Creating and delivering a digital travel companion of a wrapped package of cards

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016104079-A1
Application number	US-201514862653-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 23, 2015
Priority date	Oct 9, 2014
Publication date	Apr 14, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Creating and delivering a digital travel companion for a traveler that is an adjunct to a ticket for travel, a reservation and/or a hospitality rental. The digital travel companion is electronically delivered to the traveler and/or customer in the form of a wrapped package of cards. The cards in the wrap are selectively authored to include (i) an itinerary card, (ii) media content and (iii) a palette of application functionality and/or e-commerce related services. In addition, the cards are arranged into one or more linear sequences. Thus, as the wrap package is consumed, the user experience is analogous to the turning of the pages of a book. In non-exclusive embodiments, the media content of the cards can further be authored to convey a narrative.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A travel companion wrap package of cards, embedded in a tangible computer readable medium, the travel companion wrap package of cards providing a digital companion for travel plans including a reservation, booking and/or a hospitality rental, the travel companion wrap package including:
(a) an itinerary card including itinerary details related to the reservation, booking and/or a hospitality rental; and (b) one or more additional card(s) for providing media content, application functionality, and/or e-commerce services related to the reservation, booking and/or a hospitality rental, wherein the cards of the travel companion wrap package are further arranged to be rendered in one or more linear sequence(s) at runtime.

2 . The travel companion wrap package of claim 1 , further comprising a wrap descriptor that defines the travel companion wrap package, the wrap descriptor:
(a) specifying the cards of the travel companion wrap package, including the itinerary card and the one or more additional card(s); and (b) including a plurality of card descriptors, each of the plurality of card descriptors arranged to define content, a structure and a layout for an associated card among the cards of the travel companion wrap package, including the itinerary card and the one or more additional card(s), respectively.

3 . The travel companion wrap package of claim 2 , wherein a runtime instance of the travel companion wrap package is generated by:
(a) creating an object graph from the wrap descriptor, (b) generating a document object model from the object graph; and (c) generating the runtime instance of the travel companion wrap package from the document object model.

4 . The travel companion wrap package of claim 2 , wherein the wrap descriptor is either a JSON wrap descriptor or a BSON wrap descriptor.

5 . The travel companion wrap package of claim 1 , wherein the cards of the travel companion wrap package include a chat card for providing an online chat function for chatting with an online representative associated with the reservation, booking and/or a hospitality rental.

6 . The travel companion wrap package of claim 1 , wherein the cards of the travel companion wrap package include an awards and/or promotions card for offering awards and/or promotions associated with the reservation, booking and/or a hospitality rental.

7 . The travel companion wrap package of claim 1 , wherein the cards of the travel companion wrap package include an appointment and/or booking card for providing an ability to make an appointment and/or booking for a service that is ancillary to the reservation, booking and/or a hospitality rental.

8 . The travel companion wrap package of claim 1 , wherein the cards of the travel companion wrap package include a media streaming card for streaming media while the travel companion wrap package is being consumed.

9 . The travel companion wrap package of claim 8 , wherein the streaming media comprises one of the following:
(a) streaming audio media; (b) streaming video media; (c) streaming data content; or (d) content from an online community forum.

10 . The travel companion wrap package of claim 1 , wherein the itinerary details included in the itinerary card pertain to an airline ticket booking and the cards of the travel companion wrap package include, but are not limited to, one or more of the following:
(a) an airline; (b) a flight number, (c) departing and destination locations; (d) a boarding pass; (e) a seat upgrade function; (f) a function to order in-flight services; (g) real-time flight tracking information; (h) points of interest at the destination location; (i) frequent flyer program membership details; (j) hotel information at the destination location; and/or (k) restaurant information at the destination location.

11 . The travel companion wrap package of claim 1 , wherein the itinerary details included in the itinerary card pertain to a car rental booking and the cards of the travel companion wrap package include, but are not limited to, one or more of the following:
(a) a car reservation itinerary; (b) a pick-up and drop-off location; (c) type of car reserved; (d) a car upgrade function; (e) a service to order a GPS related service; (f) a loyalty discount for ancillary goods and/or services; (g) rental car agency membership discounts; (h) an online chat function; (i) member program benefits; (j) local hotel information; and/or (k) local restaurant information.

12 . The travel companion wrap package of claim 1 , wherein the itinerary details included in the itinerary card pertain to a vacation package and the cards of the travel companion wrap package include, but are not limited to, one or more of the following:
(a) a flight or other travel itinerary; (b) a rental car itinerary; (c) hotel reservations; and/or (d) information pertaining to local destination attractions.

13 . The travel companion wrap package of claim 1 , wherein the cards of the travel companion wrap package include a transaction card for providing an option to enter into a transaction for buying a good and/or service while the travel companion wrap package is consumed.

14 . The travel companion wrap package of claim 13 , wherein the transaction card is implemented by one of the following:
(a) associating a transaction widget with the transaction card; (b) embedding a transaction function into the transaction card; (c) providing a trigger in the transaction card, that when invoked, causes a cul-de-sacing to a remote location that provides a transaction service.

15 . The travel companion wrap package of claim 1 , wherein the cards of the travel companion wrap package are further configured to implement one or more of the following:
(a) conducting an online chat session; (b) enable a selection of a product or service for purchase; (c) enabling an appointment, reservation and/or booking for a product and/or service; (d) a GPS/location service; (e) a cul-de-sac function to a target web site; (f) placement of an item into a shopping cart for purchase; (g) enabling a buy now function for the purchase of an additional product and/or service; or (h) a “one-click” buy now operation for the purchase of the additional product and/or service.

16 . The travel companion wrap package of claim 1 , wherein the cards of the travel companion wrap package further include at least one gallery card arranged to display a plurality of additional products and/or service items in a gallery format, the additional products and/or service items configured to be sequentially browsed, in response to navigational inputs, when the gallery card is rendered.

17 . The travel companion wrap package of claim 2 , wherein at least one of the card descriptors of the wrap descriptor uses an identifier to reference an asset that is external to the wrap descriptor, the identifier used to retrieve the asset so that the asset can be rendered at runtime of the associated card.

18 . The travel companion wrap package of claim 1 , wherein:
(a) each of the cards in the travel companion wrap package is rendered at the same portrait aspect ratio at runtime; and (b) within each card, the relative positioning of the content of the card is immutable.

19 . The travel companion wrap package of claim 2 , wherein the wrap descriptor further comprises a global component that is associated with two or more of the cards of the travel companion wrap package.

Assignees

• Wrap Media Llc

Inventors

• Greenberg Eric H
• Garris John M
• Mcfarland Ian
• Rolston Mark E
• Ficklin Jared L

Classifications

• G06F3/0488

  using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures · CPC title

• G06F3/0483

  Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor · CPC title

• G06F3/04842

  Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements (G06F3/0482 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06Q10/02 Primary

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

• G06Q50/14 Primary

  Travel agencies · CPC title