Patent Application
20190042983
The present invention relates generally to a travel planning system and method, and more particularly to a computer-implemented system and method for providing timely, useful information to a user to enhance the process of planning, booking, and/or sharing a travel itinerary.
There are various web-based travel planning systems that allow a user to book and/or share a travel itinerary. However, the existing systems have limitations in some significant respects. For example, existing systems do not assist the user in understanding how he or she can use rewards points, with or without cash, from a credit card to pay for various parts of the trip. In addition, users may generally perceive that itineraries suggested by a travel company are not customized for their preferences. Also, many existing travel planning systems do not take advantage of relevant information that may be available from various sources, such as social networks. Exemplary embodiments of the present invention address these and other drawbacks of existing systems.
According to one embodiment, the invention relates to a travel system comprising a memory; and a processor, wherein the processor is programmed to: receive content from a financial institution, wherein the content includes (a) a number of points accumulated by a cardholder of the financial institution, (b) a recommendation, based on data from other cardholders of the financial institution, as to at least one item on a travel itinerary and (c) a number of points required to purchase at least one item on a travel itinerary; generate a web page that includes (1) a visual depiction of at least one travel destination, (2) the number of points accumulated by the cardholder, (3) a function that visually depicts at least one of: a number of points available to the cardholder, or a number of points required to purchase an element in the travel itinerary, when the cardholder moves a pointer to the item, and (4) an indication that at least one item of the travel itinerary is recommended by other cardholders of the financial institution; transmit the webpage to the cardholder; and receive from the cardholder a request to book at least one item on the travel itinerary using the points.
According to another embodiment, the invention relates to a method comprising receiving a request from a user to provide a web page; receiving web page content from a financial institution, wherein the web page content comprises a login screen for the financial institution; receiving information from the financial institution indicating whether the user has provided valid login credentials; receiving web page content from the financial institution, wherein the web page content comprises a number of points of a user and a number of points for one or more items of a travel itinerary; providing web page content to the user comprising a plurality of travel itineraries, an indication of a number of points associated with the financial institution that the user has accumulated, and a program that displays a number of points required to purchase at least one item on the travel itinerary when the user moves a pointer to the item.
According to another embodiment, the invention relates to a method comprising providing web page content comprising a login screen for a financial institution to a travel system; receiving login credentials from a user; providing an indication to the travel system as to whether the login credentials are valid; and providing web page content to the travel system, wherein the web page content comprises a number of points accumulated by the user and a number of points for at least one item of a travel itinerary.
In order to facilitate a fuller understanding of the present invention, reference is now made to the attached drawings. These drawings should not be construed as limiting the present invention, but are intended only to be examples of embodiments of the invention.
The server 100 is connected to a network 110, which may be the Internet, a LAN, Intranet, Extranet, Ethernet, or other communication network, for example. The server 100 can communicate with a number of different communication devices through the network 110. For example, the server 100 can communicate with various devices used by a customer 190 of the bank, such as a tablet computer 140 (e.g., an Apple iPad™ or Samsung Galaxy™), desktop computer 150, laptop computer 160, smart phone 170, e-reader 180 (e.g., an Amazon Kindle™ e-reader), or other computing device. The server 100 can also communicate with other servers, such as a server 120 owned and/or operated by a third party, such as travel company (e.g., Trippy), or a server 130 owned and/or operated by a third party, such as a social network company (e.g., Facebook). The servers 120 and 130 may include hardware and software the same as or similar to that described above with respect to the server 100 of the financial institution.
The system 100 can enhance and improve the user's travel experience by providing timely, relevant information to the user at various stages in the process of planning, booking and/or sharing a travel itinerary. According to one aspect of the invention, the system 100 can provide information to a customer of a financial institution, such as a credit card holder who is planning a travel itinerary. Although this particular example will be described with respect to a credit card holder, other types of cards or accounts from a financial institution or other sponsor that may be associated with a rewards or loyalty program may be used. Examples include accounts associated with airline frequent flyer programs, hotel reward programs, automobile rental reward programs, retail store reward programs, grocery loyalty programs, consortium programs (e.g., upromise), etc. Other types of accounts and associations may be used as necessary and/or desired.
Although embodiments of the system and method disclosed herein may be in the context of certain providers of goods/services, cardholders, customers, websites, financial instruments, etc., it should be recognized that the invention is not so limited. These references are for exemplary purposes only.
Referring to
Also shown in
According to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the travel website is enhanced with features provided by the financial institution.
In one embodiment, the travel server 120 that administers the travel website 30 may be programmed to call the financial institution server 100 to obtain the necessary content that is used by the travel server 120 to dynamically generate the travel system website 30. Once the cardholder has logged on to the financial institution system 100 through the pop-up window 32 within the travel website 30, the financial institution system 100 can exchange appropriate cardholder information with the travel system 120.
Examples of authentication and transmission of data will discussed below.
According to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the user experience in selecting, booking, and/or sharing a travel itinerary is enhanced through the timely provision of relevant information by the financial institution to the user. As shown in
As an example, in
If the cardholder decides to further explore a particular travel destination, he or she may click on the image 61. In this example, the cardholder clicks on the image 61, and the travel system 120 responds by sending another webpage with additional information, as shown in
According to one embodiment of the invention, the financial institution can provide enhanced value to the cardholder by customizing the recommended travel itinerary based on data from other similarly situated customers, such as customers who hold a certain type of credit card account with the financial institution. According to one example, the financial institution provides recommendations as to travel destinations, hotels, restaurants, attractions, events, and other elements of a travel itinerary based on data from its other similarly situated cardholders. The data used to formulate the recommendations may be restricted to those cardholders of a certain type of card. For example, the recommendations may be restricted to cardholders of the Chase Sapphire™ card. As a general proposition, each type of credit card offered by a financial institution may appeal to a certain group of people having common interests or characteristics. By formulating the recommendations based on the characteristics, preferences and prior activities of a group people possessing a particular credit card, the financial institution can provide valuable insight and information to a similarly situated cardholder who is planning or booking a travel itinerary. This information can significantly improve the suitability to the cardholder of various aspects of the travel itinerary, such as hotels, restaurants, events and attractions.
Referring again to
As shown in
According to another embodiment of the invention, the travel system 120 can be linked with a social network system 130 to enable additional information to be provided to the user with respect to the travel itinerary. As shown in
When the user clicks on the “Share Trip” button 115 or the “Share on Facebook” button 116, a message is generated and sent to the friend or posted on the user's Facebook wall.
As a result of the friends providing recommendations, the user's travel board on the travel website is modified to show the friends' recommendations.
According to another embodiment of the invention, the financial institution system can provide assistance to the user in posting pictures from the travel itinerary to a social network website. After the travel is concluded, the financial institution system 100 will typically have a record of transactions that were conducted during the trip using the credit card. As one example,
In one embodiment, the user may access pictures and/or videos from security cameras, traffic cameras, or public cameras. The user may also use “following” applications, such as socialcam and vine.
In one embodiment, the photos may be postcards, three dimensional photos, videos, etc.
In one embodiment, geographic metatags, data metatags, etc. that may be associated with the pictures may be used to associate the picture with a location and/or transaction. For example, the financial institution may use metatags and transaction data (e.g., location, time, etc.) to match a particular transaction with a particular picture.
As noted above, certain information may be transmitted from the financial institution, or any other institution that may maintain a rewards or other account for a user, to the third party website. In one embodiment, a high level of security (e.g., full authentication), such as single sign-on with the financial institution, which enables a secure session to be maintained on the third party side for transaction and profile exchanges, may be used. In another embodiment a low level of security (e.g., little or no authentication), which requires no authentication with the financial institution, may be used. In still another embodiment, a medium level of security may be used. Any other level of security may be used as necessary and/or desired.
Referring to
In one embodiment, the third party site may display some information from the financial institution that is not of a highly-sensitive nature, such as a points balance in a rewards/loyalty account. Other information may be provided as necessary and/or desired.
In step 1902, the user may access or load a third party site. This may be accomplished accessing the third party website with any suitable electronic device, including computers (e.g., desktop, laptop, notebook, tablet, portable, etc.), phones, (e.g., smart phones, mobile phones, etc.), e-reading devices, gaming machines, set top boxes, etc.
In step 1904, the user may authenticate himself or herself to (or logs in to), the third party site by entering his or her third party credentials into a log in screen. In one embodiment, this may involve the user entering his or her third party member identifier, user id, password, PIN number, etc.
In step 1906, the user may initiate the access or load of information from the financial institution. In one embodiment, this may automatically occur after login.
In step 1908, the third party may determine if the member is enrolled with the financial institution. In one embodiment, this may involve determining if the user has provided information on its status with the financial institution. For example, the user may specify the financial institutions with which he or she holds financial accounts, rewards accounts, loyalty accounts, etc.
In one embodiment, the third party may reference a table containing the third party member identifier, user id, etc. and a listing of other institutions with which the user has an account.
If the user is enrolled with the financial institution, in step 1910, the third party accesses the financial institution to determine a match for the third party member identifier, user id, etc. with the financial institution
If the user does not have an account, is not enrolled with, or the third party has no information regarding the user's status with the financial institution, in step 1920, the user may be presented with the option to enroll with the financial institution. This may involve, for example, linking the third party member identifier, user id, etc. to an identifier that is used with the financial institution, receiving authorization from the user to provide the information to the third party, etc. Further, the user may provide some or all of an account number with the financial institution (e.g., the last four digits of a credit card number), the user's surname, the zip code to which statements are mailed, etc. Other information may be provided as necessary and/or desired.
Upon receipt, the financial institution may enroll the user's account so that the information may be provided to the third party.
Once enrolled, the process may continue as described in step 1914.
If a match is determined in step 1912, the information sought, such as a rewards point balance, for the user is retrieved and/or determined in step 1914. This information may be stored by the financial institution itself, or the financial institution may cause retrieval of this information from a vendor, agent, or other party.
The financial institution, in step 1916, returns the information sought to the third party. This may be, for example, in a packet containing the third party member identifier, user id, etc. Other ways of transmitting the requested information to the third party may be used as necessary and/or desired.
In step 1918, the third party may display the information to the user on the third party's sited. In one embodiment, this may be displayed in a pop up window. In still another embodiment, this may be transmitted in a separate communication channel (e.g., email, SMS, etc.).
If, in step 1912, the financial institution cannot determine a match for the third party user identifier, then the user may be presented with the opportunity to enroll with the third party in step 1920. The third party may also be informed of this so it can update its records.
The user may unlink or de-enroll the account so that information is not provided from the financial institution to the third party as necessary and/or desired.
While the foregoing examples may show the various embodiments of the invention (or portions thereof) in one physical configuration, it is to be appreciated that the various components may be located at distant portions of a distributed network, such as a local area network, a wide area network, a telecommunications network, an intranet and/or the Internet. Thus, it should be appreciated that the components of the various embodiments may be combined into one or more devices, collocated on a particular node of a distributed network, or distributed at various locations in a network, for example. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the components of the various embodiments may be arranged at any location or locations within a distributed network without affecting the operation of the respective system.
Data and information maintained by the servers 100, 120, 130 shown by
Communications network, e.g., 110 in
Communications network, e.g., 110 in
In some embodiments, communication network, e.g., 110, may comprise a satellite communications network, such as a direct broadcast communication system (DBS) having the requisite number of dishes, satellites and transmitter/receiver boxes, for example. Communications network, e.g., 110, may also comprise a telephone communications network, such as the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). In another embodiment, communication network 120 may comprise a Personal Branch Exchange (PBX), which may further connect to the PSTN.
Although a number of examples of user communication devices 140, 150, 160, 170, 180 are shown in
As described above,
It is appreciated that in order to practice the method of the embodiments as described above, it is not necessary that the processors and/or the memories be physically located in the same geographical place. That is, each of the processors and the memories used in exemplary embodiments of the invention may be located in geographically distinct locations and connected so as to communicate in any suitable manner. Additionally, it is appreciated that each of the processor and/or the memory may be composed of different physical pieces of equipment. Accordingly, it is not necessary that the processor be one single piece of equipment in one location and that the memory be another single piece of equipment in another location. That is, it is contemplated that the processor may be two pieces of equipment in two different physical locations. The two distinct pieces of equipment may be connected in any suitable manner. Additionally, the memory may include two or more portions of memory in two or more physical locations.
As described above, a set of instructions is used in the processing of various embodiments of the invention. The set of instructions may be in the form of a program or software. The software may be in the form of system software or application software, for example. The software might also be in the form of a collection of separate programs, a program module within a larger program, or a portion of a program module, for example. The software used might also include modular programming in the form of object oriented programming. The software tells the processor what to do with the data being processed.
Further, it is appreciated that the instructions or set of instructions used in the implementation and operation of the invention may be in a suitable form such that the processor may read the instructions. For example, the instructions that form a program may be in the form of a suitable programming language, which is converted to machine language or object code to allow the processor or processors to read the instructions. That is, written lines of programming code or source code, in a particular programming language, are converted to machine language using a compiler, assembler or interpreter. The machine language is binary coded machine instructions that are specific to a particular type of processor, i.e., to a particular type of computer, for example. Any suitable programming language may be used in accordance with the various embodiments of the invention. For example, the programming language used may include assembly language, Ada, APL, Basic, C, C++, COBOL, dBase, Forth, Fortran, Java, Modula-2, Pascal, Prolog, REXX, Visual Basic, and/or JavaScript. Further, it is not necessary that a single type of instructions or single programming language be utilized in conjunction with the operation of the system and method of the invention. Rather, any number of different programming languages may be utilized as is necessary or desirable.
Also, the instructions and/or data used in the practice of various embodiments of the invention may utilize any compression or encryption technique or algorithm, as may be desired. An encryption module might be used to encrypt data. Further, files or other data may be decrypted using a suitable decryption module, for example.
In the system and method of exemplary embodiments of the invention, a variety of “user interfaces” may be utilized to allow a user to interface with the communication devices 140, 150, 160, 170, 180. As used herein, a user interface may include any hardware, software, or combination of hardware and software used by the processor that allows a user to interact with the processor of the communication device. A user interface may be in the form of a dialogue screen for example. A user interface may also include any of a mouse, touch screen, keyboard, voice reader, voice recognizer, dialogue screen, menu box, list, checkbox, toggle switch, a pushbutton, a virtual environment (e.g., Virtual Machine (VM)/cloud), or any other device that allows a user to receive information regarding the operation of the processor as it processes a set of instructions and/or provide the processor with information. Accordingly, the user interface is any device that provides communication between a user and a processor. The information provided by the user to the processor through the user interface may be in the form of a command, a selection of data, or some other input, for example.
As discussed above, a user interface is utilized by the processor that performs a set of instructions such that the processor processes data for a user. The user interface is typically used by the processor for interacting with a user either to convey information or receive information from the user. However, it should be appreciated that in accordance with some embodiments of the invention, it is not necessary that a human user actually interact with a user interface used by the processor. Rather, it is contemplated that the user interface of the invention might interact, i.e., convey and receive information, with another processor, rather than a human user.
Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described herein in the context of a particular implementation in a particular environment for a particular purpose, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that its usefulness is not limited thereto and that the embodiments of the present inventions can be beneficially implemented in any number of environments for any number of purposes. Accordingly, the claims set forth below should be construed in view of the full breadth and spirit of the embodiments of the present invention as disclosed herein.
