Airline ticket system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11514376-B2
Application number	US-201715850631-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 21, 2017
Priority date	Aug 7, 2015
Publication date	Nov 29, 2022
Grant date	Nov 29, 2022

Abstract

An airline ticket sales system having a stock recording unit retaining a stock of flights, and a destination candidate extraction unit including: receiving an input of at least one condition from a user via an information processing terminal, information about a destination airport being excluded from the condition; acquiring, from the stock recording unit, information about outbound candidate flights and inbound candidate flights satisfying the condition; extracting, as candidate airports, a predetermined number from airports common to arrival airports of the outbound candidate flights and departure airports of the inbound candidate flights; selecting, based on a predetermined criterion, one from round-trip candidate flights composed of combinations of the outbound candidate flights and the inbound candidate flights among the departure airports of the outbound candidate flights specified by the condition and the respective candidate airports; and regarding the selected one as a to-be-sold round-trip flight.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An airline ticket system, coupled to information processing terminals each comprising a display, for issuing an airline ticket in combination with an outbound flight and an inbound flight, the airline ticket system comprising:
a computer-readable memory storing stock quantities for seats available on flights between several airports associated with destinations, the stock quantities being updated based on a seat availability; and
a processor communicating with the computer-readable memory, the processor being configured to execute instructions to perform a method including
graphically presenting a condition entry screen on the display of one of the information processing terminals,
electronically receiving, via the condition entry screen graphically presented on the display of the one of the information processing terminals, an inquiry containing at least one condition and a purpose of a trip from the one of the information processing terminals, destination information about a destination airport being excluded from the inquiry,
acquiring, from the computer-readable memory, flight information about outbound candidate flights and inbound candidate flights satisfying the at least one condition, based on the stock quantities,
extracting a predetermined number of candidate airports common to arrival airports of the outbound candidate flights and inbound departure airports of the inbound candidate flights,
graphically presenting the predetermined number of candidate airports on the display with maps around the candidate airports and pictures which are related to the purpose of the trip and associated with the maps,
assigning a weight to each of a plurality of round-trip candidate flights composed of combinations of the outbound candidate flights and the inbound candidate flights, the weight being registered in the computer-readable memory and updated based on a round-trip stock quantity of each of the plurality of round-trip candidate flights, wherein a lowest quantity among a first stock quantity of the outbound flight and a second stock quantity of the inbound flight related to each of the round-trip candidate flights is set as the round-trip stock quantity, and the first stock quantity and the second stock quantity are stored in the computer-readable memory as the stock quantities and updated based on the seat availability,
determining, based on a predetermined criterion including the weight assigned to each of the plurality of round-trip candidate flights, a selected round-trip flight from the round-trip candidate flights among at least one outbound departure airport specified by the at least one condition and the candidate airports, and
graphically providing the flight information on the selected round-trip flight to the display of the one of the information processing terminals,

wherein the processor records, in a cookie, the inquiry electronically received from the one of the information processing terminals, and graphically presents, on the display, the candidate airports having the same contents as those of the candidate airports which have been extracted first if the same inquiry recorded in the cookie is electrically received again from the one of the information processing terminals for a predetermined period of time, as long as the stock quantities remain.

2. The airline ticket system according to claim 1 , wherein in extracting the predetermined number of the candidate airports, the processor is configured to assign a weight to each of common airports common to the arrival airports of the outbound candidate flights and the inbound departure airports of the inbound candidate flights based on at least one parameter, the at least one parameter including at least one of an airport attribute for each of the common airports, a month related to at least one of an outbound departure date and an inbound departure date, and a day of a week related to the at least one of the outbound departure date and the inbound departure date.

3. The airline ticket system according to claim 1 , wherein a per-airport weight is assigned based on a lowest sum among a first sum of outbound stock quantities of outbound flights and a second sum of inbound stock quantities of inbound flights about all the round-trip candidate flights related to the candidate airports.

4. The airline ticket system according to claim 1 , wherein an in-airport per-round-trip weight is assigned based on a value obtained by multiplying together an outbound stock quantity of the outbound flight and an inbound stock quantity of the inbound flight about each of the round-trip candidate flights related to the candidate airports.

5. The airline ticket system according to claim 1 , wherein after performing a first response to the inquiry containing the at least one condition, the processor is further configured to send the first response again upon receiving the at least one condition again within a predetermined time period.

6. The airline ticket system according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured, in assigning the weight to each of the round-trip candidate flights, to increase the weight as stock quantity increases.

7. The airline ticket system according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to
generate a list of the round-trip candidate flights in order of priority ranking, the list including the selected round-trip flight, and
replace the selected round-trip flight with a next-ranked round-trip candidate flight, when the selected round-trip flight is out of stock when a reservation is requested.

8. The airline ticket system according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to generate a list of the round-trip candidate flights in order of priority ranking based on a corresponding order of a random value generated for each round-trip candidate flight that has a lottery probability corresponding to the weight, the list including the selected round-trip flight.

9. The airline ticket system according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to notify the one of the information processing terminals of the selected round-trip flight a predetermined time after the at least one condition is received and before an outbound departure date of the selected round-trip flight.

10. The airline ticket system according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to
register a reservation of the selected round-trip flight when the at least one condition is received, and
notify the one of the information processing terminals of a result of the reservation after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since registration of the reservation.

11. The airline ticket system according to claim 1 , wherein
the computer-readable memory further stores at least one of a preference for the trip, a request for the trip or a hobby of a user as user attribute information, and
the processor is further configured to graphically present, on the display, a screen personalized on the basis of the user attribute information.

12. An airline ticket system, coupled to information processing terminals each comprising a display, for issuing an airline ticket in combination with an outbound flight and an inbound flight, the airline ticket system comprising:
a computer-readable memory retaining a stock of flights which is updated based on a seat availability; and
a processor communicating with the computer-readable memory, the processor being configured to execute instructions to perform a method including
graphically presenting a condition entry screen on the display of one of the information processing terminals,
electronically receiving,

Assignees

• Nomura Res Inst Ltd

Inventors

• Morioka Taro
• Nakamura Hiroyuki
• Arai Akira
• Sagimori Takashi
• Matsuo Hitoshi
• Shimada Takeo

Classifications

• G06Q30/0601

  Electronic shopping [e-shopping] · CPC title

• G06Q30/0207

  Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates · CPC title

• G06Q50/14

  Travel agencies · CPC title

• G06Q10/025 Primary

  Coordination of plural reservations, e.g. plural trip segments, transportation combined with accommodation · CPC title

• G06Q10/02

  Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events · CPC title