Systems and methods for facilitating travel site navigation

• US 9,563,610 B2
• Filed: 06/14/2013
• Issued: 02/07/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CWT Digital Limited
• Original Assignee: Worldmate Incorporated
• Inventors: Tidhar, Alon, Carmi, Eilon
• Primary Examiner(s): Baderman, Scott
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cortes, Howard
• Application Number:
  US13/918,836
• Publication Number:
  US 20140372866A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,334 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging

Abstract

Systems and methods for facilitating interactions between a travel website and a user device are provided. A described system includes a user device configured to receive itinerary-specific data and instructions for performing a travel-related action from a remote server. The instructions may include multiple lines of computer code for automatically navigating a particular travel website and multiple lines of computer code for automatically providing the itinerary-specific data to the travel website. The user device includes a web browser configured to receive and load a website file from the travel website. The user device is configured to inject the instructions for performing the travel-related action into the loaded website file and execute the instructions injected therein. Executing the instructions causes the user device to automatically perform the travel-related action.

Claims

1. A system for facilitating interactions between a travel website and a user device, the system comprising:

a user device configured to receive itinerary-specific data and instructions for performing a travel-related action from a remote server, the instructions including multiple lines of computer code for automatically navigating a particular travel website and multiple lines of computer code for automatically providing the itinerary-specific data to the travel website;

wherein the user device includes an application configured to receive a website file from the travel website and modify the website file by injecting the instructions for performing the travel-related action into the website file;

wherein the user device is configured to determine whether automatic form field population is supported for the travel website and to further modify the website file by automatically populating one or more form fields of the website file with the itinerary-specific data in response to a determination that automatic form field population is supported for the travel website;

wherein the application comprises an embedded web browser configured to load the modified website file pre-populated with the itinerary-specific data and execute the instructions injected therein, wherein executing the instructions causes the user device to automatically perform the travel-related action, wherein the website file is modified to include the itinerary-specific data prior to being loaded by the web browser;

wherein executing the instructions causes the user device to present a contextual user interface element containing the itinerary-specific data in response to a determination that automatic form field population is not supported for the travel website.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the multiple lines of computer code for automatically providing the itinerary-specific data to the travel website comprise instructions that cause the user device to automatically populate the one or more form fields of the website file with the itinerary-specific data.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the multiple lines of computer code for automatically navigating the travel website are specific to the particular travel website;

wherein executing the instructions causes the user device to automatically navigate through multiple pages of the travel website required to perform the travel-related action.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the user device is a mobile device configured to execute a mobile application for facilitating interactions with the travel website;

wherein the mobile application includes the web browser embedded therein.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the user device is configured to receive a user input requesting performance of the travel-related action;

wherein the user device is configured to send a request for instructions for performing the travel-related action to the remote server in response to the user input, the request for instructions including an indication of a particular travel itinerary;

wherein executing the instructions causes the user device to provide itinerary-specific data relating to the particular travel itinerary to the travel website.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a remote server configured to receive a request for instructions for performing the travel-related action from the user device, generate the instructions for performing the travel-related action, and provide the instructions to the user device.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the request for instructions includes an indication of a particular travel itinerary;

wherein the remote server is configured to provide the itinerary-specific data to the user device; and

wherein the itinerary-specific data relate to the particular travel itinerary.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the remote server is configured to identify a resource location of the travel website for performing the travel-related action and provide the resource location of the identified travel website to the user device;

wherein receiving the website file from the travel website includes retrieving a website file associated with the identified resource location.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions for performing the travel-related action are computer-executable script instructions.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the user device determines whether automatic form field population is supported for the travel website based on the instructions received from the remote server;

wherein the instructions received from the remote server include instructions for presenting the contextual user interface element when automatic form field population is not supported for the travel website;

wherein the instructions received from the remote server do not include the instructions for presenting the contextual user interface element when automatic form field population is supported for the travel website.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the itinerary-specific data are presented as selectable data elements within the contextual user interface element;

wherein the user device is configured to receive a user selection of at least one of the selectable data elements and to execute instructions for copying the itinerary-specific data from the contextual user interface element to the form fields of the travel website in response to the user selection.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the user device comprises form-filling logic independent from the instructions received from the remote server;

wherein the form-filling logic causes the user device to identify the form fields of the travel website based on content of the travel website and to automatically populate the identified form fields with the itinerary-specific data designated for the identified form fields.

13. A method for facilitating interactions between a travel website and a user device, the method comprising:

initiating, at a remote server, synchronization of itinerary-specific data and instructions for performing a travel-related action with a user device;

retrieving the itinerary-specific data from an itinerary database, the itinerary-specific data relating to a particular travel itinerary;

identifying, by the remote server, information for accessing a travel website for performing the travel-related action;

determining whether automatic form field population is supported for the travel website;

generating, by the remote server, instructions for performing the travel-related action, the instructions including multiple lines of computer code for automatically navigating the identified travel website and multiple lines of computer code for automatically providing the itinerary-specific data to the travel web site; and

providing the information for accessing the travel website and the instructions for performing the travel-related action to the user device, wherein the instructions for performing the travel-related action cause the user device to present a contextual user interface element containing the itinerary-specific data in response to a determination that automatic form field population is not supported for the travel website;

wherein the instructions for performing the travel-related action cause the user device to receive a website file from the travel website, modify the website file by automatically populating one or more form fields of the website file with the itinerary-specific data in response to a determination that automatic form field population is supported for the travel website, and load the modified website file pre-populated with the itinerary-specific data using a web browser of the user device, wherein the website file is modified to include the itinerary-specific data prior to being loaded by the web browser.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

retrieving website-specific navigation information from a website navigation database;

wherein the multiple lines of computer code for automatically navigating the identified travel website are specific to the identified travel website and based on the website-specific navigation information retrieved from the website navigation database.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the multiple lines of computer code for providing the itinerary-specific data to the travel website include instructions for automatically filling form fields of the website file with the itinerary-specific data.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

providing the itinerary-specific data to the user device prior to providing the instructions for performing the travel-related action, wherein the itinerary-specific data is stored on the user device;

wherein the instructions for performing the travel-related action include multiple lines of computer code for automatically providing the itinerary-specific data previously stored on the user device to the travel website.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the multiple lines of computer code for automatically providing the itinerary-specific data to the travel website include the itinerary-specific data retrieved from the itinerary database.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

retrieving, from a user information database, user-specific information relating to one or more users associated with the particular travel itinerary;

wherein the instructions for performing the travel-related action include multiple lines of computer code for automatically providing the user-specific information to the travel website.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the instructions for performing the travel-related action define a first set of instructions, the method further comprising:

generating a second set of instructions including instructions for injecting the first set of instructions into existing data of the travel website; and

providing the second set of instructions to the user device, wherein the second set of instructions causes the user device to create a modified travel website by injecting the first set of instructions into the existing data of the travel web site.

20. A method for facilitating interactions between a travel website and a user device, the method comprising:

receiving, at a user device, itinerary-specific data, information identifying a travel website, and instructions for performing a travel-related action, the instructions including multiple lines of computer code for automatically navigating the travel website and multiple lines of computer code for automatically providing the itinerary-specific data to the travel website, wherein the itinerary-specific data is specific to a particular travel itinerary;

receiving, via a user interface element of a user device, an input requesting performance of a travel-related action by the user device;

retrieving an original website file from the identified travel website;

creating a modified travel web site file by injecting the instructions for performing the travel-related action into the original website file;

determining whether automatic form field population is supported for the travel website and further modifying the website file by automatically populating one or more form fields of the website file with the itinerary-specific data in response to a determination that automatic form field population is supported for the travel website;

loading the modified travel website file using a web browser of the user device after the website file has been modified by the user device to include the itinerary-specific data; and

using the instructions and the itinerary-specific data to automatically navigate the identified travel website and perform the travel-related action, wherein the instructions for performing the travel-related action cause the user device to present a contextual user interface element containing the itinerary-specific data in response to a determination that automatic form field population is not supported for the travel website.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

automatically navigating through multiple pages of the travel website according to the instructions injected into the modified website file.