Method and system for centralized reservation context management on multi-server reservation system

• US 9,514,498 B2
• Filed: 04/11/2011
• Issued: 12/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amadeus (Amadeus Global Travel Distribution S.A.)
• Original Assignee: Amadeus (Amadeus Global Travel Distribution S.A.)
• Inventors: Masini, Vincent, Pavot, Marc, Fauser, Dietmar, Daniel, Jerome
• Primary Examiner(s): Gillis, Brian J
• Assistant Examiner(s): DUONG, THAO DUC
• Application Number:
  US13/084,251
• Publication Number:
  US 20120239724A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,066 Days
• Field of Search: 709/201, 709/202, 709/205, 709/216, 709/219, 709/249
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/14 Travel agencies

Abstract

The method and system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention allows ensuring consistency of the PNR record when it is handled within the subsystem controlled by the reservation interceptor module and including a plurality of OBEs. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention the PNR context on open systems is centralized to avoid its fragmentation in the distributed environment, as gathering of all the context parts implies performance issues. In addition, instead of implementing a transaction session protocol to handle a start of transaction, intermediate updates and a final commit or rollback on the PNR context, the principle of the service interceptor architecture is to delegate the functional queries with the current user PNR context which will be modified in the central repository of PNR context only at response time when the whole functional use-case is finished.

Claims

1. A method of processing a user query including a service request in a distributed reservation system including a plurality of servers, the method comprising:

receiving an initial data structure at a first server of the plurality of servers, the initial data structure including the service request, a distributed context correlator that identifies a second server of the plurality of servers, and a reference to a passenger name record;

receiving, at the first server, a content of the passenger name record from a centralized passenger name record context;

enriching, at the first server, the initial data structure with a temporary data structure containing the content of the passenger name record to produce a complete data structure;

forwarding the complete data structure from the first server to the second server identified by the distributed context correlator;

performing, at the second server, the service request to generate a reply;

updating, at the second server, the complete data structure to include the reply;

after the complete data structure is updated to include the reply, returning the updated complete data structure from the second server to the first server;

removing, at the first server, the temporary data structure from the updated complete data structure; and

after the temporary data structure is removed, returning the reply from the first server to respond to the service request in the user query.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

in further response to the return of the complete data structure, updating, by the first server, the centralized passenger name record context based upon the reply in the complete data structure.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein updating the centralized passenger name record context comprises:

modifying the passenger name record.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving the user query at a first Integration Service Access Point; and

in response to receiving the user query, transmitting the initial data structure from the first Integration Service Access Point to the first server.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

in response to receiving the user query at the first Integration Service Access Point, obtaining, at the Integration Service Access Point, a most up-to-date version of the passenger name record.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the first server is communicatively coupled to each of the other servers of the plurality of servers though an Integration Service Access Point associated with the respective other servers.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of servers of the distributed reservation system exchange information through a Service Oriented Architecture system.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

updating, at the second server, the content of the passenger name record in the temporary data structure; and

updating, at the first server, the content of the passenger name record in the centralized passenger name record context based on the updated content of the passenger name record in the temporary data structure.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the second server generates the reply based at least in part on the content of the passenger name record in the temporary data structure.

10. A computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium; and

instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable storage medium that, when executed on one or more servers of a distributed reservation system including a plurality of servers, cause the one or more servers to;

receive, at a first server of the plurality of servers, an initial data structure including a service request of a user query, a distributed context correlator that identifies a second server of the plurality of servers, and a reference to a passenger name record;

receive, at the first server, a content of the passenger name record from a centralized passenger name record context;

enrich, at the first server, the initial data structure with a temporary data structure containing the content of the passenger name record to produce a complete data structure;

forward the complete data structure from the first server to the second server identified by the distributed context correlator;

perform, at the second server, the service request to generate a reply;

update, at the second server, the complete data structure to include the reply;

after the complete data structure is updated to include the reply, return the updated complete data structure from the second server to the first server;

remove, at the first server, the temporary data structure from the updated complete data structure; and

after the temporary data structure is removed, return the reply from the first server to respond to the service request in the user query.

11. A reservation system for processing a user query including a service request, the reservation system comprising:

a plurality of servers including a first server and a second server, the first server and the second server being configured to;

receive, at the first server, an initial data structure including the service request, a distributed context correlator that identifies the second server, and a reference to a passenger name record;

receive, at the first server, a content of the passenger name record from a centralized passenger name record context;

enrich, at the first server, the initial data structure with a temporary data structure containing the content of the passenger name record to produce a complete data structure;

forward the complete data structure from the first server to the second server identified by the distributed context correlator;

perform, at the second server, the service request to generate a reply;

update, at the second server, the complete data structure to include the reply;

after the complete data structure is updated to include the reply, return the updated complete data structure from the second server to the first server;

remove, at the first server, the temporary data structure from the updated complete data structure; and

after the temporary data structure is removed, return the reply from the first server to respond to the service request in the user query.

12. The reservation system of claim 11 wherein first server and the second server are further configured to:

in further response to the return of the complete data structure, update, by the first server, the centralized passenger name record context based upon the reply in the complete data structure.

13. The reservation system of claim 12 wherein the centralized passenger name record context is updated by modifying the passenger name record.

14. The reservation system of claim 11 further comprising a first Integration Service Access Point configured to:

receive the user query; and

in response to receiving the user query, transmit the initial data structure to the first server.

15. The reservation system of claim 14 wherein the Integration Service Access Point obtains a most up-to-date version of the passenger name record in response to receiving the user query.

16. The reservation system of claim 11 wherein the first server is communicatively coupled to each of the other servers of the plurality of servers though an Integration Service Access Point associated with the respective other servers.

17. The reservation system of claim 11 wherein the plurality of servers exchange information through a Service Oriented Architecture system.