Claims
- 1. A method for providing historical fare information, comprising:
collecting fare information associated with one or more travel service providers; storing the collected fare information in a first database; extracting, from the first database, a set of fare information that conforms to a predefined travel rule; storing the set of fare information in a second database; and making the set of fare information available to a requesting entity in response to a request for historical fare information.
- 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined travel rule is associated with criteria that the travel service providers require to offer fares at a reduced value.
- 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the collecting step is performed periodically for a predetermined amount of time.
- 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the predetermined amount of time is one of a predetermined number of days, a predetermined number of weeks, a predetermined number of months, and a predetermined number of years.
- 5. The method of claim 3, wherein the collecting step is performed one of hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, and annually for the predetermined amount of time.
- 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of fare information reflects the lowest fares offered by the travel service providers among the fares stored in the first database.
- 7. The method of claim 1, wherein making the set of fare information available to a requesting entity includes:
employing a web service configured to provide the set of fare information.
- 8. A method for providing historical fare information, comprising:
periodically collecting fares associated with every flight offered from each of a plurality of airlines within a predefined market, wherein each offered flight is associated with a source and a destination city; storing the collected fares into a variable information database; determining, for each flight associated with the same source and destination city, a lowest fare offered among the airlines for the respective flight; storing each of the determined lowest fares in a constant information database; and making the determined lowest fares available to a user in response to a request for historical fare information.
- 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of periodically collecting is continuously performed for a predetermined amount of time.
- 10. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of periodically collecting is performed one of daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly.
- 11. The method of claim 9, wherein the predetermined amount of time is one of one or more days, one or more weeks, one or more months, and one or more years.
- 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the request is made by the user after the predetermined amount of time has been reached.
- 13. The method of claim 11, wherein the request is made by the user before the predetermined amount of time has been reached.
- 14. The method of claim 8, wherein making the determined lowest fares available to a user further comprises:
generating a response that includes the lowest fare information offered each day for each of the flights based on the lowest fares stored in the constant information database; and making the response available to the user in response to the request.
- 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the response is provided in at least one of textual and graphical form.
- 16. The method of claim 8, wherein the determined lowest fare offered among the airlines for the respective flight is based on a parameter rule.
- 17. The method of claim 15, wherein the parameter rule is associated with advance purchase offers provided by one or more of the plurality of airlines.
- 18. The method of claim 8, wherein making the determined lowest fares available to a user includes:
employing a web service configured to provide the lowest fares to the user.
- 19. A method for providing historical fare information, comprising:
collecting available fares previously offered by a set of travel service providers; collecting a set of lowest fares from among the collected available fares, wherein the collecting of available fares and a set of lowest fares are performed periodically for a predetermined amount of time; determining an estimate of future fares that may be offered by the set of travel service providers based on the collected set of lowest fares; and making the set of collected lowest fares and the estimate of future fares available to an entity in response to a request for historical fares.
- 20. A system for providing historical fare information, comprising:
a first computer for requesting historical fare information associated with a travel opportunity; and a second computer for providing, to the first computer, a response including the historical fare information based on the request, wherein the second computer includes:
a memory including:
a first data component for periodically collecting historical fares offered by a set of travel service providers for a predetermined amount of time, a second data component for periodically extracting the lowest fares from among the collected historical fares, and a third data component for generating the response, wherein the response includes information reflecting the lowest fares associated with the travel opportunity previously offered by the set of travel service providers over the predetermined amount of time, and a processor for executing the first through third data components to provide the response to the first computer.
- 21. The system of claim 20, wherein each travel service provider may include one of an airline, a hotel, a train server provider, a bus service, a car rental service, and a cruise line service.
- 22. A system for providing historical fare information, comprising:
a first computer for requesting historical fare information; and a second computer for providing, to the first computer, a response including the historical fare information based on the request, wherein the first computer includes:
a memory including:
a first data component for periodically collecting historical fares offered by a set of travel service providers for a predetermined amount of time, a second data component for periodically extracting the lowest fares from among the collected historical fares, a third data component for determining estimated future fares associated with the set of travel service providers based on the extracted lowest fares, and a fourth data component for generating the response, wherein the response includes the lowest fares previously offered by the set of travel service providers over the predetermined amount of time and the determined estimated future fares, and a processor for executing the first through fourth data components to provide the response to the first computer.
- 23. A method for receiving historical fare information associated with a travel opportunity, comprising:
providing a request for historical fare information associated with a selected travel opportunity; and receiving a response to the request including at least one of historical fare information reflecting fares previously offered by one or more travel service providers that offer a travel opportunity similar to the selected travel opportunity and new fare information reflecting an estimate of new fares for the selected travel opportunity based on the historical fare information.
- 24. The method of claim 23, wherein the travel opportunity is associated with at least one of travel between a selected source and destination location, travel within a predetermined geographic region, and travel having a predetermined duration.
- 25. The method of claim 24, wherein the providing the request includes at least one of:
selecting the source and destination locations; selecting the predetermined geographic locations; and selecting the predetermined duration.
- 26. A computer-readable medium including instructions for performing a method, when executed by a processor for providing historical fare information, the method comprising:
collecting fare information associated with one or more travel service providers; storing the collected fare information in a first database; extracting, from the first database, a set of fare information that conforms to a predefined travel rule; storing the set of fare information in a second database; and making the set of fare information available to a requesting entity in response to a request for historical fare information.
- 27. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, wherein the predefined travel rule is associated with criteria that the travel service providers require to offer fares at a reduced value.
- 28. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, wherein the collecting step is performed periodically for a predetermined amount of time.
- 29. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein the predetermined amount of time is one of a predetermined number of days, a predetermined number of weeks, a predetermined number of months, and a predetermined number of years.
- 30. The computer-readable medium of claim 28 wherein the collecting step is performed one of hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, and annually for the predetermined amount of time.
- 31. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, wherein the set of fare information reflects the lowest fares offered by the travel service providers among the fares stored in the first database.
- 32. A computer-readable medium including instructions for performing a method, when executed by a processor, for providing historical fare information, the method comprising:
periodically collecting fares associated with every flight offered from each of a plurality of airlines within a predefined market, wherein each offered flight is associated with a source and a destination city; storing the collected fares into a variable information database; determining, for each flight associated with the same source and destination city, the lowest fare offered among the airlines for the respective flight; storing each of the determined lowest fares in a constant information database; and making the determined lowest fares available to a user in response to a request for historical fare information.
- 33. The computer-readable medium of claim 32, wherein the step of periodically collecting is continuously performed for a predetermined amount of time.
- 34. The computer-readable medium of claim 32, wherein the step of periodically collecting is performed one of daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly.
- 35. The computer-readable medium of claim 33, wherein the predetermined amount of time is one of one or more days, one or more weeks, one or more months, and one or more years.
- 36. The computer-readable medium of claim 33, wherein the request is made by the user after the predetermined amount of time has been reached.
- 37. The computer-readable medium of claim 33, wherein the request is made by the user before the predetermined amount of time has been reached.
- 38. The computer-readable medium of claim 32, wherein making the determined lowest fares available to a user further comprises:
generating a response that includes the lowest fare information offered each day for each of the flights based on the lowest fares stored in the constant information database; and making the response available to the user in response to the request.
- 39. The computer-readable medium of claim 38, wherein the response is provided in at least one of textual and graphical form.
- 40. The computer-readable medium of claim 32, wherein the determined lowest fare offered among the airlines for the respective flight is based on a parameter rule.
- 41. The computer-readable medium of claim 40, wherein the parameter rule is associated with advance purchase offers provided by one or more of the plurality of airlines.
- 42. A computer-readable medium including instructions for performing a method, when executed by a processor, for providing historical fare information, the method comprising:
collecting available fares previously offered by a set of travel service providers; collecting a set of lowest fares from among the collected available fares, wherein the collecting of available fares and a set of lowest fares are performed periodically for a predetermined amount of time; determining an estimate of future fares that may be offered by the set of travel service providers based on the collected set of lowest fares; and making the set of collected lowest fares and the estimate of future fares available to an entity in response to a request for historical fares.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is related to and claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/327,790, filed on Oct. 10, 2001, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60327790 |
Oct 2001 |
US |