This invention relates to a graphical user interface for a travel planning system.
Travel planning systems may be used to search for itineraries that meet a set of criteria submitted, for example, by a potential traveler. The systems produce itineraries and prices by selecting suitable trips or flights from a database of travel carriers, geographic scheduling, and pricing information. Travel planning systems may be computer programs that automate part of the process of identifying the itineraries.
Travel planning systems may display a single list of possible travel itineraries. The traveler browses through the information in the list and compares the details of the different itineraries to select a preferred itinerary. Travelers may have difficulty comparing, discriminating, focusing or assimilating some of the details that are presented in the list.
Many travel systems display travel information on computer systems. Certain travel planning systems may be accessible from remote computer clients over a network, such as the Internet or an Intranet, using a browser such as a web browser. In such travel planning systems, the itineraries may be formatted in a tag-based format, such as HyperText Markup Language (HTML), or eXtensible Markup Language (XML). The itineraries may include links, such as “hyperlinks” or “xlinks”, which cause a browser to display a particular set of data.
According to a first aspect of the invention, an interface for presenting travel itineraries to a user includes an itinerary region for displaying travel itineraries and a filter region. Each travel itinerary has a corresponding value for a first travel criterion and the travel itineraries are grouped into categories based on the values of the first travel criterion. The filter region includes a plurality of cells, each of which is associated with one of the categories of travel itineraries. When a user selects a cell, for example, by using a mouse pointer to click on the cell, the itinerary region displays only travel itineraries in the category associated with the selected cell.
In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the invention, each travel itinerary has a corresponding value for a second different travel criterion and the travel itineraries are also grouped into the categories based on the value of the second travel criterion. The cells are arranged in rows and columns. Cells associated with categories having the same value for the first travel criterion are positioned in the same row, while cells associated with categories having the same value for the second travel criterion are positioned in the same column.
According to a second aspect of the invention, an article includes a machine-readable medium that stores machine-executable instructions. The instructions are operable to cause a machine to generate the user interface of the first aspect of the invention.
According to a third aspect of the invention, a user interface for presenting an itinerary to a user includes a first display of a first segment of the itinerary, such as a travel segment or a layover, and a second display of a subsequent segment of the itinerary. Each of the first display and the second display includes a location of departure and a location of arrival for the corresponding segment of the itinerary. The location of arrival for the first segment is different from the location of departure for the subsequent segment and the first display and the second display are emphasized to indicate to the user that the itinerary has a different location of arrival for the first segment from the location of departure for the subsequent segment. The displays may be emphasized, for example, using italics, font size, font type, bold face font, print color, and background color.
According to a fourth aspect of the invention, a user interface for presenting an itinerary to user includes a display of a segment, such as a travel segment or a layover, of the itinerary. The display includes a location of departure and a location of arrival for the first segment, a duration for the first segment, and at least one of a departure time and an arrival time.
According to a fifth aspect of the invention, a user interface for presenting an itinerary to user, includes a display of a segment of the itinerary and an alert associated with the first segment. The alert is emphasized to bring it to the attention of the user.
Among other advantages of the invention, the filter region allows a user to easily filter a certain category of travel itineraries that the user may be interested in without necessarily having to comb through the list of itineraries. The emphasis and the alerts point out information that is likely to interest the user. Thus the invention provides an efficient way to present travel information to the user, making the users experience more productive pleasurable and effective.
The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.
Referring to
Server computer 12 has a processor 13 for executing computer programs stored within storage subsystem 14. Storage subsystem 14 may include a memory, hard disk, cdrom disk, or a floppy disk. The computer programs include a web server 17 for sending web pages and receiving requests from the network 22. The web pages include a user interface used to display query screens and travel and pricing information as described in
Referring also to
The query input interface 55 includes a section 56 for entering flight information such as a location of departure 56a, a departure time 56b, a location of arrival 56c and a time of arrival 56d. The query input interface 55 also includes a section 58 for selecting flight saving options. For example, a user may use inputs 58a, 58b to cause the server to search for cheaper flights in airports close to the desired departure and arrival airports. A user may also use inputs 58b, 58d to allow the server 12 to search for cheaper flights on alternate travel dates. The query input interface further includes a section 60 to select such passenger information as the number of passengers traveling and the number of those passengers that are seniors, infants or children. The user may check input 61 to cause the server 12 to only provide travel itineraries associated with flights that have available seats. The user submits a query to the server 12 by clicking on the submission button 62, causing the server to send travel and pricing information to the client 30. The travel information is displayed in a user interface described below with reference to
Referring to
The filter region includes tabs 78a, 78b, 78c that a user may select to display itineraries based on a criterion associated with the tab. For example tab 78a allows the user to select the itineraries 72a displayed in the itinerary region 72 based on the airline that provides the flights, tab 78b allows the user to select itineraries based on the flight times, and tab 78c allows the user to select the itineraries based on the airports. Upon selecting one of the tabs, for example, by using a mouse pointer to click on the tab, a filtering table 80 is displayed in the filter region. For example,
Each filtering table 80 includes a series of cells 81 which are arranged in columns 82 and rows 83. The filtering table 80 groups the travel itineraries into categories based on certain travel criterion. For example, in the airline-filtering table 80a, the itineraries 72a are grouped into categories based on the airline 76b providing the flights and the number of stops 76d in the itinerary. Each category contains itineraries that have the same number of stops 76d and are provided by the same airline 76b. Certain cells 81 in table 80a are associated with a specific category of travel itineraries. A user may cause the itinerary region 72 to only display travel itineraries 72a associated with a category by selecting the cell 81 associated with the category, for example by using a mouse pointer to click on the cell 81. The cell 81 may be associated with a link that causes the browser 36 to load the relevant category of itineraries 72a in the itinerary region 72. Thus the cells provide a convenient graphical way for a user to select a certain category of travel itineraries. Cells associated with categories that do not contain any itineraries may not be associated with a link.
In each filtering table 80 cells associated with categories of itineraries having the same value of one of the filtering criteria are arranged in the same row, while cells associated with the categories having the same value of the other filtering criteria are arranged in the same column. For example, in the filtering table 80a, cells 81 associated with categories of itineraries provided by the same airline are arranged in the same column 82 and cells associated with categories of itineraries with the same number of stops are arranged in the same row 83. For instance, the column 82b is associated with itineraries where the flights are provided by US Airways, while the row 83a is associated with non-stop itineraries. To display non-stop itineraries provided by US Airways, the user would select the cell 81b that is positioned at the intersection of column 82b and row 83a. Thus, the grid-like arrangement of the cells allows us user to quickly and conveniently display itineraries in which the user is interested.
Additionally, each cell 81 also displays information about the category of itineraries 72a with which it is associated. For example, the cells in the filtering table 80a display a minimum cost of travel associated with the itineraries in the category corresponding to the cell. For instance the cell 81b, mentioned in the example above, displays the amount $127 to indicate to the user that the user should expect to pay at least $127 if he intends to fly non-stop on US Airways. If that amount is out of the user's price range, the user can look to other categories of flights. Thus, displaying additional information about the categories of itineraries in the cells 81 allows a user to more quickly and conveniently select itineraries that might be of interest.
Referring to
Filter table 80b also contains a column 98 containing row super-cells 100a-100d. Each row super-cell 100 is associated with a super-category containing all the itineraries associated with the categories of all the cells 92 in the same row as the row super-cell 100. For example, the row super-cell 100a is associated with all itineraries that depart Boston between midnight and 6 am on Sunday, October 15, irrespective of the time that the itineraries depart New York. Table 80b also includes a row 102 that contains column super-cells 104a-104c. Each column super-cell 104 is associated with a super-category containing all the itineraries associated with the categories of all the cells 92 in the same column as the super-cell 104. For example, the column super-cell 104a is associated with all itineraries that depart New York between 6 am and noon on Sunday, October 15, irrespective of the time that the itineraries depart Boston. The super-cells 100, 104 allow a user to select itineraries 72a based only on one of the criteria (origin departure time and destination departure time) that is used to group the itineraries 72a into categories. A similar arrangement is provided for the carrier by the number of stops table and the outbound airports by return airports table.
Referring to
Referring to
The server 12 selects (608) the first travel itinerary from the travel data and determines (610) a category that the travel itinerary should be grouped into based on the values of the filtering criteria for the itinerary. The server 12 then adds (612) the itinerary to the determined category and checks (614) if the itinerary is the last one in the travel data. If it is not the last one, the server 12, selects (616) the next itinerary in the travel data and performs the process (610-614) for the next itinerary. Otherwise, if there are no more itineraries the server terminates the process. The categorized data is provided to the client computer 30 for display as part of the graphical user interface 41 from
Referring to
The region 74 brings the user's attention to the discontinuity in itinerary 120 by, for example, emphasizing the airports LGA, JFK associated with the discontinuity. The server 12 is programmed to detect such discontinuities and may be configured to emphasize the airports LGA, JFK using italics, font size, font type, bold face font, print color, background color and so forth. For example, the airports LGA, JFK associated with the discontinuity may be emphasized by displaying them in red typeface while the rest of the display is displayed in normal black typeface.
Discontinuity in an itinerary may also occur between the starting airport and the ultimate destination in a return trip. For example, if a user was planning a trip from Boston Mass. to New York and then back to Boston, a travel itinerary from Boston to New York and then to Worcester Mass. (a suburb of Boston) is discontinuous because the user must use another means of travel other than flying to get from Worcester to Boston.
As shown in
The information 134a-c is emphasized to bring it to the user's attention and make it immediately identifiable. For example, the server 12 may be configured to present the undesirable characteristics of an itinerary in red typeface or in capital letters as is done with the information 134a-c, to make the information more noticeable to the user. On the other hand, information considered desirable might be emphasized in a more calming way. For example, it may be emphasized using a green typeface or by using italics.
The web page 130 of
A number of embodiments of the invention have been described. Nevertheless, it will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, the invention may be implemented in travel systems that do not communicate over the Internet or in interfaces that do not use web pages or web browsers.
Accordingly, other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims.
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