Software to provide geographically relevant website content

• US 8,010,628 B2
• Filed: 03/03/2008
• Issued: 08/30/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Bookit Operating LLC
• Original Assignee: Bookit.com Incorporated
• Inventors: Finlaw, Arthur P
• Primary Examiner(s): Follansbee; John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hussain; Imad
• Application Number:
  US12/041,430
• Publication Number:
  US 20090222532A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,275 Days
• Field of Search: 709/218, 709/217
• US Class Current: 709/218
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/025 Coordination of plural reservations, e.g. plural trip segments, transportation combined with accommodation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Internet based software application that identifies the geographic location of each a website visitor by their IP address to provide geographically relevant content to each individual visitor in a customized web page. In an embodiment, content can be further customized by web page viewing patterns of users in similar geographic locations. In an embodiment the software application matches the visitor'"'"'s location to likely travel departure points with offerings likely to interest a visitor from said location and displays likely attractive offers dynamically to that visitor.

Claims

1. A computer-based system for providing geographically relevant internet content, the computer-based system comprising:

an internet hosting server configured to receive an initial request for internet content associated with a website from a browser operating on a remote computer, the initial request for content associated with the website being initiated by a first-time visitor to the website entering an internet address of the website directly into the browser or selecting the internet address of the website via a search engine;

a memory configured to store an internet protocol (IP) address of the remote computer that is retrieved by the internet hosting server after the internet hosting server receives the initial request for internet content from the browser operating on the remote computer;

a software application configured to perform a first query of a first third-party database of IP addresses to match the IP address of the remote computer to an internet service provider (ISP), and estimate an estimated location of the remote computer based upon results of the first query of the first third-party database of IP addresses;

wherein, after estimating the estimated location of the remote computer, the software application automatically;

selects a preferred departure point from a predetermined set of departure points based upon the estimated location of the remote computer determined;

performs a second query of a second third-party database of travel products comprising resort and flight package deals to locate available travel itineraries originating at the preferred departure point selected using the estimated location of the remote computer;

identifies geographically relevant resort and flight package deals without user input by removing travel products unlikely to be purchased by the first-time visitor from among the available travel itineraries originating at the preferred departure point selected using the estimated location of the remote computer based upon the estimated location of the remote computer determined from the IP address of the remote computer; and

generates a user-customized, dynamic webpage that includes a visual representation for each of the geographically relevant resort and flight package deals that were identified, the visual representation including information regarding a resort associated with each of the geographically relevant resort and flight package deals,

wherein the internet hosting server delivers the user-customized dynamic webpage to the browser on the remote computer such that after the internet hosting server receives the initial request for internet content associated with the website from the browser operating on the remote computer, non-preferred resort and flight package deals are removed from the available travel itineraries originating at the preferred departure point such that travel products originating at the preferred departure point that are initially and automatically displayed on the browser include only visual representations of the geographically relevant resort and flight package deals, the geographically relevant resort and flight packages deals being automatically displayed without requiring user input from the first-time visitor once at the website nor access to information specific to the first-time visitor.

2. The computer-based system for providing geographically relevant internet content of claim 1, wherein the geographically relevant resort and flight package deals are ranked by average seasonal temperature.

3. The computer-based system for providing geographically relevant internet content of claim 1, wherein the geographically relevant resort and flight package deals are ranked by customer reviews.

4. The computer-based system for providing geographically relevant internet content of claim 1, wherein the user-customized, dynamic webpage includes a map and graphically depicts the preferred departure point and only destinations associated with the geographically relevant resort and flight package deals on the map such that resort and flight package deals associated with destinations determined to be non-preferred are not initially displayed on the map.

5. The computer-based system for providing geographically relevant internet content of claim 4, wherein the user-customized, dynamic webpage graphically depicts traveling from the preferred departure point to only the destinations associated with the geographically relevant resort and flight package deals as arcs originating from the preferred departure point and radiating to each of the destinations associated with the geographically relevant resort and flight package deals.

6. The computer-based system for providing geographically relevant internet content of claim 1, wherein the user-customized, dynamic webpage includes a map graphically depicting the preferred departure point and only destinations associated with the geographically relevant resort and flight package deals, and a window virtually representing the destinations associated with the geographically relevant resort and flight package deals and permitting retrieval of additional information associated with each destination virtually represented within the window.

7. A computer-based system for providing geographically relevant internet content, the computer-based system comprising:

an internet hosting server configured to receive an initial request for internet content associated with a website from a browser operating on a remote computer, the initial request for content associated with the website being initiated by a first-time visitor to the website entering an internet address of the website directly into the browser or selecting the internet address of the website via a search engine;

a memory configured to store an internet protocol (IP) address of the remote computer that is retrieved by the internet hosting server after the internet hosting server receives the initial request for internet content from the browser operating on the remote computer;

a software application configured to;

perform a first query of a first third-party database of IP addresses to match the IP address of the remote computer to an internet service provider (ISP);

estimate an estimated location of the remote computer based upon results of the first query of the first third-party database of IP addresses;

select a preferred departure point from a predetermined set of departure points based upon the estimated location of the remote computer;

perform a second query of a second third-party database of travel products comprising resort and flight package deals to locate available travel itineraries originating at the preferred departure point selected using the estimated location of the remote computer;

identify preferred resort and flight package deals by using the estimated location of the remote computer determined from the IP address of the remote computer to remove travel products unlikely to be purchased by the first-time visitor to the website from among the available travel itineraries originating at the preferred departure point selected using the estimated location of the remote computer that were identified by the second query; and

dynamically generate a user-customized, dynamic webpage that includes information regarding the preferred resort and flight package deals that were identified based upon the estimated location of the remote computer determined from the IP address of the remote computer,

wherein, after the internet hosting server receives the initial request for internet content associated with the website, the internet hosting server automatically delivers the user-customized, dynamic webpage to the browser on the remote computer such that a name and a picture of a resort for each of the preferred resort and flight packages is displayed without either active input from a the first-time visitor once at the website or accessing information specific to the first-time visitor to facilitate remote purchase of the preferred resort and flight packages via the user-customized, dynamic webpage.

8. The computer-based system for providing geographically relevant internet content of claim 7, wherein the user-customized, dynamic webpage includes a map that graphically depicts the preferred departure point and only destinations associated with the preferred resort and flight package deals.

9. A computer-based system for providing geographically relevant internet content, the computer-based system comprising:

an internet hosting server configured to receive an initial request for internet content associated with a website from a browser operating on a remote computer, the initial request for content associated with the website being initiated by a first-time visitor to the website entering an internet address directly into the browser or selecting the internet address via a search engine;

a memory configured to store an internet protocol (IP) address of the remote computer that is retrieved by the internet hosting server after the internet hosting server receives the initial request for internet content from the browser operating on the remote computer;

a software application configured to;

perform a first query of a first third-party database of IP addresses to match the IP address of the remote computer to an internet service provider (ISP);

estimate an estimated location of the remote computer based upon results of the first query of the first third-party database of IP addresses;

select a preferred departure point from a predetermined set of departure points based solely upon the estimated location of the remote computer;

perform a second query of a second third-party database of resort and flight packages for available travel itineraries originating at the preferred departure point selected using the estimated location of the remote computer,

identifying geographically relevant resort and flight packages from among the available travel itineraries originating at the preferred departure point selected using the estimated location of the remote computer by removing resort and flight packages unlikely to be purchased by the first-time visitor to the website from among the available travel itineraries originating at the preferred departure point selected using the estimated location of the remote computer based upon the estimated location of the remote computer determined from the IP address of the remote computer; and

dynamically generate a user-customized, dynamic webpage that includes information regarding an associated resort for each of the geographically relevant resort and flight packages,

wherein, after the internet hosting server receives the initial request for internet content associated with the website, the internet hosting server automatically delivers the user-customized, dynamic webpage to the browser on the remote computer such that (1) the first-time visitor to the website can view the geographically relevant resort and flight packages by only entering or selecting the internet address of the website and without any active input from the first-time visitor once at the website, and (2) travel products originating at the preferred departure point that are initially displayed by the browser include only resort and flight packages determined to be geographically relevant based upon the estimated location of the remote computer determined from the IP address of the remote computer.

10. The computer-based system for providing geographically relevant internet content of claim 9, wherein, the user-customized, dynamic webpage includes a template selected based upon the estimated location of the remote computer, and for each of the geographically relevant resort and flight packages, the user-customized, dynamic webpage automatically displays a name and a picture of the associated resort and a price without requiring active input from the first-time visitor.

11. The computer-based system for providing geographically relevant internet content of claim 9, wherein the geographically relevant resort and flight packages are further filtered based upon customer reviews.

12. The computer-based system for providing geographically relevant internet content of claim 9, wherein the user-customized, dynamic webpage is configured to facilitate manual searching of travel products once the first-time visitor is at the website.

13. The computer-based system for providing geographically relevant internet content of claim 9, wherein the user-customized, dynamic webpage includes a map and graphically depicts the preferred departure point and only destinations associated with the geographically relevant resort and flight package deals on the map such that resort and flight package deals associated with non-preferred destinations are not initially displayed to the first-time visitor once at the website.