AMADEUS S.A.S. Patent applications |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20150347929 | CONTENT EXCHANGE WITH A TRAVEL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - Methods, apparatus, and computer program products for exchanging content with a content management system comprising an extended record data structure. A plurality of records are maintained at the travel management system in an extended record data structure that includes first data containers containing standard data elements and second data containers containing non-standard data elements. Each non-standard data element is associated with a respective structure description file defining a structure of the attributes of the non-standard data element. A first data exchange message is generated at the travel management system and includes the structure description file of one of the non-standard data elements and a set of values corresponding to values of the attributes of the one of the non-standard data elements. The first data exchange message is transmitted according to a first data exchange format from the travel management system to the client device. | 12-03-2015 |
20150347928 | SEAT ASSIGNMENT - Methods, systems, and computer program products for assigning seats of passenger-transport vehicles to passengers. The passengers are subdivided into a plurality of groups. The passengers included in each group are connected by social-network relations and have less than a maximum number of social-network relations to other passengers outside of the group. Breaks of the social-network relations between the passengers are minimized when the passengers are subdivided into the groups. In response to one of the passengers being excluded from the groups, one of the groups is determined that includes at least one included passenger with at least one of the social-network relations to the excluded passenger to thereby increase the size of the group by adding the excluded passenger. | 12-03-2015 |
20150347589 | CONTENT ACCESS IN A TRAVEL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - Methods, systems, and computer program products for accessing content in a travel management system. A request is received from an application to access a standard data element and a non-standard data element from an extended record data structure based at least in part upon access criteria. A plurality of attributes of a data container associated with the non-standard data element are filtered based at least in part upon a plurality of predefined filtering rules in order to generate filtered attributes. An abstract container is generated that includes the filtered attributes of the non-standard data element and that is assigned a unique abstract type. | 12-03-2015 |
20150347476 | CONTENT MANAGEMENT IN A TRAVEL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - Methods, apparatus, and computer program products for managing content in a travel management system. A standard data element and a non-standard data element comprising the content are received from one or more content providers. A first data container for the standard data element and a second data container for the non-standard data element are created in an extended record data structure. The first data container includes a common record identifier and first data values for first attributes corresponding to the standard data element. The second data container includes the common record identifier and second data values corresponding to second attributes for the non-standard data element. The travel management system manages access to the first container and the second container in the extended record data structure based on the common record identifier. | 12-03-2015 |
20150347408 | MANAGING RECORDS IN A TRAVEL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - Methods, apparatus, and computer program products for managing an extended record data structure in a content management system. A plurality of records are stored in an extended record data structure that include first data containers containing standard data elements and second data containers containing non-standard data elements. A record identifier is assigned to each record in the extended data structure for which one or more of the standard data elements and one or more of the non-standard data elements are related. For each record, an entry is created in an auxiliary data structure. The entry shares the record identifier of the record and comprises an auxiliary data container. The auxiliary data container includes a set of attributes related to the first and second data containers sharing the same record identifier in the record data structure. The extended record data structure is managed based on the auxiliary data structures. | 12-03-2015 |
20150331828 | COMPUTER-IMPLEMENTED GATEWAY - Methods, systems, and computer program products for configuring an enterprise service bus. Based on user configuration settings, a configuration instance may be generated for the enterprise service bus. The configuration instance is communicated to the enterprise service bus. During run-time, the configuration instance may be configured to control an execution data flow for business data, such as travel data, through the enterprise service bus. Alternatively, a configuration instance at the enterprise service bus may be received by the enterprise service bus during run-time. The configuration instance is based on user configuration settings. The enterprise service bus may be configured to control an execution data flow for business data, such as travel data, through the enterprise service bus based on the configuration instance. | 11-19-2015 |
20150317752 | VIRTUAL FORUM FOR TRAVEL SERVICES - Methods, systems, and computer program products for communicating between a travel service provider and a plurality of travelers using a virtual social network. A virtual forum is created in a virtual social network and associated with a travel service provided by a travel service provider. The virtual forum may be linked with user accounts in the social network belonging to travelers who have booked the travel service. The links may be defined in response to the traveler booking the travel service, or by the traveler requesting the link. The travel service provider may then provide information relating to the travel service to the traveler via the virtual forum. The virtual forum may further provide a communications medium for travelers to interact with other travelers. Interested parties who have not booked the travel service may be able to access a portion of the information available through the virtual forum. | 11-05-2015 |
20150317569 | VISUAL BOOKING SYSTEM - A method, apparatus, and program product implement visual booking operations to search for travel products and/or present travel recommendations associated with travel products to users based upon visual elements in one or more digital images captured by a wearable or mobile device. Visual elements may be extracted and inferred to identify one or more travel destination locations that are geographically remote from a current location of a user, and the identified travel destination locations may be used to search a travel database to identify at least one travel product for travel from a travel origination location to a travel destination location. | 11-05-2015 |
20150310407 | TRAVEL RESERVATION PAYMENT SOLUTION - Methods, systems, and computer program products for generating a payment solution. A request to generate a payment solution for a priced travel solution comprising at least one travel inventory item using a plurality of forms of payment may be received. Responsive to receiving the request, a payment amount may be allocated to each of the plurality of forms of payment based at least in part on a payment hierarchy that defines an order in which the plurality of forms of payment are to be used for payment of the priced travel solution and at least one payment constraint associated with at least one of the plurality of forms of payment. The payment solution may be generated based on the allocated payment amounts. | 10-29-2015 |
20150294238 | TRAVEL PLANNING SYSTEM - Methods, systems, and computer program products for generating travel proposals that satisfy traveler defined stopover and segment time and activity constraints. A travel planning module receives data relating to a travel request from a traveler. The travel request may include data defining an origin, a destination, and a trip constraint requiring a stopover. The travel planning module determines a minimum number of segments required to satisfy the trip constraints, and generates a set of routes with each route comprising a number of links greater than or equal to the minimum number of required segments. The travel planning module may then populate each of the routes with scheduled segments to generate a plurality of candidate travel proposals based on data received from a scheduling database. Candidate travel proposals that do not satisfy the trip constraints may be discarded, and the remaining candidate travel proposals displayed to the traveler. | 10-15-2015 |
20150294236 | ELECTRONIC MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENT HANDLING IN RESPONSE TO VOLUNTARY MODIFICATIONS OF ANCILLARY SERVICES - Methods, systems, and computer program products for handling electronic miscellaneous documents in response to voluntary modifications of services. A request, which includes first data for a passenger name record, is received for the airline reservation change. Second data for a first electronic miscellaneous document, which is linked to the first data for the passenger name record, is also received. A determination is made as to whether the first electronic miscellaneous document can be exchanged by applying at least one exchange eligibility rule to the first and second data. If the first electronic miscellaneous document can be exchanged, a fare for a service associated with the first electronic miscellaneous document is obtained from a pricing engine associated with the first electronic miscellaneous document. In response to receiving the fare for the service, the passenger name record is updated with a second electronic miscellaneous document including the fare for the service. | 10-15-2015 |
20150294235 | ELECTRONIC MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENT HANDLING IN RESPONSE TO INVOLUNTARY MODIFICATIONS OF ANCILLARY SERVICES - Methods, systems, and computer program products for handling electronic miscellaneous documents in response to involuntary modifications of services. A request, which includes first data for a passenger name record, is received for a change to an airline reservation. Second data for an electronic miscellaneous document that is linked to the first data for the passenger name record is also received. A determination is made as to whether the electronic miscellaneous document can be exchanged by applying at least one exchange eligibility rule to the first data for the passenger name record and the second data for the electronic miscellaneous document. If the electronic miscellaneous document can be exchanged, an exchange of the electronic miscellaneous document is automatically processed. | 10-15-2015 |
20150294234 | AGGREGATION RECORD FOR MANAGING ANCILLARY TRAVEL SERVICES - Methods, systems, and computer program products for managing an Electronic Miscellaneous Document (EMD). In response to receiving a request for an ancillary service, an aggregation module generates an aggregation record. The aggregation module may obtain passenger and segment data from a plurality of Passenger Name Records (PNRs), and add this data to the aggregation record. The aggregation record may thereby provide a database object including passenger and segment data from multiple PNRs associated with an itinerary. The aggregation record may be associated with an EMD, and may be configured so that a single EMD can be issued to a traveler for an ancillary service provided across an itinerary comprising multiple PNRs. A mapping record may also be generated that links the EMD, aggregation record, and PNRs. The mapping record may thereby provide an index that enables a database to quickly identify relationships between EMDs, aggregation records, and PNRs. | 10-15-2015 |
20150286960 | MEDIA INPUT RESERVATION SYSTEM - Methods, systems and computer program products for determining at least one travel recommendation. The travel request that includes an origin and location data that indicates at least one location is received. The location data is analyzed to determine at least one traveling location corresponding to the at least one location indicated by the location data. The at least one travel recommendation is generated. The at least one travel recommendation comprises a travel route including the origin and the at least one traveling location, a determined number of days to stay at the at least one location, and bookable travel inventory items corresponding to the travel route and the determined number of days to stay at the at least one location. | 10-08-2015 |
20150286959 | TRAVEL PRODUCT INFORMATION SHARING - Methods, systems, and computer program products that enable a travel agent to selectively share information related to a plurality of travel products with a traveler. In response to a search query from the travel agent, an information sharing module receives information relating to the plurality of travel products from a travel database system. The information sharing module causes the information to be displayed to a travel agent on a first display of a travel agency system. In response to the travel agent selecting a subset of the travel products, the information sharing module displays information relating to the subset of travel products to the traveler on a second display separate from the first display. The information sharing module may be configured to reformat the information so that the information is adapted to the traveler, and to cause travel products selected by the traveler to be booked. | 10-08-2015 |
20150276410 | JOURNEY PLANNING METHOD AND SYSTEM - Methods, systems, and computer program products for generating journey options in response to a journey request from an origin to a destination. Routes from the origin to the destination are selected as candidates to fulfill the journey request. Delay-related statistical information is derived from delay-related data for past journeys. A minimum connecting time at a connection between first and second segments of each route is estimated based on the statistical information. Journey combinations are determined from the routes based on origin departure time, destination arrival time, and schedule information for the first and second segments of each route. For each route in each journey combination, a determination is made whether the schedule information for the first and second segments satisfies a condition related to the minimum connecting time. Each journey combination for which the condition is satisfied by each route comprising the journey combination is selected as a journey option. | 10-01-2015 |
20150269498 | DOUBLE-BOOKING PREVENTION - Methods, systems, and computer program products for preventing double processing of a repeated or duplicated booking request received from a client in a transaction session over a computer network. A first booking request is received from the client over the computer network and processed. When a second booking request repeating or duplicating the first booking request is received from the client, response data prepared in response to the first booking request is assigned to the repeated booking request. A response to the repeated booking request is returned to the client. The response includes the response data prepared in response to the first booking request. | 09-24-2015 |
20150235145 | OPEN TICKETLESS TRAVEL SERVICES - Methods, systems, and computer program products for associating a traveler with an electronic ticket reserving a travel related service. During a booking process, the traveler may be asked to provide an identification image. The identification image provided by the traveler may be associated with the electronic ticket in an electronic ticket database. At a point-of-service, the traveler may present an image that is captured by a control system. The control system may compare the captured image to the identification image and determine if the images match. In response to the images matching, the control system may provide an indication that the traveler should receive the travel service reserved by the electronic ticket. | 08-20-2015 |
20150234890 | LONG-TERM VALIDITY OF PRE-COMPUTED REQUEST RESULTS - Methods, systems, and computer program products for maintaining up-to-date pre-computed search results, such as travel recommendations, stored in a data cache maintained, for example, by a global distribution system. Pre-computed search results are re-computed to provide long-term accuracy. A re-computation controller assigns a re-computation indicator to any of the pre-computed search results. The re-computation indicator for a pre-computed search result is based on at least on a probability that the pre-computed search result is still valid, and on a re-computation frequency of the search result. Within a given time interval, a computation platform re-computes these pre-computed search results having a re-computation indicator indicating the highest need for re-computation. The number of pre-computed search results re-computed by the computation platform is limited by the computation resources of the computation platform that are available for the re-computation within the given time interval. | 08-20-2015 |
20150227631 | INCREASING SEARCH RESULT VALIDITY - Methods, search platforms, systems, and storage media for handling queries in a database system. The database system includes at least one client and at least one search platform. The search platform maintains pre-collected search results which are associated which confidence factors. A confidence factor indicates a probability of the associated pre-collected search result being valid. The search platform receives a query indicating at least one search criterion to the search platform. The confidence factors associated with the identified pre-collected search results are utilized to increase the mean probability of pre-collected search results returned to the client. For example, pre-collected search results complying with the at least one search criterion and being associated with confidence factors having values exceeding a given threshold are returned to the client. | 08-13-2015 |
20150221025 | METHOD, SYSTEM, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR DETERMINING A PAYMENT STRATEGY - Methods, systems, and computer program products for handling a payment strategy for a payment platform of an airline merchant. One or more alternatives are determined for each category. Each alternative includes at least one of the one or more payment items. Transactions are received for different combinations of the alternatives. Financial impacts are determined for each simulated transaction based on the financial parameters. Based on the financial impacts, one of the combinations of the alternatives is determined to be the payment strategy for the payment platform. | 08-06-2015 |
20150220865 | VEHICLE STAND ALLOCATION - Methods, systems, and program products for assigning scheduled vehicles to stands. First and second vehicles each have a scheduled arrival time and a scheduled departure time. A minimum buffer time between a departure of the first vehicle and an arrival of the second vehicle is calculated based on a distribution of a deviation from the scheduled departure time of the first vehicle and/or on a distribution of a deviation from the scheduled arrival time of the second vehicle. The first vehicle and the second vehicle are assigned to different ones of the stands in response to the time interval between the scheduled departure time of the first vehicle and the scheduled arrival time of the second vehicle being less than the minimum buffer time. | 08-06-2015 |
20150207856 | CONTENT INTEGRATION FRAMEWORK - Systems, methods, and computer program products for interconnecting content requesting clients with a content provider platforms offering content. A client interface may be configured for transaction-oriented message exchange with the content requesting clients. A runtime module may be configured to map content-provider-specific data formats and content-provider-specific message flows to data formats and message flows utilized by the client interface. Content-provider-protocol-specific plug-ins may be provided. Each content-provider-protocol-specific plug-in defines rules for a mapping between the content-provider-specific data formats and the content-provider-specific message flows of at least one of the content provider platforms and the data formats and the message flows utilized by the client interface. | 07-23-2015 |
20150199618 | TICKET HOLDER-INITIATED SEAT CHANGES - A method, apparatus, and program product enable ticket holders, e.g., travelers scheduled to travel on a travel vehicle, or attendees at an entertainment venue, to change seat assignments. Seat assignment changes may be initiated in response to a request communicated between a mobile device of a ticket holder and another device over a short range wireless network, and in some instances may result in updating ancillary services such as special meals of one or more ticket holders based upon the updated seat assignments. | 07-16-2015 |
20150188979 | METASEARCH REDIRECTION SYSTEM AND METHOD - Methods, systems, and computer program products for redirecting a user from a metasearch website to a service provider website. A first uniform resource locator (URL) may be received from a client device at a redirection system. The first URL may have a first format including a plurality of fields containing information related to a product distributed at the website of the service provider. A second uniform resource locator (URL) may be generated from the fields of the first URL. The second URL may have a second format that is predetermined by the service provider. The client device may be provided access to the website of the service provider using the second URL. | 07-02-2015 |
20150178763 | REVENUE DRIVEN TRAVEL REWARDS - A method, apparatus and program product utilize a revenue driven approach for determining a travel loyalty reward. Both the availability and fare for a travel loyalty award may be determined dynamically based on inventory and revenue data. By doing so, travel loyalty awards may utilize inventory management and revenue management techniques to improve both the revenue realized from travel loyalty programs and customer satisfaction. | 06-25-2015 |
20150178642 | DYNAMIC TRAVEL PLANNER - Methods, systems and computer program products for determining at least one travel solution for a travel request. The travel request that indicates an origin, at least one destination, and at least one time constraint is received. Based on the travel request, travel paths that comprise the origin and the at least one destination are built based at least in part on the at least one time constraint. At least one candidate travel solution is determined for each travel path based at least in part on the at least one time constraint. At least one travel solution for the travel request is determined based at least in part on pricing and availability for the at least one candidate travel solution. | 06-25-2015 |
20150161690 | AUTOMATED REFUND OF TRAVEL DOCUMENT SUBSEQUENT TO INVOLUNTARY EXCHANGE - A method, apparatus and program product automatically perform a refund operation for an involuntary exchange document. The refund operation utilizes monetary information from an original document from which the involuntary exchange document was generated in determining the refund amount. By doing so, the refund operation may be automated, thereby reducing the required expertise and/or training for an end user such as an agent, and further reducing the amount of time required to complete the refund operation. | 06-11-2015 |
20150161689 | AUTOMATED REFUND OF ELECTRONIC MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENT (EMD) - A method, apparatus and program product automatically perform a refund operation for an Electronic Miscellaneous Document (EMD). Both a pricing engine and a Form of Payment (FOP) service may be accessed when performing a refund operation to determine both the amount of the refund and the manner in which the refund should be applied to one or more FOP's, and optionally based upon one or more refund policy rules specified by a travel provider. In addition, a status of an EMD may be accessed and used to automatically determine the refundability of the service or services associated with an EMD. By doing so, the required expertise, training and/or effort of the end user, as well as the likelihood of miscalculations when performing an EMD refund operation often may be reduced. | 06-11-2015 |
20150161528 | AUTOMATED DETECTION OF TRAVEL INCIDENTS AND REBOOKING OF TRAVEL ITINERARIES IMPACTED BY SAME - A method, apparatus and program product automatically propose alternate travel services to a traveler in response to detection of a travel incident that impacts one or more travel services in the traveler's itinerary. By doing so, the impact of a travel incident on the traveler, and in many cases, the resulting stress of the traveler and the burden of rearranging the traveler's schedule to accommodate the travel incident, may be reduced. | 06-11-2015 |
20150161526 | GENERATION OF OFFERS WITH LIMITED TIME FRAME GUARANTEED AVAILABILITY AND PRICING FOR TRAVEL ITINERARIES - A method, apparatus and program product generate a set of guaranteed offers that are guaranteed to a traveler in terms of both availability and price for a limited period of time. The guaranteed offers may be grouped together into a set such that booking probabilities may be assigned to travel services associated with the guaranteed offers and an overbooking factor for at least one travel service may be determined based upon the assigned booking probabilities. By doing so, travelers may be provided with a guarantee of price and availability prior to booking, while inventory and/or revenue management for a travel provider may be managed in a more accurate manner that accounts for the provisional status of the guaranteed offers, and the likelihood that only one, or potentially, none of the guaranteed offers will ultimately be accepted by the traveler. | 06-11-2015 |
20150154511 | AVAILABILITY WATCHING - Methods, systems, and computer program products for watching availability-based data maintained in an external cache. Events that change a parameter for a first plurality of travel segment-dates are compared with a standard establishing a parameter value threshold. The events are filtered to produce a filtered set of events meeting the standard. An index correlating a second plurality of travel segment-dates in a travel domain with a plurality of travel solutions in the availability-based data is referenced to determine one or more of the second plurality of travel segment-dates in the index to which the events in the filtered set are applicable. The index is referenced to determine each travel solution correlated with the one or more of the second plurality of travel segment-dates. A notification is sent to the external cache to refresh the availability-based data to reflect each travel solution correlated with the one or more of the second plurality of travel segment-dates. | 06-04-2015 |
20150142482 | SEARCH ENGINE FOR IDENTIFYING BUSINESS TRAVEL PROPOSALS - Systems, methods, and computer program products for ranking and selecting travel-related search results for display to a traveler. The system may receive data identifying a preferred travel proposal from each of a plurality of travelers, and analyze the data to determine a value utility function. The value utility function may then be used to assign a relative utility to travel proposals identified in response to a search query from a traveler. Additional data relating to a pricing sensitivity of a payer may be received from an entity paying for travel, such as a corporation or other business entity. The system may analyze the pricing sensitivity data to define a price utility function that quantifies the price of each travel proposal. A composite utility function that is a weighted sum of the value and price utility functions may be used to select search results for display to the traveler. | 05-21-2015 |
20150134373 | LOW COST TRAVEL TICKETING - Methods, systems, and computer program products for managing low cost carrier travel inventory items. A booking request for a travel record is received at a reservation system. Responsive to determining that the booking request corresponds to a travel inventory item of a low cost carrier, a light ticketing document number is generated for the travel inventory item based at least in part on the low cost carrier and a type of the travel inventory item. A transaction request including form of payment information and contact information is communicated to a low cost carrier inventory system for the travel inventory item. Responsive to a transaction response received from the low cost carrier inventory system indicating successful booking and successful payment for the travel inventory item, the travel record is updated to include a confirmed booking for the travel inventory item including the light ticketing document number. | 05-14-2015 |
20150134372 | INTEGRATION OF ONLINE SELF-BOOKING TOOL AND THIRD PARTY SYSTEM SEARCH RESULTS - Methods, systems, and computer program products for providing functionality of an online self-booking tool to a user who is booking travel offerings through a website of a third party provider. A travel-related search query by the user generates parallel searches in each of a website of a third party provider and a database including travel offerings having negotiated rates. The results of the parallel searches may be captured and combined in a data siphon tool. The data siphon tool may reconcile the combined search results by eliminating duplicate search results and identifying search results that are in conflict with corporate travel policies. The reconciled search results may then be formatted based on display data obtained from the third party website and displayed to the user. Search results conflicting with corporate travel policies may be deleted, or displayed with an indication of the conflict. | 05-14-2015 |
20150073950 | AUDITING RULES OPTIMIZER - Methods, systems, and computer program products for determining when to audit a transaction. An auditing rules optimizer system receives data relating to a transaction conducted by a first business entity that includes a travel product provided by a second business entity. The transaction may be classified as being a type of transaction, and the determination whether to audit the transaction based on the transaction type. The system may also determine expected values of blocking the transaction and/or taking an action to recover a discrepancy. The system may then determine which action to take based on the expected values. Auditing may be performed on transactions by travel agencies and on interline billing between validating and operating carriers. In each case, empirical data from earlier audit periods may be used to adjust parameters used to identify which transactions to audit, and for determining the expected values of the audit actions. | 03-12-2015 |
20150058050 | CONTEXTUALIZED TRAVEL OFFERS - Methods, systems, and computer program products for generating contextualized travel-related offers for a traveler. A reservation system monitors travel activity for the traveler to detect travel events. The reservation system determines event parameters for a particular travel event responsive to detecting the particular travel event. Contextual data based at least in part on a user profile associated with the traveler and one or more booking initiators associated with a corresponding travel reservation is determined by the reservation system, and one or more contextualized travel-related offers based at least in part on the event parameters and the contextual data may be generated by the reservation system. | 02-26-2015 |
20150051834 | GROUND-TRANSPORTATION NETWORK REPRESENTATION - Methods, apparatus, and computer program products for producing a representation of a ground-transportation network from timetable information of transportation services. By means of a computer, routing locations are determined from the timetable information. The routing locations include end points of the transportation services. Tuples of directly-connected routing locations are formed. Network paths are generated by linking the directly-connected routing locations. The entirety of these paths forming the representation of the ground-transportation network. | 02-19-2015 |
20150039356 | JOURNEY DATA RE-EVALUATION - Methods, systems, and computer program products for processing a transaction request associated with a travel record, where the travel record includes at least one previously-booked segment. The transaction request may be received at an inventory system, where the transaction request identifies at least one requested segment for the travel record. The inventory system analyzes the at least one previously-booked segment of the travel record and the at least one requested segment of the transaction request to identify at least one particular previously-booked segment as a candidate for re-evaluation segment based at least in part on whether the at least one particular previously-booked segment and the at least one requested segment correspond to a particular journey. Availability may be computed for the at least one requested segment and the at least one candidate for re-evaluation segment, and a sell decision may be generated based at least partially on the computed availability. | 02-05-2015 |
20150039355 | CONTRACT NUMBER ALLOCATION FOR TRAVEL INDUSTRY TRANSACTIONS - Methods, systems, and computer program products for defining subcategories and associated contract number ranges within a standard issuance context category for a travel product. A stock allocation module includes a stock index table having a plurality of stock indexes each associated with an issuance context and at least one range of numbers. In response to a traveler purchasing a travel product, an issuance platform sends an allocation request to the stock allocation module. In response to receiving the allocation request, the stock allocation module identifies a stock index matching the issuance context of the pending transaction. The matching stock index is then used to identify the range of numbers corresponding to the issuance context. An available number is selected from the identified range of contract numbers and used to define a contract number. The contract number is then returned to the issuance platform. | 02-05-2015 |
20150032617 | Secure Channel Payment Processing System and Method - The present invention relates to a method and system for performing fraud screening and choosing whether to accept or deny a transaction within any channel. The system may facilitate the fraud screening processing for the case where this channel is the offline card not present channel, which may be utilized for call center transactions. The system may include a server that receives a transaction request and performs a first fraud screening based on transaction information of the requested transaction. The server may further determine which operation to perform: whether to issue a final response right away (accept, reject) or whether to gather more information before issuing a final response. The information gathering may be an authentication method only usable in another channel (online channel or offline card present channel). The server may create an asynchronous payment, which secures the reservation of the good, while allowing performing the new channel authentication at a later time. Depending on the information gathering results, the server further determines which operation to perform: whether to issue a final response right away (accept, reject) or whether to gather information a second time before issuing a final response. This second information gathering may be a manual review. | 01-29-2015 |
20150032486 | PROCESSING INFORMATION QUERIES IN A DISTRIBUTED INFORMATION PROCESSING ENVIRONMENT - Methods, apparatus, and computer program products for handling or managing delayed answers to shopping requests directed to travel content provider platforms. A query processing server of a travel reservation system receives a multi-provider shopping request from an inquiring entity, such as a travel agency, and directs it to a content provider platform, such a platform of a rental car agency. If the content provider platform responds within a given time limit, the query processing server forwards the response to the inquiring entity and updates cache data based upon the response. If the content provider platform does not respond within the given time limit, the query processing server forwards a cache-based response to the inquiring entity. If the content provider platform responds after the given time limit has exceeded, the query processing server updates the cached data to reflect to the belated response from the content provider platform. | 01-29-2015 |
20140297337 | COMMUNITY TRAVEL BOOKING - A community travel booking operation includes a collaborative or common portion or phase during which multiple travelers in a community are permitted to collaboratively search for travel recommendations and select a travel recommendation for the community, as well as an individual portion or phase during which travelers in the community individually purchase, book or otherwise complete individual reservations for the community's selected travel recommendation. By separating the booking operation into collaborative and individual portions or phases, travelers are permitted to collaborate on the selection of a travel recommendation, yet each traveler is then able to complete the booking of their own respective reservation without necessarily having to share personal or payment information with the other travelers in the community. | 10-02-2014 |
20140289003 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR DETECTING ANOMALY IN PASSENGER FLOW - Methods and systems for detecting an anomaly in a passenger flow towards a transport device. Historical data relating to the passenger flow is aggregated and a forecast passenger flow value for a target time frame is determined based upon the historical data. A first forecast is computed based upon the passenger flow in a first set of the time frames directly preceding the target time frame. A second forecast is computed based upon the passenger flow in a second set of the time frames, the second set of time frames having occurred on a same weekday and at a same time as the target time frame, in weeks preceding the target time frame. The first and second forecasts are combined to produce the forecast passenger flow value for the target time frame. | 09-25-2014 |
20140278614 | ALTERNATIVE TRAVEL RECOMMENDATIONS - Methods, systems, and computer program products for generating travel recommendations and alternative travel recommendations. At least one minimum fare path having an associated value may be determined based on a travel request. At least one alternative fare path having an associated value may be determined based at least in part on the associated value of the at least one minimum fare path. At least one travel recommendation may be generated based on the at least one minimum fare path, and at least one alternative travel recommendation may be generated based on the at least one alternative fare path. | 09-18-2014 |
20140223043 | COMMUNICATIONS MANAGEMENT - Systems and methods for managing communication between a server and peripheral devices associated with at least one client deployed with an airport environment so that a virtualised application running on the server can be connected with at least one of the peripheral devices. A communications link is established between the server and the client associated with the peripheral devices and the application is directed to one of the peripheral devices via a virtual channel established between a server peripheral manager simulator component and a client peripheral manager simulator component and passing through the communications link. The client peripheral manager simulator is associated with a peripheral manager in the client which controls the peripheral devices. | 08-07-2014 |
20140219583 | PERSONAL INFORMATION DISPLAY SYSTEM AND ASSOCIATED METHOD - A system for identification and/or authentication of a user in a travel terminal, the system comprising: a multiuser interactive screen having one or more interaction zones, with which a user can interact; an image generation system for generating information on the interaction zone to provide information to the user with which the user can interact and; an image capture system which generates a captured image of any item in contact with the interaction zone; a recognition system for recognising one or more features from the captured image to enable identification and/or authentication of the user; a communication system for communicating with the user by means of the image generation means to confirm identification or request additional information. | 08-07-2014 |
20140215372 | RELATING TO PASTING DATA - A method of pasting data from a source application to a destination application, where the source and destination applications are not the same; the method comprising the steps of: identifying whether the data is of text or graphics data type and selecting a text input handler if a text data type is identified and a graphics input handler if a graphics data type is identified; converting the data using the text or graphics input handler to a standard format for pasting based on the identified data type; determining semantics of the data in the standard format for pasting and a location of the user in the destination application, to which the data is to be pasted; determining which portions of the data are to be pasted to which areas of the determined location in the destination application, depending on the determined semantics of the data and the location of the user in the destination application; and pasting the data to the respective areas of the destination application. | 07-31-2014 |
20140200932 | METHOD AND COMPUTER IMPLEMENTED SYSTEM PROVIDING AUTOMATIC ELECTRONIC MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENT RECONCILIATION - Methods, computer program products, and data processing systems for responding to an event that results in a modification of a Passenger Name Record (PNR). Images of a modified PNR and a corresponding Electronic Miscellaneous Document (EMD) are received, as well as an image a establishing a matrix of links between PNR services and EMD coupons. The PNR, EMD, and an Electronic Ticket (E-Ticket) are reconciled by re-associating orphan PNR services with matching EMD coupons and an EMD coupon with a corresponding E-Ticket coupon. Any unmatched EMD coupons from an associated E-Ticket coupon are disassociated. | 07-17-2014 |
20140180495 | DETERMINING REAL-TIME DELAY OF TRANSPORT - A delay of a scheduled transport which runs along a route according to a timetable is determined The route comprises at least one leg. Determining the delay is based on a detailed reference schedule indicating arbitrary time-stamped reference positions of a transport that is on time. A request is received for the transport's delay by a user device located on the transport. The request indicates at least the current position of the transport. The transport's delay is calculated on the basis of the current position indicated in the request, a time-stamp and the corresponding time-stamped reference position of the detailed reference schedule. The calculated delay is returned to the user device. The calculated delay is stored into a logbook. In response to a request not indicating the current position of the transport, the delay is returned on the basis of the logbook. | 06-26-2014 |
20140179313 | INTEGRATING MOBILE DEVICES INTO A FIXED COMMUNICATION INFRASTRUCTURE - Systems, methods, and computer program products for use with a wireless communication network. A fixed communication network includes a device server and a fixed information technology (IT) device coupled with the device server. A mobile communication device is coupled by the wireless communication network with the device server and with the IT device. The device server is configured to store identification information for the IT device. The mobile communication device is configured to determine a current location of the mobile communication device, to request the identification information for the IT device from the device server over the wireless communication network, to receive the identification information for the IT device over the wireless communication network from the device server, and to transmit a service request, based upon the identification information, over the wireless communication network to the IT device. | 06-26-2014 |
20140173406 | RECOMMENDATION ENGINE FOR INTERACTIVE SEARCH FORMS - Systems, methods, and computer program products for interacting with an interactive form. One or more values of a first control of the interactive form may be received at a server. Each value may represent a portion of a travel-related search query entered at the client device. At least one recommended value for a second control of the interactive form, which is different from the first control of the interactive form, may be determined and communicated from the server to the client device. | 06-19-2014 |
20140173404 | RECOMMENDATION ENGINE FOR INTERACTIVE SEARCH FORMS - Systems, methods, and computer program products for interacting with an interactive form. A plurality of values for a plurality of controls of an interactive form are received at a server. The server determines a plurality of recommendation rules based upon the values for interrelated controls. Each value comprises a portion of a travel-related search query entered into one control of the interactive form by each of a plurality of users. Each recommendation rule logically connects two or more of the interrelated controls. | 06-19-2014 |
20140172483 | EVENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - Event management systems, methods, and computer program products. The event management system receives data defining participants and dates for an event, such as a business meeting. The system may determine the availability of the participants on the proposed dates based on data received from one or more calendar applications, if available. The system may then generate a plurality of event options based on participant availability and option costs. An event organizer may then select options from the plurality of options, and cause the selected options to be sent to the participants. The participants classify the received options as preferred, acceptable, or unacceptable. Based on these classifications, the system determines acceptable options which may include a “best option”. The event organizer selects one or more acceptable options for confirmation by the participants. In response to the participants confirming an option, the option may be booked by the event management system. | 06-19-2014 |
20140172472 | SECURED PAYMENT TRAVEL RESERVATION SYSTEM - Methods, systems, and computer program products to securely pay for a travel booking. A travel booking may be generated at a reservation system based on booking data received from a reservation device for a customer. Issuance of a ticket for the travel booking may be held pending a confirmation of payment from a payment processor. A customer device of the customer may be interfaced with the payment processor via the reservation system to authenticate payment information for paying for the travel booking, and a payment confirmation may communicated to the reservation system. The ticket may be issued by the reservation system responsive to receiving the payment confirmation. | 06-19-2014 |
20140136247 | USE OF GROUP MATERIALIZATION RATE TO RELEASE INVENTORY SPACE - A method, apparatus and program product utilize a materialization rate of a group booking to reduce the potential underutilization of travel provider inventory due to cancelations associated with the group booking. In particular, a group quantity associated with a group booking for a particular travel segment is distributed to one or more individual booking classes for that travel segment, and the availability of the individual booking classes is thereafter adjusted based on the materialization rate associated with the group booking. As such, the availability of the individual booking classes may effectively be increased to account for the likelihood of cancelations associated with group booking, and thereby open the individual booking classes to additional bookings. | 05-15-2014 |
20140089588 | Method and system of storing and retrieving data - Method and system of storing data by a software application. Each read query of a data storage system by a software application is first solely issued to a plurality of cache nodes, which returns the queried data if available. If not available, the software application receives a miss that triggers a fetch of the queried data from one or more database systems on a first dedicated interface. Upon having retrieved the queried data, the software application adds the queried data to at least one cache node on a second dedicated. Each writing of the one or more database systems by the software application is also concurrently performed in the at least one cache node. Hence, population of the at least one cache node is quickly done at each missed read query of the at least one cache node and at each write query of the data storage system. | 03-27-2014 |
20140089248 | Computing system and method for controlling the execution of a decision process to maintain the data access efficiency upon receipt of an availability information inquiry - Computer-implemented reservation method and system. The method utilized for controlling the execution of a decision process by a computer backend machine of a computer network upon receipt of a computation inquiry includes associating to the computer backend machine a configuration file containing at least a decision rule that drives the decision process and that is computed at least from a current value of a statistical indicator and a target value of the statistical indicator; periodically obtaining an updated value of the statistical indicator; upon detection that the updated value is differing from the target value, dynamically updating the configuration file which further comprises re-computing the decision rule using the updated value as new current value, and storing in real-time the re-computed decision rule in the configuration file. | 03-27-2014 |
20140089042 | Method, Apparatus and System for monitoring competition price and for providing corrective messages - A computer-implemented method of detecting price discrepancies over time and providing analysis messages comprises: retrieving a set of price results based on at least one parameter selected from a set of parameters; detecting a pattern in the set of price results; accessing and updating a pattern cause database for identifying at least one predetermined pattern cause based on the detected pattern; analyzing each predetermined pattern cause and associated corrective actions; and generating at least one analysis message containing: the at least predetermined pattern cause and the associated corrective actions. | 03-27-2014 |
20140074853 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING STATISTICAL FROM A DATA WAREHOUSE - The invention relates to a method for providing statistical data from a data warehouse ( | 03-13-2014 |
20140067435 | REVENUE DRIVEN SPLITTING OF GROUP TRAVEL REQUESTS INTO MULTIPLE SUBGROUPS - A method, apparatus and program product utilize a revenue driven approach to split a group travel request into multiple subgroups. By doing so, group travel requests that might otherwise be rejected due to lack of availability for a certain quantity of travelers, or that might otherwise present a significant risk of lost revenue due to last minute cancellations that preclude reallocation to individual bookings, may be split into multiple subgroups in a manner that optimizes expected revenue for a travel provider. In addition, a method, apparatus and program product integrate a group quote component or module into an inventory system to facilitate the generation of group quotes based at least in part on a displacement cost for a reference travel provider that is reflective of the displacement of a group quantity from individual bookings. | 03-06-2014 |
20140052750 | UPDATING CACHED DATABASE QUERY RESULTS - A data cache platform maintains pre-computed database query results computed by a computation platform based on data maintained in the computation platform and is configured to determine probabilities of the cached database query results being outdated, to automatically issue re-computation orders to the computation platform for updating cached database query results on the basis of the determined probabilities of the pre-computed database query results being outdated and to receive the updated pre-computed database query results as results of the re-computation orders. The probability determination depends on a probabilistic model and on the occurrence of asynchronous real-time events. The real-time events are indeterministic with regard to the expiration of the cached database query results and only have a probabilistic influence on the discrepancies between the cached database query results maintained in the data cache platform and presumed actual database query results. | 02-20-2014 |
20140052481 | ITINERARY ANALYSIS FOR PASSENGER RE-ACCOMMODATION - Systems, methods, and computer program products for analyzing itineraries to re-accommodate passengers in the event of a flight schedule change. A schedule change is received for an impacted flight and a plurality of original itineraries that include the impacted flight are identified. The computer reservation system is used to simulate application of a default travel solution that replaces the impacted flight in the original itinerary of each passenger to define a replacement itinerary. Each replacement itinerary is assessed for compliance with a plurality of validity conditions. For each replacement itinerary that fails to comply with at least one of the validity conditions, one or more replacement travel solutions are computed each connecting the origin location with the destination location and each subject to satisfying at least one constraint on one or more flights comprising each replacement travel solution. | 02-20-2014 |
20140040194 | METHOD, SYSTEM AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR SEQUENCING ASYNCHRONOUS MESSAGES IN A DISTRIBUTED AND PARALLEL ENVIRONMENT - System and method of sequencing distributed asynchronous messages. An inbound handler receives an incoming message with a sequence correlation value that identifies a sequence comprising the incoming message, and checks for a sequence status of the sequence. If the sequence status indicates that none of multiple outbound handlers is currently processing a message for the sequence and if the incoming message is the next message to be processed for the sequence, then the incoming message is forwarded to a queue storage and subsequently forwarded to an available outbound handler. If the sequence status indicates that at least one of the outbound handlers is currently processing a message of the sequence, if the queue storage already comprises a message to be processed for the sequence, or if the incoming message is not the next message to be processed for the sequence, then the incoming message is stored in overflow storage. | 02-06-2014 |
20140039944 | METHOD AND SYSTEM PROVIDING INVENTORY OPTIMIZATION FOR DISRUPTED CUSTOMERS - A computer implemented method and system is described to respond to a disruption of airline flights during a flight disruption period. The method includes detecting an occurrence of a flight disruption period and iteratively re-accommodating disrupted passengers to flights leaving after an end of the flight disruption period based on responses of disrupted passengers to re-accommodation proposals communicated to the disrupted passengers. In the method iteratively re-accommodating is performed so as to attempt to minimize a number of no-show disrupted passengers for those flights leaving after the end of the disruption period. | 02-06-2014 |
20140039943 | DYNAMIC AND HIERARCHICAL GENERIC DATA MAPPING FOR TRAVELER PROFILE PUBLICATION - A method, apparatus, and program product suitable for use in the travel industry utilize a dynamic and hierarchical generic data mapping model to facilitate the publication of traveler profile data from a source system, such as a profile management system, to a plurality of downstream target systems. A generic data mapping model may be utilized to dynamically build a target-specific publication data mapping, e.g., in association with the publication of a traveler profile, such that the traveler profile may be transformed into a target format using the dynamically built publication data mapping. | 02-06-2014 |
20140019175 | Method and system for dynamic profile structure handling and management - Method and system for creating a dynamic profile structure for managing and handling transactions between a travel agent and a customer, where the transactions require a plurality of predefined fields to be entered by a user to instigate a transaction are disclosed. A model of a geographical structure is developed for use with any user, which geographical structure includes a number of levels and nodes. A first profile structure is defined for each node and includes predetermined geographical fields specific to each level or node. A model of a second structure associated with the customer requirements is developed. The second structure includes a number of nodes, such as countries. A second profile structure is defined for each node and includes predetermined second fields specific to each node. A combined profile structure is defined from the geographical fields and the second fields based on a customer defined requirement. | 01-16-2014 |
20130346123 | RESERVATION METHOD AND SYSTEM WITH IMPROVED PNR HANDLING - A method and system for storing and proposing a list of saved quotes, referred to as “Offers”, together with the PNR. These Offers once created can be communicated to the passenger, so he could access them and make his choice in a cross-channel, interactive dialog with the proposing agent. Standard PNR have been enhanced to accommodate quotations/offers on top of firm bookings. As well as making the search efforts of the user persistent and re-usable, the inclusion of quotation in the PNR makes them accessible via all the distribution channels and gives to this invention a full cross-channel dimension. This new functionality represents as well a huge enhancement in the Travel Agent work flow, since the saving of all the pre-booking activity is now automated and traceable, by the agent himself (for follow-up and confirmation purpose) and eligible for sending to commonly used Mid-Office and reporting systems. | 12-26-2013 |
20130290324 | CATEGORIZING AND RANKING TRAVEL-RELATED DATABASE QUERY RESULTS - Methods, systems, and computer program products for processing database query results. Database query results are retrieved from a database. The database query results are classified according to multiple, distinct categories and at least one of the database query results for each of the multiple categories is stored as a featured result and then provided to a client device upon receipt of a travel search request from an end user of the client device. | 10-31-2013 |
20130278627 | METHOD AND SYSTEM OF PRODUCING AN INTERACTIVE VERSION OF A PLAN OR THE LIKE - A method of producing an interactive plan of a location from an optical image of a plan of the same location, wherein the location includes a plurality of features of different types such as cabins and corridors, the method comprising the steps of applying a complex geometry and character recognition (COGCR) process to the optical image to determine a plurality of functional data representative of the plurality of features of different types; converting the plurality of functional data into a plurality of object models; combining the object models to construct the interactive plan for display to an end user. | 10-24-2013 |
20130265154 | TRAVELER HURRY STATUS MONITOR - A method, apparatus, and program product communicate a hurry status indication to a traveler to enable that traveler to determine when he or she should commence a trip, and in particular, a transfer segment of the trip from a first location where the traveler is currently located to a second location where a passenger vehicle, e.g., an airplane or train, is scheduled to depart to ensure that the traveler will be able to board and travel on the passenger vehicle. | 10-10-2013 |
20130073586 | DATABASE SYSTEM USING BATCH-ORIENTED COMPUTATION - Systems, methods, and computer program for processing large volumes of data in travel and travel-related applications. A computation platform is configured to receive batch re-computation orders from the search platform, process a batch re-computation order by computing the plurality of database query results according to a batch processing schedule within a given time frame, and return the computed database query results resulting from the batch re-computation order to the search platform. Each batch re-computation order instructs the computation platform to compute a plurality of database query results. A search platform is configured to maintain the computed database query results in a memory, and to make the computed database query results available to clients connected to the search platform and to transmit the batch re-computation orders to the computation platform. | 03-21-2013 |
20130036092 | Method and System to Maintain Strong Consistency of Distributed Replicated Contents in a Client/Server System - A method and a system for maintaining consistency of replicated files distributed over a plurality of independent processing slave nodes part of an application tier of a multi-tier client/server data processing system are described. The replicated files are distributed from a master node of a master tier. Upon reception of an update request to update a master database a new version of a replicated file is first generated and stored in a shared file system. A notification of availability of the new version is forwarded to a synchronizing slave node and broadcasted to all slave nodes. Each slave node preloads the new version of the replicated file from the shared file system and acknowledges successful completion. Upon reception of all acknowledgments in the synchronization slave node a notification of preloading achievement is forwarded to the master server which updates the master database. | 02-07-2013 |
20130030848 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DETERMINING AN OPTIMAL LOW FARE FOR A TRIP - A method for determining an optimal fare for a trip comprising a departure location, an arrival location, the method comprises the following steps: sending a request for the trip wherein the request comprises a departure location, an arrival location and a corresponding fare for the trip; automatically modifying the request by searching in a predetermined database to determine a set of additional requests wherein each comprises at least one of the departure location, the arrival location or one or more additional locations which may form at least a part of the requested route wherein the predetermined database comprises said additional requests and a corresponding fare for each additional request; selecting one or more additional requests to form one or more alternative requests which include at least on of the departure location or the arrival location as the request; calculating the up to date fares for each alternative request in order to determine a resulting fare for each alternative request; comparing the fare and the resulting fares in order to determine the lowest resulting fare for the trip. | 01-31-2013 |
20130006955 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROCESSING DATA FOR DATABASE MODIFICATION - A method and system for processing data for database modification, include receiving a set of data, performing a processing chain including a plurality of consecutive jobs to transform the set of data into transformed data, modifying a production database with respect to the transformed data and further include the steps of setting a target processing time for the performance of the consecutive jobs, before a launch of a first job, applying an original configuration as current configuration defining a parallelization level for each of the consecutive jobs, before a launch of at least one further job after the first job, upon an actual remaining processing time being out of a range of acceptable remaining processing times, applying an adapted configuration as new current configuration defining an adapted parallelization level for each of the jobs remaining in the processing chain, the adapted configuration differing from the current configuration. | 01-03-2013 |
20120330982 | Method and system for processing a search request - The invention relates to a method and system for processing a search request. A search request including a sequence of data strings and representing a plurality of search parameters is received. The strings are parsed and the search request is interpreted so as to define search parameters by recognizing items reflecting search criteria within the sequence of data strings. A query is built based on the result of the preceding process and at least one travel data service can be interrogated. This improves the search for information based on free-text input from the user. | 12-27-2012 |
20120330742 | System and method to combine redemption and converted commercial fares - In one aspect thereof the exemplary embodiments provide a computer-implemented method that includes, in response to a request to redeem customer award units, processing data representing at least one commercial fare in conjunction with data representing at least one conversion rule so as to generate at least one converted redemption fare. The method further includes operating on the at least one converted redemption fare with a faring engine to output at least one travel solution calculated in award units. | 12-27-2012 |
20120239442 | METHOD FOR AUDITING THE VALUE OF A PARTIAL TICKET CHANGE TRANSACTION - The invention is for auditing the value of a change for at least one non used portion of an interline ticket in a networked travel reservation system including programmed processor performing receiving a request for a change for at least a non-used portion of an interline ticket; calculating the prorated amounts for the original itinerary (Refund) and both the original and new itineraries (Exchange); authorizing the change upon the validating airline ticket's balance being equal or greater than a predefined threshold; and triggering an event upon the validating airline ticket's balance being less than a predefined threshold. | 09-20-2012 |
20120059802 | METHOD ALLOWING VALIDATION OF LARGE VOLUME OF UPDATES IN A LARGE PRODUCTION DATABASE OF NEW ENTERED DATA PRIOR TO THEIR RELEASE - A method of insuring the integrity of a plurality of updates brought in real-time to a large production database concurrently used by one or more software applications is described. The large production database includes a plurality of products participating to the definition of objects. The method first comprises the step of requesting the issuance of a unique filing number associated to a draft state version of the plurality of updates while keeping them invisible to the end-users of the large production database. Then, a set of product items identified as a whole by the unique filing number and on which the updates applies is created or copied in the large production database and gathered under the form of a meta-product on which the plurality of updates is applied. When updating is complete, the meta-product is successively set into a customizable flow of one or more validation states in order to perform a cross-validation of the plurality of updates. Finally, when validation is complete, the meta-product is set into a production state where the uniquely identified meta-product becomes immediately visible and useable by the end-users of the one or more software applications. | 03-08-2012 |
20110276910 | COMPUTER NAVIGATION METHOD - A computer navigation method includes the steps of:
| 11-10-2011 |
20110185348 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DEPLOYING NON-BACKWARD COMPATIBLE SERVER VERSIONS IN A CLIENT/SERVER COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT - A method and a system for managing the introduction of a new non-backward compatible version of an application server into a client/server networking, the method includes first distributing to a client system to be served by the new non-backward compatible version of the application server a client application operable in a mode compatible with the current version of the application server and in a mode compatible with the new non-backward compatible version. Upon installation in the client system the client application is set into a downgraded mode compatible with the current version of the application server. While the current version of the application server is still in production, the client application is kept operated in the downgraded mode. Upon introduction of the new non-backward compatible version of the application server, the client application is set into a valid mode compatible with the new version of the application server. From that point on, the client application is operated in the valid mode. | 07-28-2011 |
20110137666 | MULTI-TRAVEL AGGREGATOR - A method and a system for aggregating travel solutions from a plurality of travel sources are described which first includes setting up: markets, each made of a pair of geographic criteria with an optional directional indicator; sources of travel solutions per market; baskets of compatible travel sources including provider types and travel product characteristics; and basket rules for grouping baskets per market and product characteristics. Then, upon receiving a travel request including an itinerary and preferences, the basket rule best fitting the travel request is selected; the appropriate baskets for the selected basket rule are identified. After which, for each basket, the sources of travel solutions are determined and travel requests forwarded to each determined source. Responses are aggregated and displayed in a common format; thereby, allowing a transparent comparison of the travel solutions from the plurality of travel providers. | 06-09-2011 |
20110099023 | METHOD OF DISPLAYING MARKET DATA WHEN APPLYING A MARK-UP TO NET FARES - A method of applying a mark-up to net fares from agency selling records received by a selling updater is described. Upon request of the selling updater the method includes enabling the display of market data corresponding to the agency selling records. The display of market data includes first requesting a list of city pairs to be built on the basis of default search. The city pairs matching the default search criteria are then retrieved from a fares database and returned to the selling updater. After the selling updater has selected some or all city pairs, a list of net fares is further requested and retrieved from the fares database. Rule records for the retrieved net fares are also retrieved from a rules database. Net fares and rule records are associated and returned to the selling updater to be further associated with each matching item of the agency selling record. The method allows the display of the requested market data and permits the selling updater to decide on what mark-up to apply on the net fare. | 04-28-2011 |
20110071864 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SETTLING THE PAYMENT OF A TRAVEL E-TICKET - A system for settling the payment of a travel e-ticket includes: data storage elements for storing passenger name records in a database; elements for identifying passenger name records eligible for a late payment service in the database, each passenger name record being associated to at least one segment, elements for detecting when a predetermined event occurs prior to transportation carrier departure, a server associated to the database and arranged for retrieving therefrom all passenger name records eligible for the late payment service; elements for selecting at least one segment that can be priced for each retrieved passenger name record; elements for pricing the segment; elements for issuing a coupon associated to the segment; elements for updating the database with issuance information concerning the segment; elements for voiding all travel coupons for which no change of coupon status has been reported by an airport departure control system handling the carrier departure; elements for receiving a change of coupon status indicating that the coupon has been used, then triggering a reporting of the segments for which a change of coupon status has been reported by departure control system; elements for settling the payment of coupons for which change of status has been reported on the basis of the prices determined by the pricing elements. | 03-24-2011 |
20110029336 | METHOD TO KEEP COHERENT A TRAVEL SHOPPING BASKET - A method of keeping coherent contents of a travel shopping basket gathering travel products from independent travel service providers is described. The method is characterized in that it includes a first step to synchronize the travel shopping basket upon reception of notifications of changes received from the independent travel service providers, and to further determine what changes have been brought to the gathered travel products by the independent travel service providers. It includes a second step to aggregate the changes into the travel shopping basket so that to transform characteristics of the gathered travel products into specific attributes of the travel shopping basket; and to integrate local attributes into the travel shopping basket. Finally, a third step is aimed at correlating all attributes of the travel shopping basket against each other, matching all attributes functionally equivalent and removing duplicated attributes from the travel shopping basket. | 02-03-2011 |
20110025692 | DISPLAY OF TRAVEL ROUTES - A method of displaying a graph of nodes adapted to the display of travel routes is described. The method includes the steps of finding a node of highest weight among all nodes of the graph after each node is attributed a weight based on a number of nodes pertaining to a double-tree structure of nodes of which each node is assumed to be the root. Then, the double-tree structure of nodes having the node of highest weight as root is extracted and a layout is computed. If there are remaining nodes left, they are grouped in one or more sub-graphs and a layout of the one or more sub-graphs is iteratively computed. The one or more sub-graphs are then merged with the double-tree structure of nodes to be displayed. | 02-03-2011 |
20100299318 | ONLINE TRAVEL RESERVATION SYSTEM AND METHOD DELIVERING RESTRICTION-AWARE TRAVEL OPPORTUNITIES - An online reservation system including a fare search engine is described. The system includes a database of published fares, a database of rules attached to the published fares and a fare family solver to categorize the published fares into sets of predefined generic fare families on the basis of the rules attached to the published fares. The fare family solver further includes a generic partitioning fare family database holding the attributes of each predefined generic fare family allowing to determine to which fare family the published fares belong to. The attributes of each predefined generic fare family are first set up by a fare family composer operated by an administrator of the system. | 11-25-2010 |
20100223562 | GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE FOR SEARCH REQUEST MANAGEMENT - A computer apparatus for generating a graphical user interface on a display screen, the graphical user interface has:
| 09-02-2010 |
20100217628 | INTERLINE REVENUE SHARE OPTIMIZATION METHOD - A carrier's interline revenue share optimization method in which the carrier is involved in several interline multi-segment journeys with other partner carriers. Each of the involved carriers operate at least one segment of the interline multi-segment journeys and each of these journeys is associated with a fare. The interline revenue share optimization method utilizes a computer system and includes the steps of a) receiving and storing in data structured storing elements of the computer system memory, input data that includes a fixed set of tickets including the journey and the associated fare, a fixed set of prorate factors, a fixed set of partner carriers' interline rules, a set of carrier's interline rules, an interline revenue share determining algorithm and an optimization algorithm, b) defining the variables to optimize, c) splitting the fares of the tickets between the carrier and the partner carriers and calculating an objective function as the carrier's interline revenue share, d) optimizing the objective function and obtaining the optimized set of carrier's interline variables by utilizing a processor of the computer system and e) providing via an output device of the computer system the optimized set of carrier's interline variables. | 08-26-2010 |
20100211550 | METHOD ALLOWING VALIDATION IN A PRODUCTION DATABASE OF NEW ENTERED DATA PRIOR TO THEIR RELEASE - A method of insuring the integrity of a plurality of updates brought in real-time to a production database concurrently used by one or more software applications is described. The production database includes a plurality of products participating to the definition of objects. The method first includes requesting the issuance of a unique filing number associated to a draft state version of the plurality of updates while keeping them invisible to the end-users of the production database. Then, a set of product items identified as a whole by the unique filing number are created or copied from the production database and gathered under the form of a meta-product on which the plurality of updates is applied. After updating, the meta-product is successively set into a customizable flow of one or more validation states in order to perform a cross-validation of the plurality of updates. After validation, the meta-product is set into a production state where the uniquely identified meta-product becomes immediately visible and useable by the end-users. | 08-19-2010 |
20100145740 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DISPLAYING INTERLINING TRAVEL RECOMMENDATIONS - A method for sorting and displaying airline travel recommendations adapted to the display of interlining travel solutions is described. The method is characterized in that it first comprises computing expected airline revenue for each segment operated by a travel carrier involved in the travel recommendation. Then, a weight based on expected airline revenue is determined. This allows sorting the travel recommendations by decreasing order of weights. The interlining travel solutions are displayed accordingly. | 06-10-2010 |
20100140399 | METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY MAPPING CABIN AND TRAVEL CLASS STRUCTURES OF AIRLINE DISRUPTED FLIGHTS INTO REPLACEMENT FLIGHTS - In a method for automatically mapping a cabin and travel class structure of an disrupted flight into replacement flights, cabin and travel class structure of the disrupted flight are retrieved. For each affected passenger, a base disrupted flight is determined from the passenger itinerary. For the disruption period, cabin and travel class structure of the replacement flights are split into sub-periods. For each sub-period, mapping begins by establishing a direct match between cabin and travel class structures. The direct match is validated against actual cabin and travel class structure of the replacement flights, including pinpointing all found discrepancies. All class matching tables (CMTs) applying to the disrupted flight and disruption period considered are retrieved from a rule repository. Cabin and travel class structure of the replacement flights are further split in sub-periods to imbed the actual validity periods of retrieved CMTs. Rules of the retrieved CMTs resolve all found discrepancies. | 06-10-2010 |
20100131553 | GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM FOR SEARCHING BEST TRAVEL DEALS - A global distribution system (GDS) organized for searching travel deals from a plurality of travel vendor fare databases ( | 05-27-2010 |
20100114834 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR STORING AND RETRIEVING INFORMATION - A method of storing and retrieving a utilization data associated to a sensitive information which requires to be secured in an environment including a plurality of application systems that can use the information, includes:
| 05-06-2010 |
20100114830 | METHOD OF INTEGRATING IN REAL TIME LARGE VOLUMES OF UPDATES IN A DATABASE - A method of integrating large volumes of updates in a database system is described. Each individual update is comprised of a coherent set of data records supplied by a data provider. The database system includes a master file repository and an active image repository. The method comprises the steps of first obtaining for each individual update a unique modification identifier from a logistic table of the database system. The master file repository is then updated with the coherent set of data records of each uniquely identified individual update. A unique commit identifier is further obtained from the logistic table for each individual update that has been committed by the master file. The active image repository is synchronized by successively loading into the active image, in the order specified by the commit identifier, each individual update. Synchronization includes retrieving from the master file repository the coherent set of data records of each uniquely identified individual update. Finally, completion of the propagation of each individual update into the active image repository is achieved when the loading of each corresponding set of data records is committed by the active image. | 05-06-2010 |
20100082504 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SIMULATING AND OPTIMIZING REVENUE FROM SERVICE FEES IN OR RELATING TO ONLINE SERVICE PROCESSES - A method of managing a billing process is provided to optimize or simulate different models in order to reach a predetermined level of a metric associated with the service. The method includes determining an input model to optimize or simulate, determining existing associated models, comparing the existing model and the input model, iterating one or more parameters of the input model in order to achieve the predetermined level of the metric, and determining the iterated input model. | 04-01-2010 |
20100082408 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR BUILDING AN OFFER OF OPTIONAL SERVICES FOR A GIVEN SERVICE OR PRODUCT - A method is provided for guaranteeing a set of valid additional services or products to offer to a user, which additional services or products are associated with a main service or product. The method includes building an affinity matrix of a plurality of additional services and products to attribute an affinity level between each additional service or product with at least one other additional service or product based on the association with the main service or product, determining a coherence level between the additional services or products and the main service or products such that an additional service or product can be marked as valid if the coherence level meets a predetermined level, and generating the set of valid additional services or products to offer to the user based on the affinity level and the coherence level. | 04-01-2010 |
20100076817 | MANAGEMENT OF E-TICKETS - A method and system is provided for managing a sales quota for the sale of one or more services or products, by an agent for a supplier, to ensure the agent does not surpass a first predetermined limit based on a criterion associated with the sales. The method includes measuring the sales of the service or product by the agent during a first predetermined time period, computing associated statistical indicators from the sales measures, and determining a sales quota for the agent to apply during a second predetermined time period. The sales quota is based on the statistical indicators and one or more airline business rules, to enable management of the sales of the agent without the sales surpassing the first predetermined limit. | 03-25-2010 |
20100030591 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RECOMMENDING SIMPLIFIED FARES WITH CONSISTENT BUYACROSS - A system and method of retrieving and displaying travel data receives at a computing apparatus data representing a set of recommended travel itineraries. At least one recommended itinerary has a recommended booking class belonging to a predefined group of booking classes. A computing apparatus identifies a reference booking classes that is associated with the recommended booking class. The apparatus computes a fare value for the recommended itinerary based on a fare value of the associated booking class in the reference group plus a buy-across value. The predefined group may have fewer booking classes than the reference group, and most preferably has a single booking class. | 02-04-2010 |
20100010978 | METHOD AND SYSTEM TO SEARCH FOR TRAVEL PRODUCTS - Method of searching for travel products related to trip components of a trip includes building a search request by inputting search criteria for a plurality of trip components in a single search window of a user interface of a user device; sending the search request to an application server for initiating a search process; wherein the search process includes, at the application server, splitting the search request to build sub-requests each related to one single trip component of the trip and sending in parallel each of the sub-requests to at least one provider of travel products related to the trip component of the sub-request. | 01-14-2010 |
20100010839 | ONE-WAY LIKE DISPLAY OF ROUNDTRIP FARES - A method of evaluating outbound and inbound fare amounts out of a plurality of roundtrip fare recommendations is disclosed. Intended to be displayed in a one-way like display, roundtrip fares are first obtained from a fare-driven availability engine receiving inputs from an online user of a travel website. Further recommendations are deduced by combining the above roundtrip fare recommendations in order to obtain a first improved list of recommendations which comprises more outbound and inbound fare combinations. Then, one-way fare amounts are determined for each combination from the first improved list of recommendations. A second improved list of recommendations, comprising outbound and inbound fare amounts evaluated on the basis of the initial roundtrip fare recommendations, is generated. Outbound and inbound fare amounts can thus be shown in a one-way like display of roundtrip fares to the online user of the travel website. | 01-14-2010 |
20090319305 | AUTOMATED SERVICE FEES ASSESSMENT METHODS AND SYSTEM - A computer travel system and methods for assessing travel service fees are described. System of the invention communicates, on one end, with a travel agent from a travel front office and, on the other end, with a system administrator who manages a price scheme database containing unitary fees and rules. Travel agent creates and modifies PNRs (passenger name records) from which service fees are assessed by a fee calculator. Fee calculator interfaces with the price scheme database to obtain unitary fees and rules to apply to get PNR service fees. | 12-24-2009 |
20090307020 | SYSTEMS AND METHOD OF MANAGING AN INVENTORY OF SERVICE RESOURCES - In a method of managing an inventory of service resources, a plurality of criteria characterize service resources. The inventory of service resources is divided, based on the criteria, into plural elements, each comprising an exclusive subset of the service resources sharing common criteria. A plurality of groups is also created. Groups aggregate those of the elements that have at least one common criterion value. Groups and elements are offered for sale by the service provider. Elements belong in general to several groups. Service resources are, e.g., travel service or leisure resources such as airplane seats and hotel rooms. Customers or travel agents book in an element or in a group. The invention allows maximizing inventory availability while bookings are done by customers, on the basis of a specific request (in an element) or a more indefinite request (in a group). A specific inventory item is attributed later, i.e., at check-in. | 12-10-2009 |
20090287629 | Assignments of places - A method of assigning a place to a customer, including the steps of: determining a set of business rules associated with the provision of the place to the customer; determining a set of available places, the or each of the set of available places having one or more attributes; determining one or more customer preferences in respect of the one or more attributes; applying the business rules to define a set of allowed combinations of place and customer; determining a score in relation to the set of allowed combinations of place and customer; selecting the highest scoring allowed combination from the set of allowed combination of place and customer; and assigning the place to the customer based on the highest scoring allowed combination. | 11-19-2009 |
20090287518 | Inventory control and optimization - A method of revenue management of an inventory of items in order to optimize the availability of one or several item(s) requested by a user, method comprising the steps of calculating an online estimate of a first element associated with the request; calculating an online estimate of a second element associated with the request; comparing the estimate of the first and second element to determine whether or not requested items can be granted to the requestor. The optimized calculations take place in real time and are handled by a single on-line system that does not need to rely on uploads of recommendations from an external off-line optimization system. | 11-19-2009 |
20090216568 | GUARANTEED REVENUE AT ELECTRONIC TICKET ISSUANCE AND MODIFICATION - The invention relates to a method for automatically checking revenue in connection with transportation ticket purchases such as airline tickets. A request for issuance or follow-up processing of the ticket is received at an E-ticket server, said request comprising the fare data of the journey. A real time check is then performed so that a fare check status of at least some of the data of the fare data of the ticket is returned. | 08-27-2009 |
20090076862 | AUTOMATED SPLIT TICKETING - An enhanced travel search tool aimed at providing travel opportunities includes a ticket splitter operating from a list of flight connections provided by a front-end flight search engine. The ticket splitter comprises a unit for valuating all ticket partitions generated from the provided list of connection flights and a tree of split criteria updated in a cache for determining the partitions and attributing to each partition a probability value of obtaining a split-ticket solution. The ticket splitter also includes a unit for selecting those of the valuated partitions that have a probability value higher than a defined threshold and provides a sorted list of recommended partitions to a back-end fare search engine to price all the selected partitions including a reference single-ticket solution. Travel search tool offering of travel opportunities is enhanced by automatically including multi-ticket travel solutions. | 03-19-2009 |
20090063220 | AGREEMENT METHOD AND SYSTEM TO CONSENT TO A PRORATED VALUE OF COUPON OF AN INTERLINE E-TICKET - An enhanced agreement method and system to consent to a prorated value of a coupon of an E-ticket corresponding to a multi-segment transport involving at least two carriers for the transportation. | 03-05-2009 |
20090063219 | REVENUE MONITORING METHOD AND SYSTEM, IN PARTICULAR FOR AIRLINE COMPANIES - The invention relates to a method for building a revenue database of an airline company comprising revenue information for all electronic tickets involving the airline, wherein said method includes the steps of:
| 03-05-2009 |
20090031207 | Dynamic Method for the Visual Rendering of Data Display and Input Windows on a Computer Screen - The invention concerns a method for visual rendering of data display and input windows on a computer screen. The windows are opened with a browser by a remote Web site user. In response to a request emitted by the user's browser the site returns thereto, via the network whereon they are connected, a generic form of the requested page not including any pre-positioning information. The browser, during a brief display of the generic form of the page, captures the dimensions of the displayed elements, calculates new display widths and redimensions the elements. Thereafter, the browser displays permanently the page whereof the elements have been adjusted to obtain a good visual rendering. The generic form of the page can therefore be defined independently of the user's display means and in particular does not require using a table for positioning the elements to be displayed. | 01-29-2009 |
20090024472 | Method and system for generating and controlling the distribution and use of personal promotion codes by targeted customers - A method and a system for generating personal promotion codes from the computing resources of a provider of services are described. Internal promotion codes including a family ID field and a serial ID field comprised of alphanumeric characters are first generated. The internal promotion codes are then encoded into a corresponding series of external promotion codes also comprised of alphanumeric characters, which render the internal promotion codes unintelligible. After which the series of external promotion codes is packed into an encrypted file which is forwarded to a client application of the provider of services to have the external promotion codes distributed to its customers. The external promotion codes later submitted to the client application by the customers are further validated by the provider of services. | 01-22-2009 |
20090007009 | User Customizable Drop-Down Control List for Gui Software Applications - An extended computer graphic user interface (GUI) component includes a drop-down list of currently selected items displayed after a selection icon is clicked in a conventional manner. The drop-down list includes an input liner used to enter a new item to be added to the list of currently selected items, and a second selection icon that displays when any item of the list of currently selected items is highlighted while the cursor is moved over it. The second selection icon causes a pop-up menu of options to display if clicked in a conventional manner. The pop-up menu is aimed at further customizing the extended GUI component. Options of the pop-up menu include the possibilities of deleting an item, choosing an item to become a default item and restoring an initial list of items. The selection of the pop-up menu is alternatively obtained in right-clicking over the highlighted item. | 01-01-2009 |
20080319946 | Method and system for searching availability of an entity for purchase or reservation - A method of searching for availability of an entity for purchase or reservation. The method comprises the steps of searching for an entity matching a search criterion to obtain a list of entities, wherein the or each entity comprises a parameter having a predetermined availability; automatically searching for one or more available parameters associated with the or each entity at substantially the same time; incrementally generating a list of each entity and one or more available parameters associated therewith to generate a list of entity and available parameters as the automatic search provides one or more results, and displaying the list as it is generated for selection by a user of a predetermined combination of entity and parameter. | 12-25-2008 |
20080319945 | Method and system for improving a reservation or a purchase process of an entity - Method of searching for availability of an entity for purchase or reservation. The method comprises the steps of searching for an entity matching a search criteria to obtain a list of entities, wherein the or each entity comprises a parameter having a predetermined availability; automatically searching for one or more available parameters associated with the or each entity; generating a list of each entity and one or more available parameters associated therewith to generate a list of entity and available parameters; displaying the list of entity and available parameters of the or each entity for selection by a user of an appropriate combination of entity and parameter; filtering the list of entity and available parameters in order to remove one or more combination of entity and parameter; and displaying a modified list of entity and available parameter. | 12-25-2008 |
20080319866 | METHOD AND SYSTEM TO HAND OVER AN ONLINE TRANSACTION TO A HELP DESK ASSISTANT - A method of providing assistance to an end-user of an online software application running from a web server. While the end-user and the web server communicate through at least one data network, during a web session initiated by the end-user from a client software application, the online software application provides a manner of requesting assistance from a help desk on at least one of the web page returned to the client application. When the end-user activates the manner of requesting assistance he/she obtains from the server of the online software application a keyword associated to the web session. End-user further obtains at least one telephone number of the help desk to call. When the end-user is calling the help desk through a telephone network the keyword is communicated to an assistant. After the assistant has successfully logged in to the web server the web session initiated by the end-user is shared with the assistant. Then, a transaction in progress with the online software application can be handed over to the assistant who will complete it on behalf of the end-user. | 12-25-2008 |
20080319803 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR BOOKING TRAVEL PRODUCTS ONLINE ON THE BASIS OF UP-TO-DATE AVAILABILITY DATA DISPLAYED ON A MAP-BASED CLIENT INTERFACE - A method for booking or checking or saving travel products from a travel service provider operating over a network and having at least one server running a travel application delivering map-based interface web pages to at least one client applications, the method, includes:
| 12-25-2008 |
20080319649 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INTEGRATING AND DISPLAYING TRAVEL ADVICES GATHERED FROM A PLURALITY OF RELIABLE SOURCES - A computerized travel system and a method for providing advices and warnings per travel destination to end-users. The system has a client service module for receiving queries from the end-users, and delivering to them merged reports of travel advices and warnings for the queried travel destinations. A download and parsing module parses travel raw documents, downloaded from a plurality of online reliable travel sources, into cleaned raw documents sharing a common formatting structure including sections, sections headers and paragraphs. An algorithmic module integrates the cleaned raw documents into the merged reports of travel advices and warnings per travel destination. The integration is performed from a base document chosen among all the relevant clean raw documents for each queried travel destination. Comparable sections are determined on the basis of contents of their section headers and semantically close paragraphs are placed next to each other in corresponding sections of merged reports. | 12-25-2008 |
20080301122 | Searching techniques - A method of online searching for a service or product, the method comprising: obtaining a first search request from a user, the first search request including a set of search criteria; storing the set of search criteria at a predetermined location; searching for a service or product which matches the set of search criteria; generating a first set of recommendations of a service or product which matches the set of search criteria for communication to the user; storing the first set of recommendations; generating a second request to change the range of one or more of the set of search criteria of the first search request in a predetermined manner; retrieving the set of search criteria from the predetermined location to form the basis of the search criteria for the second request; changing the or each search criteria of the set of search criteria in said predetermined manner to form an changed set of search criteria; searching for a service or product which matches the changed set of search criteria; generating a second set of recommendations of the service or product which matches the changed search criteria for communication to the user; concatenating the first set of recommendations with the second set of recommendations to form a concatenated set of recommendations having a predetermined result profile. | 12-04-2008 |
20080300926 | Method and system for allowing user check-in - A method for changing the state of a pre-booked ticket from a first booked-state to a second check-in state, wherein the method includes a mobile device communicating through an IM communication system with a check-in desk service. The mobile device also comprises an identification instrument for a user, said check-in desk service having access to the pre-booked ticket. The method comprises the steps of connecting the mobile device to an appropriate network in order to communicate with the check-in desk, sending the identification instrument through the IM communication system to the check-in desk in order to access to the pre-booked ticket, requesting to change the pre-booked ticket state from booked to check-in and receiving an electronic boarding pass on the mobile device to access to a boarding gate. | 12-04-2008 |
20080288302 | Method and system for automatically keeping travel data consistent between passenger reservation records and corresponding electronic tickets - A method and a system keeps travel data consistent between a database of airline reservations storing passenger name records (PNR's) including travel segments, and a database of electronic tickets (E-tickets) including travel coupons, this latter database being independently controlled from a ticketing server. Whenever a travel segment is updated or added in one of the PNR's an electronic reconciliation service (ERS) receives images of updated PNR's. Corresponding E-ticket images are requested by ERS and received from the database of E-tickets. Then, ERS establishes a matrix of links between orphan PNR travel segments and orphan E-ticket travel coupons so that E-ticket orphan travel coupons are re-associated with matching PNR orphan travel segments. After E-ticket is updated it is revalidated or reissued. Optionally, a penalty generator calculates penalty fees on the basis of changes brought to the revalidated or reissued E-tickets. The penalty fees are then attached to the updated PNR's. | 11-20-2008 |
20080270254 | Method and System of Building Actual Travel Fares - A method of building actual travel fares in a computer, from fare databases, is disclosed. A graph of nodes representing travel destinations is built which comprises edges connecting pairs of nodes. Each edge references a lowest travel fare. Also, a tree of fares is built for each graph edge. Trees comprise at least a root node holding the lowest travel fare of the corresponding graph edge. They possibly include more nodes comprising a context key and an associated travel fare. Trees are organized to have children nodes holding a travel fare equal to or larger than travel fare of a parent node. Thus, less expensive fare paths can efficiently be extracted since graph edges, included in the fare paths, reference the associated trees of fares and are gone through in ascending order of their lowest fare values. A learning entity is used to build and update the trees of fares. | 10-30-2008 |
20080252910 | Method and apparatus for managing printing solutions in a local area network - A method of managing printing in an environment with a plurality of workstations and a plurality of printers in one or more networks. Each workstation has a unique ID and each printer has a type and a configuration which is dependent on the unique ID. One or more of the printers is connected to a one of the plurality of workstations. The network also includes a document server and a identification generator. The network polls a workstation when it connects to the network to determine what printers are connected thereto;
| 10-16-2008 |
20080235292 | System and Method to Maintain Coherence of Cache Contents in a Multi-Tier System Aimed at Interfacing Large Databases - A method and a system for maintaining coherence of cache contents in a multi-tiered architecture of servers are described. This includes a front tier of satellite servers, each operating a local cache, and a middle tier of central servers each operating a central cache. Central servers interface with databases through database servers to retrieve the data elements used to construct objects and store them in central caches. Once constructed, objects are attributed a time-to-live (TTL) and stored in central caches then, forwarded to the satellite servers where they are stored in local caches before being delivered to the software applications that have requested them. They are invalidated when outdated and reconstructed from a central server from where they are forwarded to all central caches and to the local caches where they are needed. | 09-25-2008 |
20080208643 | Follow your stars - A system and methods for providing comprehensive travel package to attend an event out of a series of scheduled events are disclosed. The system comprises a server engine having means for gathering all sorts of online travel related information from a plurality of specialized websites. It includes means for storing the gathered travel information. A travel time durations and costs calculator operates from the gathered travel information in order to dynamically build the comprehensive travel packages. Sets of comprehensive travel packages are then delivered to a plurality of client websites in response to the submission by their end-users of queries to attend events out of series of scheduled events. End-user queries include home locations along with further preferences that are used to dynamically build the corresponding set of comprehensive travel packages. The most appropriate event date and location is thus selected allowing to deliver the best travel package for the specified end-user home location. Preferences include minimizing overall trip elapsed times, minimizing overall trip costs and excluding some transportation means. The invention also applies to the organization of professional meetings and for socializing websites to restrict selection of people to meet only to those fitting in a cost or time metric. | 08-28-2008 |