Query caching for travel planning systems
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for testing freshness of query results in a travel planning query cache comprising:
- retrieving from a cache database a result comprising a set of answers, each answer including a flight and a fare usable with the flight, in response to a travel planning query;
testing the retrieved result to determine whether at least one answer in the result is stale or insufficiently fresh to be returned as an answer to the query, with testing using the travel planning query, the retrieved cached result and age of the retrieved cached result to determine whether answers in the retrieved cache result are stale or insufficiently fresh to return the result to a user; and
if at least one of the answers in the retrieved cache result is stale,sending the travel planning query to a travel planning system; and
storing a result from execution of the travel planning query in the cache database, with the result comprising a set of answers, each answer including a flight and a fare usable with the flight.
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Abstract
A query cache for travel planning includes a cache database that stores query results and a cache test mechanism that receives a travel planning query and uses the query to find a result in the cache database and if a result is found returns the result, the result including a set of answers each answer in the set having a flight and a fare useable with the flight.
11 Citations
36 Claims
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1. A method for testing freshness of query results in a travel planning query cache comprising:
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retrieving from a cache database a result comprising a set of answers, each answer including a flight and a fare usable with the flight, in response to a travel planning query; testing the retrieved result to determine whether at least one answer in the result is stale or insufficiently fresh to be returned as an answer to the query, with testing using the travel planning query, the retrieved cached result and age of the retrieved cached result to determine whether answers in the retrieved cache result are stale or insufficiently fresh to return the result to a user; and
if at least one of the answers in the retrieved cache result is stale,sending the travel planning query to a travel planning system; and storing a result from execution of the travel planning query in the cache database, with the result comprising a set of answers, each answer including a flight and a fare usable with the flight. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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4. The method of 1 further comprising:
testing of validity of cached result by testing validity of cached answers that comprise the cached result.
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13. A computer program product residing on a computer readable medium for testing freshness of query results in a travel planning query cache comprises instructions for causing a computer to:
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retrieve from a cache database a result comprising a set of answers, each answer including a flight and a fare usable with the flight, in response to a travel planning query; test the retrieved result to determine whether at least one answer in the result is stale or insufficiently fresh to be returned as an answer to the travel planning query, with the instructions to test using the travel planning query, the retrieved cached result and age of the retrieved cached result to determine whether answers in the retrieved cache result are stale or insufficiently fresh to return the result to a user; and
if at least one of the answers is stale or insufficiently fresh,send the travel planning query to a travel planning system; and store a result from execution of the travel planning query in the cache database, the result comprising a set of answers, each answer including a flight and a fare usable with the flight. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A travel planning system comprises:
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a cache database, storing results comprising a set of answers to travel planning queries, each answer including a flight and a fare usable with the flight; and a computing system executing; a management process that retrieves cached results from the cache database in response to a travel planning query, tests the retrieved cached result to determine whether at least one answer in the result is stale or insufficiently fresh to be returned as an answer to the query, with the management process testing validity of cached answers by determining staleness according to a proportion or number of invalid answers in the retrieved result exceeding a pre-determined threshold; and
if at least some of the answers are stale or insufficiently fresh, and the threshold is exceeded,send the travel planning query to a travel planning system; and store a result from execution of the travel planning query in the cache database, the result comprising a set of answers, each answer including a flight and a fare usable with the flight. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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Specification