Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Display driving control circuitry – Controlling the condition of display elements
Reexamination Certificate
1998-07-02
2001-10-23
Sax, Steven (Department: 2173)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Display driving control circuitry
Controlling the condition of display elements
C345S215000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06307572
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
This invention relates to computerized travel planning systems.
Travel planning systems are used to produce itineraries and prices by selecting suitable travel units from databases containing geographic, scheduling and pricing information. In the airline industry, fundamental travel units include “flights” (sequences of regularly scheduled takeoffs and landings assigned a common identifier) and “fares” (prices published by airlines for travel between two points). The term “itinerary” is often used to refer to a sequence of flights on particular dates, and the term “pricing solution” is often used to refer to a combination of fares and itineraries that satisfies a travel request.
The databases usually contain schedule information provided by airlines, typically in the so-called Standard Schedules Information Manual (SSIM) format, and usually fares published by airlines and resellers, typically provided through the intermediary Airline Tariff Publishing Company (ATPCO). The database may also contain “availability” information that determines whether space is available on flights, or this may be obtained through communication links to external sources such as airlines.
Presently, so-called computer reservation system (CRSs) operate to produce fare and schedule information. There are four generally known computer reservation systems that operate in the United States, Sabre, Galileo, Amadeus and WorldSpan. The typical CRS contains a periodically updated central database that is accessed by subscribers such as travel agents through computer terminals. The subscribers use the computer reservation system to determine what airline flights are operating in a given market, what fares are offered and whether seats are available on flights to make bookings and issue tickets to clients.
The computer reservation systems typically conduct searches using the information contained in the database to produce itineraries that satisfy a received request. The search results are sorted and returned to the requester s computer for display. Typically, the number of possible itineraries and pricing solutions that are returned by a CRS is a small portion of the total set that may satisfy a passengers request.
SUMMARY
According to an aspect of the invention, a graphical user interface for a travel planning system comprises a graphical region of the graphical user interface that displays a graphical representation of the itinerary information associated with an executed user query.
The graphical user interface includes a user query section comprised of a plurality of controls that can be used to specify information in a user query and a field having icons representing carriers such as airlines that are associated with itineraries in the graphical representation. The graphical user interface includes icons associated with origins and destinations of itineraries that are represented in the graphical representation. The graphical user interface displays a total fare associated with a corresponding itinerary in the graphical representation. The graphical user interface has at least one control that selectively prunes from the graphical representation itineraries that do not correspond to a value associated with the at least one control. The one control include a nonstop control, direct control, same airline control, the airline icons, airport icons, a first class arrangement control, second class arrangement control or refundable ticket control. The graphical user interface representation include a histogram or a horizontal bar graph. The graphical user interface has an itinerary region that displays a selected itinerary including information pertaining to segments of the itinerary. The region that displays a selected itinerary is presented by selecting one of the itineraries in the graphical region that displays itineraries. The graphical user interface can display the region in a separate window.
According to a further aspect of the invention, a graphical user interface for a travel planning system includes a user query section comprised of a plurality of controls that can be used to specify information in a user query and a active graphic region that displays a graph representation of a metric of the itinerary information associated with an executed user query with the graph representation.
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DeMarcken Carl G.
Mayle Neil L.
Wertheimer Jeremy
Fish & Richardson P.C.
ITA Software, Inc.
Sax Steven
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