHUs) are provided. An example of an IHU is a hotel room. Image data that depicts where a plurality of IHUs reside relative to each other is placed on a base image, such as a satellite/map image. The base image is associated with a mapping that maps points on the base image to spatial (e.g., geographical) coordinates. The coordinates of the IHU may be used to generate a computer-rendered view from a window of an IHU. Also, label input is received that labels each IHU reflected in the image data with certain information. Each label indicates a value of an attribute of an IHU, such as its size, price, distance from elevators, etc. A query that targets information about each IHU may be processed and results returned that are ranked based on criteria associated with the query.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

while a first image of a single floor of an existing multi-unit facility is being displayed, receiving, through a drawing component, first input to create a marked-up first image using a drawing tool;

wherein the first image depicts a floor with existing one or more rooms;

wherein the first input marks up the first image to indicate at least one location and boundary, on the-single floor, for each individual habitable unit of a plurality of individual habitable units that are depicted in the first image;

displaying a base image that depicts an actual geographic area on which resides the existing multi-unit facility;

wherein a mapping between points on the base image and a plurality of actual geographic coordinates has been established;

while the base image is displayed, receiving, through a fitting component, second input that associates one or more first positions in the marked-up first image with one or more second positions in the base image;

based on (a) the marked-up first image, (b) the position of the marked-up first image on the base image, and (c) the mapping between the points on the base image and the plurality of actual geographic coordinates, automatically determining a set of actual geographic coordinates for each individual habitable unit of the plurality of individual habitable units;

wherein the step of automatically determining assigns the same particular set of actual geographic coordinates to a set of corresponding individual habitable units;

wherein the individual habitable units that belong to the set of corresponding individual habitable units reside at the same location, but on different floors, within the existing multi-unit facility;

further comprising, after automatically determining the set of actual geographic coordinates for a particular individual habitable unit of the plurality of individual habitable units;

receiving a visual information that depicts a possible view, from a window of the particular individual habitable unit, away from the existing multi-unit facility; and

storing data that associates the visual information with the particular individual habitable unit;

wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the base image is a satellite image of the geographic area.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the base image depicts some but not all boundaries of the plurality of individual habitable units; and

the boundaries indicated in the first input include at least one boundary that is not depicted in the base image.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the visual information is one of video, a computer-rendered image, or a digital photo.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to receiving the visual information, sending, to a third party service, a request that includes the set of actual geographic coordinates for the particular individual habitable unit, wherein the visual information is received from the third party service.

20. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of the method recited in claim 1.

21. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of the method recited in claim 2.

22. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of the method recited in claim 3.

23. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of the method recited in claim 4.

24. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of the method recited in claim 5.

39. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one location, for each individual habitable unit of the plurality of individual habitable units, includes boundaries of said each individual habitable unit of the plurality of individual habitable units.

40. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of the method recited in claim 39.

6. A method comprising:

while displaying a first image of a floor plan of an existing multi-floor building and that indicates a plurality of individual habitable units, receiving, through a drawing component, first input to create a marked-up first image,

wherein the first image depicts a floor with existing one or more rooms;

wherein the first input marks up the first image, using the drawing component, to indicate one or more boundaries of each individual habitable unit of the plurality of individual habitable units;

wherein the actual geographic area of each individual habitable unit of the plurality of individual habitable units is distinct relative to the actual geographic area of each other individual habitable unit of the plurality of individual habitable units;

while the marked-up first image is displayed, receiving, through a labeling component, second input that specifies attribute values for each individual habitable unit of the plurality of individual habitable units;

in response to receiving the second input, associating each individual habitable unit, of the plurality of individual habitable units, with the corresponding attribute values; and

storing, in a database, data that associates each individual habitable unit, of the plurality of individual habitable units, with the corresponding attribute values;

wherein the second input specifies a particular attribute value;

wherein the step of storing assigns the same particular attribute value to a batch of individual habitable units without a user individually specifying the particular attribute value for each individual habitable unit in the batch;

the plurality of individual habitable units are a first plurality of individual habitable units that correspond to a first floor of the existing multi-floor building;

a particular plurality of values are specified by a user for a particular individual habitable unit of the first plurality of individual habitable units;

storing the data comprises storing data that associates each individual habitable unit, of a second plurality of individual habitable units that are different than the first plurality of individual habitable units and that correspond to one or more floors, of the existing multi-floor building, that do not include the first floor, with the particular plurality of values;

the particular plurality of values are not specified by the user for each individual habitable unit of the second plurality of individual habitable units;

wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising, prior to receiving the second input, receiving, through a fitting component, third input that aligns a display of the marked-up first image relative to a display of a base image that depicts an actual geographic area on which resides the plurality of individual habitable units, such that contents depicted in the marked-up first image are displayed in alignment with corresponding contents depicted in the base image.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the corresponding attribute values of said each individual habitable unit include a room number for said each individual habitable unit.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the corresponding attribute values of said each individual habitable unit indicate a type of each bed of one or more beds in said each individual habitable unit.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

after receiving the third input, determining, based on boundaries of each individual habitable unit of the plurality of individual habitable units and the base image, a size of said each individual habitable unit;

wherein the corresponding attribute values of said each individual habitable unit include the size of said each individual habitable unit.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein:

the plurality of individual habitable units include a first individual habitable unit and a second individual habitable unit;

the first individual habitable unit is of a first type and the second individual habitable unit is of a second type that is different than the first type;

the corresponding attribute values for the first individual habitable unit indicate a first category that indicates the first type and, for the second individual habitable unit, a second category that indicates the second type.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising, after receiving the third input, for each individual habitable unit of a subset of the plurality of individual habitable units:

receiving visual information that depicts a possible view from a window of said each individual habitable unit, wherein the possible view of said each individual habitable unit is away from said each individual habitable unit; and

storing data that associates the visual information with said each individual habitable unit.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the visual information is received from a third party in response to a request for the visual information, wherein the request includes multiple geographical coordinates.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

determining an elevation of a particular individual habitable unit, wherein the request includes the elevation.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein receiving visual information comprises receiving, for a certain individual habitable unit of the plurality of individual habitable units, a plurality of visual information items that each depicts a different possible view from a window of the certain individual habitable unit.

16. The method of claim 7, further comprising, after receiving the third input:

receiving an image that depicts an actual view from a window of a certain individual habitable unit of the plurality of individual habitable units; and

storing data that associates the image with the certain individual habitable unit.

17. The method of claim 7, further comprising, after generating the marked-up first image, receiving third input that rotates and scales the marked-up first image.

18. The method of claim 6, wherein the plurality of individual habitable units comprise a first subset that are managed by a first establishment and a second subset that are managed by a second establishment that is different than the first establishment.

19. The method of claim 6, wherein the plurality of individual habitable units are hotel rooms.

25. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of the method recited in claim 6.

26. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of the method recited in claim 7.

27. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of the method recited in claim 8.

28. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of the method recited in claim 9.

29. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of the method recited in claim 10.

30. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of the method recited in claim 11.

31. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of the method recited in claim 12.

32. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of the method recited in claim 13.

33. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of the method recited in claim 14.

34. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of the method recited in claim 17.

35. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of the method recited in claim 16.

36. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of the method recited in claim 17.

37. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of the method recited in claim 18.

38. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of the method recited in claim 19.

41. The method of claim 6, wherein receiving the second input comprises receiving input that selects each individual habitable unit in the batch.

42. The method of claim 6, wherein receiving the second input comprises receiving input that specifies a tag rule that includes the particular attribute value and a pattern, wherein each individual habitable unit in the batch matches the pattern.

43. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of the method recited in claim 41.

44. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of the method recited in claim 42.