Incremental searching in multi-passenger multi-route travel planning
AssigneeITA Software, Inc., a Massachusetts corporation
InventorsCarl G. de Marcken, Justin A. Boyan
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A multiple routes for multiple passengers are produced by ordering passenger groups and for each passenger group, constructing an individual query and sending the individual query to a travel planning system. Solutions based on the individual query are received from the travel planning system and a single individual solution is selected from the response. Constraints are added to subsequent individual queries based on previously selected individual solutions and joint travel requirements or preferences.
Claims40
1-23. (canceled)
A computer-implemented travel planning method for multiple passenger groups traveling on multiple routes, the method comprising:
- constructing a first query for a first passenger group of a plurality of passenger groups, the first query comprising at least one attribute for one or more of an origin, a destination, a date of departure, a time of departure, a date of arrival, or a time of arrival;
- receiving a first plurality of travel solutions from a travel planning system, the solutions comprising sets of flights based on the first query;
- identifying a selection of at least one solution from the first plurality of solutions received from the travel planning system in response to the first query;
- deriving a constraint on the at least one attribute based on the identified selection of at least one solution;
- and
- constructing a second query for a second passenger group, the second query comprising attributes for one or more of the origin, the destination, the date of departure, the time of departure, the date of arrival, or the time of arrival, the second query comprising the constrained at least one attribute.
A computer storage medium encoded with a computer program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:
- constructing a first query for a first passenger group of a plurality of passenger groups, the first query comprising at least one attribute for one or more of an origin, a destination, a date of departure, a time of departure, a date of arrival, or a time of arrival;
- receiving a first plurality of travel solutions from a travel planning system, the solutions comprising sets of flights based on the first query;
- identifying a selection of at least one solution from the first plurality of solutions received from the travel planning system in response to the first query;
- deriving a constraint on the at least one attribute based on the identified selection of at least one solution;
- and
- constructing a second query for a second passenger group, the second query comprising attributes for one or more of the origin, the destination, the date of departure, the time of departure, the date of arrival, or the time of arrival, the second query comprising the constrained at least one attribute.
A system of one or more computers configured to perform operations comprising:
- constructing a first query for a first passenger group of a plurality of passenger groups, the first query comprising at least one attribute for one or more of an origin, a destination, a date of departure, a time of departure, a date of arrival, or a time of arrival;
- receiving a first plurality of travel solutions from a travel planning system, the solutions comprising sets of flights based on the first query;
- identifying a selection of at least one solution from the first plurality of solutions received from the travel planning system in response to the first query;
- deriving a constraint on the at least one attribute based on the identified selection of at least one solution;
- and
- constructing a second query for a second passenger group, the second query comprising attributes for one or more of the origin, the destination, the date of departure, the time of departure, the date of arrival, or the time of arrival, the second query comprising the constrained at least one attribute.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.