Automated service upgrade offer acceptance system

Data processing: financial – business practice – management – or co – Automated electrical financial or business practice or... – Reservation – check-in – or booking display for reserved space

Patent

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

705 6, G06F 1900

Patent

active

061121851

ABSTRACT:
An automated service upgrade offer acceptance system is provided for receiving (i) reservations for a selected category of assigned services, such as seating, and (ii) offers for upgraded services, such as an upgrade of an initially selected category of seating to a preferred seating category, from confirmed customers. The automated service upgrade acceptance system permits customers to submit offers for a number of upgraded services or upgrade offer items, including offers for an upgrade of an initial category of seating to a different seating category, including premium seats within a given category of seating, as well as other premium services, such as priority for special meals or drinks, priority for receipt of luggage upon deplaning, and discount companion tickets. The automated service upgrade acceptance system allows a customer to place a binding offer for an upgraded offer item, should the item become available. Offers for upgraded services can be accepted by the automated service upgrade acceptance system at any time during a seller-defined offer acceptance period, from the time of making a reservation, up to a predefined expiration period. The automated service upgrade acceptance system processes the received offers for upgraded services, at one or more intervals until an offer acceptance period expires, to determine whether to accept or reject each offer for an upgraded service and thereafter notify the customers of any revised seating assignments. The received offers for each different upgrade offer item are preferably processed in a predefined sequence, such that offers for the highest categories of seating are processed first. The automated service upgrade acceptance system can enhance the value of offers in accordance with seller-defined criteria for preferred customers, such as frequent flyers, or in accordance with a promotional offer.

REFERENCES:
patent: 4752876 (1988-06-01), Couch et al.
patent: 4845625 (1989-07-01), Stannard
patent: 5237499 (1993-08-01), Garback
patent: 5253166 (1993-10-01), Dettlebach et al.
patent: 5255184 (1993-10-01), Hornick et al.
patent: 5285383 (1994-02-01), Lindsey et al.
patent: 5311425 (1994-05-01), Inada
patent: 5404291 (1995-04-01), Kerr et al.
patent: 5732398 (1998-03-01), Tagawa
patent: 5797126 (1998-08-01), Helbling et al.
D'Ambrosio, Richard "Keep Alert For Ways To Upgrade At Discount" Business and Travel News n 202, 26 Apr. 1991.
WebFlyer FAQ Webpage (http://www.webflyer.com/@faq/upgrade.htm#upgrade1 Dec.1998.
Carol Smith, "LAX; Getting Out; The Art of the Upgrade", Los Angeles Times, Nov. 15, 1995 at p. 14.
"TravelBids"(http://www.travelbids.com), download date; Mar. 31, 1997.
"Cathay Pacific CyberTraveler Auctions" (http://www.cathay-usa.com/auction), download date: Apr. 4, 1997.
"American Airlines' Silent AAuction" (http:///www2.amrcorp.com/auction/rules.html), download date: Apr. 7, 1998 .

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for the USA inventors and patents. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Automated service upgrade offer acceptance system does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Automated service upgrade offer acceptance system, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Automated service upgrade offer acceptance system will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-1258932

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.