KR20150073854A - Dynamic travel planner - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method, system and computer program product for determining at least one travel solution for a travel request. A travel request is received that indicates the origin, at least one destination, and at least one time constraint. Based on the travel request, a travel route comprising the origin and the at least one destination is established based at least in part on at least one time constraint. At least one candidate travel solution is determined for each travel route based at least in part on at least one time constraint. At least one travel solution for the travel request is determined based at least in part on the price and availability for the at least one candidate travel solution.

Description

Dynamic Travel Planner {DYNAMIC TRAVEL PLANNER}

The present invention relates generally to computer and computer software, and more particularly to a method, system, and computer program product for planning a trip and performing a reservation.

Computer technology is increasingly used in the travel industry to manage and support travel reservations as well as associated data. Specifically, a third party reservation agent, e.g., a travel agency and / or customer (e.g., traveler), often uses a computer-based device to interface with a travel reservation system, such as Global Distribution System (GDS) And / or travel related services to the user. When booking a travel-related service using a reservation terminal that communicates with such a travel reservation system, the travel agent and / or customer may initiate a reservation session between the client device and the travel reservation system, One or more travel inventory items corresponding to related services (e.g., flights, hotels, railroad transportation, meals reservations, etc.).

As computer technology is increasingly used to manage and support travel reservations, there is a continuing need in the art for improved computer-based travel planning and scheduling systems, and improved methods for booking travel-related services and computer program products do.

Embodiments of the present invention generally include methods, systems, and computer program products for creating one or more travel solutions for travel requests. According to an embodiment of the present invention, a travel request may be received that indicates a departure location, one or more destinations, and one or more time constraints. Based on the one or more time constraints, a travel path including the origin and the one or more destinations may be established. Based on the at least one time constraint at least in part, one or more candidate travel solutions can be determined for each travel route. Typically, each candidate travel solution includes a plurality of priced travel details for travel services, such as flights, hotel accommodations, vehicle rental, rail tickets, etc., that satisfy the travel request. Based on the price and availability for the one or more candidate travel solutions, an embodiment of the invention may determine at least one travel solution for the travel request.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate several embodiments of the invention and, together with a general description of the invention given above and the detailed description of the embodiments given below, It serves to explain.
1 is a block diagram of one or more reservation systems, one or more detailed systems, and one or more client devices in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 2 is a block diagram of the reservation system of Figure 1;
Figure 3 is a block diagram of some of the hardware and software components of the reservation system, detail system, and client device of Figure 1;
Figure 4 is a flow diagram illustrating an operational sequence that may be performed by the system of Figures 1-3 to create one or more travel solutions for a travel request in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.
Figures 5A-5G illustrate exemplary travel graph shapes that may be used by the system of Figures 1-3 to determine one or more travel graphs for travel requests.
Figures 6A-6M illustrate exemplary travel requests and travel graphs that may be determined by the system of Figures 1-3 according to some embodiments of the present invention.
Figures 7A-7D illustrate exemplary travel graphs and travel paths that may be determined by the system of Figures 1-3 in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.
Figures 8A-8B illustrate exemplary travel paths that may be determined by the system of Figures 1-3 according to some embodiments of the present invention.
9A-9D are flow diagrams illustrating an operational sequence performed by the system of FIGS. 1-3 to determine one or more travel solutions for a travel request;
10 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary graphical user interface that interfaces with a reservation system and can be output to a display of a client device that generates a travel request according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Embodiments of the present invention provide a system, method and computer program product for determining one or more travel solutions for a travel request. In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, each travel solution may include a departure location and one or more destinations, where each travel solution includes travel services associated with the departure location and one or more destinations (e.g., flight tickets, Travel tickets, accommodation, taxi services, meal reservations, etc.). Moreover, each travel solution can simultaneously book each trip detail item contained therein by the user. In general, the received travel request may indicate a departure location, one or more destinations, one or more time constraints, a traveler (i.e., user) preference, and / or other information that may be considered for planning and booking the travel service. Based on the origin, the one or more destinations, the one or more time constraints, and / or the user preferences, embodiments of the present invention can be used to provide travel services (e.g., , Travel details for flights, car rentals, rail travel, ferry, etc.). In general, a travel solution meets one or more time constraints, includes desired accommodation and / or services, and corresponds to any indicated user preference.

For example, if a travel request for a traveler indicates a departure, a first destination, a second destination, and a two week period when the traveler wishes to travel to two destinations, Determine one or more travel solutions including travel details for the travel service from the departure point to the first destination, the travel service from the first destination to the second destination, and the travel service to the departure from the second destination, The travel solution here is within a two week period that travelers want. In this example, if the traveler has requested hotel accommodation at the first destination, the travel solution may further include hotel reservation at the first destination. If a traveler prefers a particular chain or type of hotel, the hotel reservation may be a hotel of the preferred chain or type. Further, if a traveler indicates a particular range of days for which a particular traveler wishes to be at the first destination, the travel solution may include travel and accommodation where the traveler may be at the first destination for this particular number of days have. In addition, the travel request may indicate that the traveler prefers to drive for a distance (e.g., 200 miles) and / or duration (e.g., 6 hours) below a limited range And the travel solution may include at least one car rental travel service if the travel distance and / or duration meets a traveler's preference between the origin, the first destination and / or the second destination. Thus, as shown in this example, embodiments of the present invention can determine one or more travel solutions for scheduling travel and accommodation services for travelers, respectively, and the traveler can select specific travel solutions to be bookmarked, You can book some or all of the trip details for the travel and accommodation services of the solution at the same time.

Referring now to the drawings and specifically to FIG. 1, this Figure provides a block diagram illustrating one or more devices and / or systems in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the reservation system 102 may be implemented as one or more servers. The reservation system 102 may be connected to a communications network 103 wherein the communications network 103 may be connected to the Internet, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a cellular voice / data network, / RTI > and / or other types of communication networks. The client device 104 may be connected to the communication network 103 so that a customer or a reservation employee (e.g., a travel agent or other travel booking service) initializes the reservation planning system 102 and the travel planning and booking session Travel requests and / or other relevant data to reservation system 102. [ The client device 104 may be a personal computing device, a tablet computer, a thin client terminal, a smartphone, and / or other computing device.

One or more servers for one or more detailed systems 106 of one or more travel traders are connected to the communication network 103. The reservation system 102 may initiate a detailed session through the communication network 103 and each detail system 106 where the trip detail entry is to be bookmarked. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a reservation employee or a customer (i.e., a traveler) may interface with the reservation system 102 using the client device 104 in the travel planning and booking session and provide travel request data. The reservation system then interfaces with each of the detail systems 106 of each travel trader that typically provides travel details that require availability determination (e.g., flights, rail tickets, hotel rooms, event tickets, etc.) You can determine the availability of each trip detail item that requires availability determination for the request. In addition, according to some embodiments of the present invention, some of the detailed systems 106 may be configured to provide services that do not require availability determination, e.g., restaurant reservations, taxi services, non-restrictive availability event / location admission tickets, etc. You can manage your bookings. Moreover, although the reservation system 102 and the detailed system 106 have been described herein as separate entities, the present invention is not so limited. In some embodiments, various hardware, software components, and / or operational sequences described for reservation system 102 or detailed system 106 may be implemented on reservation system 102 and / or detailed system 106 . Further, as will be appreciated, in some embodiments, the reservation system 102 and the detailed system 106 may be components of the GDS.

As described in more detail below, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the reservation system creates an interface through which a user (i.e., a traveler or a travel agent) can enter information, To generate a travel request that can be used to determine one or more travel solutions. Typically, this interface is accessed through a client device 104, e.g., a personal computer, a portable electronic device (e.g., smart phone, tablet, laptop, etc.) or a terminal configured to interface with a server providing this interface . According to this embodiment, a user may enter a departure location, one or more destinations, one or more time constraints, and / or one or more user preferences. Based on this input information, a travel request can be generated, and one or more travel solutions can be dynamically determined based on the contents of the travel request. User preferences include, for example, preferred travel methods (e.g., flights, rail travel, rental vehicles, etc.), preferred travel methods for travel that do not exceed a limited distance or duration, preferred travel merchants, can do.

FIG. 2 provides a block diagram illustrating the components of one or more servers of reservation system 102. FIG. The reservation system 102 includes at least one processor 122 that includes at least one hardware-based microprocessor and a memory 124 that is coupled to the at least one processor 122. The memory 124 may include a random access memory (RAM) device including the main storage medium of the reservation system 102 and any supplemental level of memory, e.g., cache memory, non-volatile or backup memory , Programmable memory or flash memory), read-only memory, and the like. In addition, the memory 124 may be stored on a memory storage medium, e.g., any cache memory, e.g., in a microprocessor, and physically located somewhere in the travel and reservation system 102, May be considered to include any storage capacity used as virtual memory stored on another computer connected to the reservation system 102.

To interface with a user or operator, the reservation system 102 may include a user interface 126 including one or more user input / output devices, e.g., a keyboard, pointing device, display, printer, Data may be communicated to or from another computer or terminal (e.g., client device 104, detailed system 106) via network interface 128 connected to communication network 103 . The reservation system 102 may also communicate with one or more mass storage devices, which may be, for example, an internal hard disk storage device, an external hard disk storage device, an external database, a storage area network device,

The reservation system 102 is typically operated under the control of an operating system 130 and may be provided with various functions including a reservation module 132, a trip planning module 134, and an availability and pricing module 136, Computer software applications, components, programs, objects, modules, engines, data structures, and the like. In general, reservation module 132 may be configured to interface with one or more travel merchant systems (e.g., detailed system 106) and to schedule travel services based on the received data. Trip planning module 134 may be configured to analyze the received travel request and to perform one or more trips for trip requests that are indicated in the travel request and / or satisfy the constraints and preferences indicated in the user profile associated with the travel request And to perform a solution determining operation.

The availability and pricing module 136 is responsible for querying the detail system 106 and comparing the availability and pricing of the various trips of various types of travel services (e.g., flight tickets, rail travel tickets, etc.) And to store price and availability information for the detail item. In general, the information stored in the availability and price database 138 may be accessed by the Trip Planning module 134 so that the trip planning module can determine the availability and price information for one or more trip details of the associated travel service, One or more travel solutions can be determined on a partial basis. Further, the memory 124 may include a user profile database 140 that stores information about a user (e.g., a customer or a reserved employee) in the user profile. For example, the user profile database 140 may store travel preferences for a customer in a user profile associated with the customer. For example, a user profile may indicate that a customer prefers a particular type or chain of hotels, a particular airline, a particular rental car company, and the like. In addition, the user profile may also be used by the customer to determine the type of trip (e.g., flight, car rental, rail travel, ferry, etc.) or if the travel duration and / or distance is below a pre- And / or prefer other travel preferences. ≪ RTI ID = 0.0 > In some embodiments of the invention, the travel request may include information identifying a particular user profile. In these embodiments, the trip plan module 134 may access the user profile database 140 to determine one or more travel solutions based at least in part on a user's preferences. In some embodiments, the travel request may include one or more user preferences.

Moreover, it should be understood that various applications, components, programs, objects, modules, engines, and the like may be, for example, distributed or client-server computing environments that can allocate processing required to implement the functions of a computer program to multiple computers over a network May be executed on one or more processors in another computer connected to the reservation system 102 via the communication network 103 in FIG. E.g. Some of the functions described herein and included in the modules of the reservation system 102 and / or reservation system 102 may be implemented in one or more servers. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, modules 132-136 and / or other modules / applications may be executed on one or more servers of reservation system 102 and may be executed on modules 132-136 via reservation system 102 The processor 122 may perform operations in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.

The memory 124 of the travel and reservation system 102 may generally store one or more databases, including, for example, the availability and price database 138 and the user profile database 140. The databases 138,140 may support data structures that contain data and store and organize this data. Specifically, the databases 138,140 may be arranged in any database organization and / or structure, including but not limited to relational databases, hierarchical databases, network databases, and / or combinations thereof. A database management system in the form of a computer software application running as an instruction in the processing unit of the reservation system 102 can be used to access information or data stored in a record in the database 138,140 in response to a query, (S) 130, other applications, and / or one or more modules 132-136.

Availability and price database 138 may store availability and price information for travel details for travel services such as flights, rail tickets, and the like. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the availability and pricing module 136 periodically updates the stored information so that the trip planning module 134 can access up-to-date information. By maintaining up-to-date availability and price information, embodiments of the present invention can provide price and availability information for each travel service during the planning phase (i.e., determining the travel graph, trip routing, individual request pricing, etc.) One or more travel solutions that may include one or more availability and cost limited travel services without questioning the detail system 106 during an analysis may be priced and scheduled. The user profile database 140 may store one or more user profiles, where each user profile may correspond to a travel customer (i.e., traveler / user) of the reservation system. Generally, each user profile may correspond to a travel customer who created an account that stores information associated with the travel customer. For example, the user profile may include contact information (e.g., email address, mobile phone number, etc.) for the travel customer, payment information for the travel customer, information contained in the passenger name record, And / or other information.

Referring now to FIG. 3, this drawing illustrates the hardware and software components of reservation system 102, trip planning module 134, availability and price module 136, and / or availability and price database 138, As shown in FIG. In general, the hardware and software components shown in FIG. 3 may be implemented in one or more distributed processing systems (e.g., servers). As shown, one or more client devices 104 may communicate with an orchestrator 200. In general, the orchestrator 200 includes an operation to receive a travel request from the client device 104, an operation to determine one or more travel graphs for the travel request, an operation to determine / establish a travel route corresponding to the received travel request , Generating a sub-request based on the travel route and travel request, and collecting a reply to the sub-request to determine one or more travel solutions, wherein the one or more trips The solution may be communicated to the client device 104. In general, one or more orchestrators 200 may be implemented in hardware and software in the reservation system 102, where each orchestrator 200 manages the received travel requests and receives a plurality Of the travel request can be processed at the same time.

Each orchestrator 200 may communicate with a computing grid 202 that may include a plurality of computing components 204 coupled to a plurality of instances of the availability and price database 138. In general, each computing component 204 may be a part of a distributed processing system (e.g., a processing thread of a hyper-threaded processing unit, a processing unit of a multi-core processor, etc.) Devices, e.g., servers, processing nodes of a multi-node data processing system, and the like. Each computing component 204 includes one or more instances of the availability and price database 138 that may be connected to and / or shared between instances of the availability and price database 138 and / Lt; / RTI > Typically, the reservation system 102 is a distributed processing system that includes one or more processing units and one or more memory resources to store a plurality of instances of the availability and price database 138 of FIG. 2 in the reservation system 102 The computing component 204 of the computing grid 202 may be supported by the reservation system 102 to access the availability and price database 138 simultaneously. In general, the computing grid 202 may be configured to receive sub-requests from the orchestrator 200, and the computing component 204 of the computing grid 202 may be coupled to an associated instance of the availability and price database 138 The query can determine the price and availability for one or more trip details of the travel service associated with the received sub-request.

The computing grid 202 is connected to a feed grid 206 comprised of a plurality of computing components 204. As described above, the computing component 204 typically includes a portion of a distributed processing system. The computing component 204 of the supply grid 206 is configured to query one or more detailed merchant's one or more detailed systems 106 to determine the latest price and availability data for the travel details of the travel merchant's travel service To maintain the availability and pricing database 138 of the reservation system 102. For example, the computing component 204 of the supply grid 206 may be provided to one or more travel trader's journey planning system 208, scheduling system 210, and / or price and availability system 212 To determine the price and availability related information for the travel details of the travel service offered by the travel merchant. The supply grid 206 may update the availability and price related information stored in the availability and price database 138 based on the price and availability information retrieved from the detailed system 106. Generally, Figure 3 illustrates an exemplary configuration of hardware and software components. Embodiments in accordance with the present invention may include more or fewer instances of the computing component 204, availability and price database 138, more or fewer instances of one or more travel traders, Orchestrator 200, more or less detailed system 106, and the like.

Figure 4 provides a flowchart 300 illustrating an operational sequence that can be performed by reservation system 102 to determine one or more travel solutions for a received travel request in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. According to some embodiments of the present invention, a travel request may include a plurality of destinations (i.e., multiple-destinations), and in these embodiments, each travel solution may include each destination of a travel request. As illustrated, the reservation system 102 may receive a travel request associated with the traveler (block 302). The travel request generally includes the origin, one or more destinations, at least one time constraint, and / or traveler preference. For a time constraint, the travel request may indicate a date range the traveler wishes to travel to, a date the traveler wishes to be in a particular location, a minimum / maximum number of days the traveler wishes to stay at each location, and / or other time constraints . For example, a travel request may indicate that the traveler wants to travel in June and that the total travel time should be less than two weeks. As another example, the travel request may indicate that the traveler wants to be at the first destination for at least two days.

Based on the travel request, the reservation system 102 may determine one or more trip graphs including the origin and one or more destinations (block 304). In general, the travel graph corresponds to a route that originates at the origin and passes through each destination of the travel request. In some embodiments, if the travel request is for a round trip, the travel route of the travel graph may return to the origin. Furthermore, embodiments of the present invention may determine one or more travel graphs for travel requests based on the origin of travel requests and the travel characteristics of each destination. For example, if the indicated destination is a low cost travel hub (e.g., an airport where the low cost airline presents the flight), the reservation system travels between the departure location and one or more destinations, Can be determined. As another example, if the travel request includes an international trip (e.g., where the origin and destination are located in different countries), the reservation system may determine a travel graph that defines a travel route that limits international travel.

Based on the one or more travel graphs and any time constraints, the reservation system 102 may establish one or more corresponding travel paths (i. E., Analyze and determine the travel graph) (block 306). Generally, the travel route corresponds to a combination of travel services / accommodations (e.g., flights, railroad transportation, hotel accommodations, vehicle rental, etc.) satisfying the travel request. After establishing each travel route, reservation system 102 generates a sub-request for each travel route (block 308). As described above with respect to FIG. 3, the orchestrator 200 of the reservation system 102 may generate a sub-request that may be communicated to the computing grid 202 for processing. According to an embodiment of the present invention, for each travel path, the reservation system generates a sub-request that can be used to query the computing grid (block 310). In general, each sub-request includes a travel path, a date range (provided in the travel request), and any traveler preferences. The computing grid of the reservation system 102 generates one or more individual requests based on each received sub-request (block 312). Typically, each individual request is an instance of a sub-request for each possible date in the date range provided in the travel request. Each individual request may be processed by a computing component of the computing grid to determine price and availability information for the travel details of the travel service corresponding to the individual request (block 314), and the price for each individual request May be determined based on the price and availability information of the detail item (block 316).

Based on the price determined for each individual request, the reservation system may determine one or more travel solutions (block 318). Generally, each priced individual request can be considered as a candidate travel solution for a travel request, where each individual request includes a pricing trip detail for the travel service that satisfies the travel request. According to some embodiments of the present invention, the reservation system may sort and filter the candidate travel solution based on price, availability, reservation employee preference and / or traveler preference to determine one or more travel solutions from the candidate travel solution have. For example, if a traveler prefers air travel over land travel, the system can filter the candidate travel solution and ignore the candidate travel solution, including more ground travel. As another example, the reservation system may be configured to return the lowest cost option, in which the reservation system filters the plurality of candidate travel solutions to determine the lowest cost travel solution among the plurality of travel solutions as a travel solution for the travel request . The travel solution can be returned from the reservation system 102 to the client device (block 320) and the user can review and book one travel solution of the returned travel solution.

Referring now to Figures 5A-5G, these figures provide exemplary travel graphs that can be determined for trip requests. In this exemplary travel graph, the route is planned through a plurality of destination locations (e.g., 'B', 'C', ... 'G') from a source location (indicated by 'A'). As described above, the travel graph can be determined based at least in part on the travel characteristics of the origin of the trip request and one or more destinations. Thus, the exemplary graphs provided in Figures 5A-5G reflect the graph shape and the type of graph that can be used in some embodiments of the present invention (i.e., roots between positions). Moreover, the graph shape may generally be scalable based on the number of destinations included in the travel request. 5A, this exemplary travel graph 400 illustrates a circular graph shape, where the travel route begins at the origin 402 (i.e., position 'A') and ends at each destination 404-414 After passing through the positions 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'F', and 'G' In general, a circular graph, such as the exemplary travel graph 400 of FIG. 5A, does not take into account any price / travel benefits that can be achieved using return rates, low cost travel hubs, large travel hubs, and the like.

Figure 5b provides an exemplary travel graph 440 showing a racket graph shape wherein the travel route begins at a departure point 442 (i.e., location 'A') and is followed by a first destination 444 Go to location 'B') and go to each remaining destination 446-454 (i.e., locations C ', D', 'E', 'F', 'G' 444 and then returns from the first destination 444 (location B) to the departure location 442 (location A) via a return fare travel service (e.g., a return section of a round trip trip). In general, the types of graphs shown in this example can be used in accordance with embodiments of the present invention when considering travel requests involving international travel. For example, if the origin is Nice in France and the travel request includes a destination in the United States, then the first destination may be New York. Trips to the rest of the destination may include domestic flights, rail travel, bus travel and / or rental vehicles, and travelers return to New York to use the return segment of the round-trip ticket between Nice and New York, You can travel back to.

Figure 5c provides an exemplary travel graph 480 showing a "all the way back graph" shape, wherein the travel route starts at the origin 482 (i.e., position 'A'), Go to each destination 484-494 (locations "B", "C", "D", "E", "F", "G") and from each destination (484-494) And then back to the previous destination 484-494 and returns to the origin 482. In general, the shape of the travel graph illustrated by way of example in FIG. 5C can be determined to be associated with a travel request, wherein the return charge travel service can be presented between one or more destinations, so that after traveling to one or more destinations, It is possible to schedule a return trip section traveling back.

Figure 5d provides an exemplary graph that illustrates a graph shape that can be used when a traveling trader allows long layover - where the travel route begins at origin 522 (location 'A') and the first To the destination 524 (location 'B'), the second destination 526 (location 'C'), and then returns to the origin 522. In this example, if the business rules of the travel merchant allow long breaks long enough to remain in the first destination 524 for the time period desired by the traveler, then the travel route of the travel graph is on the way to the first destination 524 And can provide a roundtrip trip service having a get off.

Figure 5e provides an exemplary travel graph 560 showing a star graph shape wherein the travel route begins at origin 562 (location 'A') and ends at each destination 564-574 The traveler can use the return charge travel service between the departure point 562 and each destination 564-574 so that the traveler can go to the departure point 562, From each destination 564-574 thereafter to the origin 562 and from the origin 562 to each destination 564-574. In general, travel graphs, such as the exemplary travel graph 560 of FIG. 5e, illustrate that locations (such as a departure location) are low cost travel hubs, large scale travel hubs, and / or offer lower cost and / Can be used. In general, embodiments of the present invention may determine that a shaping graph can be used based on the origin and / or travel characteristics of one or more destinations. In this example, the origin 562 may be a low cost or large scale travel hub, and it may be desirable and / or cost effective to define a travel route through the origin 562.

Figure 5f provides an exemplary travel graph 600 illustrating an expanded molded graph shape wherein the travel route begins at a departure location 602 (location 'A') and ends at a first destination 604 To go to each subsequent destination 606-614 (position 'C', 'D', 'E', 'F', 'G') from this first destination 604, Returns to the destination 604 and then travels to each subsequent destination 606-614. In this graphical configuration, the travel route may use a return fare travel service between the first destination 604 and each subsequent destination 606-614, or the first destination 604 may be a low cost travel hub, , And / or may suggest a lower price / more efficient travel service. In general, a travel graph shape, such as the exemplary travel graph 600 of FIG. 5F, may be used to determine whether a travel request includes a departure location other than a large travel hub, a low cost travel hub, If so, it can be used if the destination can be located in a common area or country. For example, referring to the exemplary travel graph 600 of FIG. 5F, if the origin 602 is Nice of France, the first destination 604 is New York and the other destinations 606-614 are located in the United States And an exemplary travel graph can determine a travel solution that uses New York as a hub for domestic travel to the rest of the destination.

FIG. 5G provides an exemplary travel graph 620 showing mixed graph shapes (i.e., a combination of portions of the graph shapes shown in FIGS. 5A-5F). Generally, as illustrated by exemplary travel graph 620, according to an embodiment of the present invention, one or more travel graphs determined for a travel request are typically combinations of various types / shapes of travel graphs described herein . As described above, the type / shape of at least a portion of the travel graph determined for the travel request may be based at least in part on the travel characteristics of the travel request and / or one or more destinations. 5G, the travel route indicated by the travel graph begins at the origin 622 (location 'A') and includes a first destination 624 (location B '), a plurality of destinations 626- 634) as extended hubs that travel to and travel back to the locations 'C', 'D', 'E', 'I', and 'J' At the fourth destination 630 (location E), the travel graph begins at the fourth destination 630 (location E) and ends at a plurality of destinations 636-640 (locations 'F', 'G', 'H' And returns to the fourth destination 630 (position E), and then to the first destination 624 (position B). Thus, a circular typology graph comprising locations "E", "F", "G", and "H" (630, 636-640) included in the exemplary travel graph may, for example, If the car can be rented for travel between locations in the group, it can be determined as part of the determined travel graph.

As shown, when the travel route returns to the first destination 624 (location B) after the circular graph route at locations 'E', 'F', 'G', 'H' (630, 626-640) Are continued to the remaining positions 632, 634 (positions I, J) of the extended shaping graph portion. As shown, the final destination 634 (position J) of the extended shaping graph portion is located at a plurality of positions 644-652 (positions L, M, N, O, S 'As a hub to travel back and forth from it, to a second expanded molded graph portion having a tenth destination 642 (location' K '). Further, the graph shape always returning at the 14th destination 650 (position 'O') may start at the 14th destination (position 'O') and the route may start at 3 additional destinations 654-658 , 'Q', 'R') and return to the 14th destination (location 'O') using the return charge travel service.

As illustrated by way of example in FIG. 5G, the travel graph determined for the travel request can be a combination of several types of graph shapes, where such combinations can be made based at least in part on the departure location and the travel characteristics of one or more destinations . The travel characteristics of the departure location and one or more destinations may include whether the location is a low cost travel hub, whether the location is a large travel hub, whether the location requires international travel for another location of the travel request, one or more locations A travel trader providing travel services at or near the location, a type of travel service offered at the location (e.g., presence of an airport, railway station, etc.), and / Other properties are generally included.

Referring now to Figures 6A-6M, these Figures provide an example illustrating the determination of a travel graph for a travel request in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 6A illustrates an exemplary travel request 700 wherein the travel request is a departure 702 (location 'A') and three destinations 704-708 (locations 'B', 'C', 'D' ). For example, source 702 (location A) is an international airport and location B destination 704 is a low cost hub for travel services to and from location C destination 706. As shown in Figures 6b-6d, since the origin 702 is an international airport (and an international trip is required between the origin and any destination 704-708), the location B 704 (I.e. sub-graph B '710 of FIG. 6B), location C destination 706 (i.e.,' sub-graph C '712 of FIG. 6C) and location D destination 708 (Sub-graph D '714 in Figure 6d) can be considered. Each return trip possibility can be considered as a sub-graph 710-714 that can determine a possible travel graph associated with a travel request.

In general, one or more travel graphs may be determined based on each sub-graph. In this example, there are three possible routes between the source 702 and the destination 704-708, as shown in sub-graphs 710-714 in Figures 6b-6d. Embodiments of the present invention may analyze route probabilities between three destinations 704-708 to determine a travel graph for a travel request. As discussed above, the route possibilities that are selected when determining the travel graph for a travel request can be based at least in part on the travel characteristics of the origin and one or more destinations. Thus, in this example, one or more graph shapes may be selected to analyze when determining a travel graph for a travel request through a low cost travel service presented between location B destination 704 and location C destination 706.

Figures 6E-6M illustrate an example of a sub-graph that is performed by the system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention to analyze at least the sub-graph starting at location B destination 704 (i.e. sub-graph B 710 shown in Figure 6B) ≪ / RTI > illustrates an exemplary analysis of determining a travel graph based in part on the flow graph. Referring now to FIG. 6E, as described, a low cost travel service is presented between location B and location C, so that a graph shape that is considered a low cost travel service is shown in sub- May be implemented between position B (704) and position C (706) as shown in FIG. Similarly, Figure 6f reflects another sub-graph (denoted by sub-graph BCXC-B) 718, where after routing to location C 706, the route is moved to another graph shape / destination (Shown as 'X' in this example) 730 and then returned to location B 704 via the return charge travel service. Figure 6G illustrates a flow diagram from a source 702 to a location B destination 704 (i.e., sub-graph B 710 in Figure 6B), further comprising a route from location B destination 704 to location D destination 708 Graph (shown as 'sub-graph B-D') 740 based on the travel / return route. In this example, the travel characteristics for location B destination 704 and location D destination 708 indicate that a low cost travel service or return charge travel service is not available between them. Thus, the route between location B destination 704 and location D destination 708 is a simple one-way connection.

The exemplary sub-graphs 716, 718 and 740 shown in Figures 6e to 6g are further analyzed by the reservation system 102 to determine the destinations 704-708 based on the travel characteristics of the destinations 704-708, It is possible to determine a possible route. Figure 6h provides an exemplary sub-graph (labeled 'sub-graph B-C-B-D') 750 that further analyzes possible routes based on sub-graphs B-C-B 716 of Figure 6e. As described above, the travel characteristics of location B 704 and location D 708 do not indicate any advantageous route between them (i.e., low cost travel service, return charge travel service, etc.) 704) to position D (708). Figure 6i provides an exemplary sub-graph (labeled 'sub-graph B-D-C') 752 based on sub-graph B-D 740 of Figure 6g. In the sub-graph BDC 752, the travel characteristics of location C 706 and location D 708 include any advantageous travel services (e. G., Low cost travel service, large hub travel service, Graph BDC 752 includes a simple connection between position D 708 and position C 706, since the sub-graph BDC 752 does not indicate at all. Figure 6j provides an exemplary sub-graph 754 (shown as sub-graph B-C-D-C-B) based on sub-graph B-C-X-C-B 718 of Figure 6f. In this sub-graph 754, the only remaining position that needs to be connected from the sub-graph 718 of Figure 6f is position D (708). Further, sub-graph 754 includes a return route from location D 708 to location C 706 due to the low cost travel service between location C 706 and location B 704.

In general, if a sub-graph defining the route to each destination has been established, embodiments of the present invention may establish a sub-graph that determines the route to the virtual starting point again (i.e., sub-graph B of FIG. 6B Graph, a connection is implemented in any sub-graph that does not route to location B 704). For example, referring to FIG. 6K, this figure provides an exemplary sub-graph 756 (shown as sub-graph B-C-B-D-B) based on sub-graph B-C-B-D 750 of FIG. 6h. As shown, a return connection is implemented from location D 708 to location B 704 so that sub-graph 756 travels to all other destinations 706, 708 and then returns to location B 704 A return fare travel service may be used between location B 704 and departure location 702 (i.e., location A). Similarly, FIG. 61 provides an exemplary sub-graph 758 based on sub-graph B-D-C 752 of FIG. 6I. As shown, a return connection is implemented going from position C 706 to position B 704 and sub-graph 758 travels to all other destinations 706 and 708 and then returns to position B 704 A return-to-travel service can be used between location B 704 and a departure location 702 (i.e., location A).

Finally, embodiments of the present invention may determine a standard sub-graph, where the standard sub-graph may include a circular graph shape at the route going through each destination 704-708. Figure 6m provides a standard sub-graph 760 (denoted as 'B-C-D-C') that may be determined by embodiments of the present invention. In addition, other standard sub-graphs that are the same sub-graph as shown in Figure 61 may be generated. In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, some sub-graphs having the same route can be determined when analyzing each possible route between traveled features and locations of different graph shapes. This redundant sub-graph can be discarded. Thus, with respect to the sub-graph determined for this example, for sub-graph B 710 of FIG. 6B, the next travel graph can be determined, where the letters indicate the location and the order is the travel route, ABCDBA (based on sub-graph 760 of Figure 6m); A-B-D-C-B-A (based on sub-graph 758 of Figure 61); A-B-C-B-D-B-A (based on sub-graph 756 in Figure 6k); A-B-C-D-C-B-A (based on the sub-graph 754 in Figure 6J). A similar travel graph can be determined by analyzing the sub-graph C of FIG. 6C and the sub-graph D of FIG. 6D. Further, the travel graph can be determined based on the racket graph shape of FIG. 5B (since the travel to and from the departure may be an international trip). Embodiments of the present invention can be used in the form of circular graphs, i.e., A-B-C-D-A; A-B-D-C-A; A-C-B-D-A; A-C-D-B-A; A-D-B-C-A; And A-D-C-B-A can be used to determine the next travel graph (i.e., a standard graph). Generally, this standard travel graph can be determined if the travel characteristics and / or user preferences allow vehicle travel (i.e., rental car travel service) between two or more destinations.

Although the examples provided in Figures 6A through 6M illustrate determining a travel graph based on the origin of a trip request and one or more destinations, some embodiments of the present invention generally include a trip back from a trip / location to a location location, And may store at least a portion of the associated graph. For example, in some embodiments of the present invention, some of the travel graphs including routes between New York, Chicago, and Boston may be stored and accessed by the orchestrator of reservation system 102 when determining the travel graph, When a travel request including New York, Chicago, and Boston is received, the reservation system 102 may determine the travel graph using the precomputed portion.

As illustrated by way of example, and in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a reservation system 102 implementing an orchestrator 200 may be configured to display a trip graph based on a graph shape (e.g., the one provided in Figures 5A- Other things defined in the system) and / or the travel characteristics of the origin and one or more destinations included in the received travel request. Based on the determined travel graph, the orchestrator 200 of the reservation system 102 can establish one or more travel routes and is processed by the computing components of the computing grid of the reservation system 102 One or more sub-requests may be generated based on the travel path. The computing grid can analyze each sub-request, compute individual requests based on the travel graph of travel requests and any time constraints, and each individual request can be priced by the computing component of the computing grid.

Referring now to Figures 7A-7D, these figures provide an exemplary illustration of a hotel and vehicle rental option implemented as a travel graph. In this example, the travel path can be determined using the travel graph including the relative date and the minimum and maximum residence time constraints. Figure 7A provides an exemplary travel graph 800 that includes a source 802 (location 'A') and three destinations 804-808 (locations 'B', 'C', 'D'). In this example, the time constraints for the minimum stay and maximum stay 809 (i. E. Minimum 2 day stay and maximum 3 day stay) are associated with the location B destination 804. In this example, flights 810-818 (denoted as F1, F2, F3, F4, and F5, respectively) may be presented from the origin 802 to the location B destination. Each flight 810-818 includes a service date and price: 'F1 (1, 10)' indicates that flight F1 (810) is presented at date 1 at a cost of 10; 'F2 (2, 15)' indicates that flight F2 (812) is presented at date 2 at a cost of 15; 'F3 (3, 10)' indicates that flight F3 (814) is presented at date 3 at a cost of 10; 'F4 (4, 13)' indicates that flight F4 (816) is presented at date 4 at a cost of 13; And 'F5 (5, 19)' indicate that flight F5 (818) is presented at date 5 at a cost of 19.

Further, this example indicates that hotel accommodation is required at location B destination 804. Thus, different pricing and availability may be considered, based on the departure date and stay length (remembering the minimum and maximum stays 809) of the flight from the origin 802 to the location B destination 804. In this example, hotel accommodations 820-836 (denoted as 'H6', 'H7', 'H8', 'H9', 'H1O', 'H11', 'H12', 'H13', and 'H14' May be provided at the location B destination 804. < RTI ID = 0.0 > Each hotel stay (820-836) includes the date and price of the service: 'H6 (1/2, 20)' indicates that hotel accommodation is at the price of 20, from the night of Day 1 to the morning of Day 2; 'H7 (2/3, 25)' indicates that hotel accommodation is from the night of the date 2 to the morning of the date 3 at a price of 25; 'H8 (3/4, 27)' indicates that hotel accommodation is from the night of the date 3 to the morning of the date 4, at a price of 27; 'H9 (4/5, 21)' indicates that hotel accommodation is from the night of the date 4 to the morning of the date 5, with a price of 21; 'H10 (5/6, 20)' indicates that hotel accommodation is from the night of the date 5 to the morning of the date 6, at a price of 20; 'H11 (2/3, 25)' indicates that hotel accommodation at the price of 25 is from the night of the date 2 to the morning of the date 3; 'H12 (3/4, 27)' indicates that hotel accommodation is from the night of the date 3 to the morning of the date 4, at a price of 27; 'H13 (4/5, 21)' indicates that hotel accommodation is from the night of the date 4 to the morning of the date 5, at a price of 21; And 'H14 (5/6, 20)' indicate that hotel accommodation is from the night of the date 5 to the morning of the date 6 at a price of 20.

F15 ',' F16 ',' F18 ', and' F18 ', respectively, based on the travel dates and hotel stays from origin 802 to location B destinations 804, Quot; F19 "). Each flight 850-858 between location B destination 804 and location C destination 806 includes a service date and price: 'F15 (2, 30)' indicates that flight F15 (850) Indicating that it is presented on date 2; 'F16 (3, 31)' indicates that flight F16 (852) is presented at date 3 at a cost of 31; 'F17 (4, 39)' indicates that flight F17 (854) is presented at date 4 at a cost of 39; 'F18 (5, 33)' indicates that flight F18 (856) is presented at date 5 at a cost of 33; And 'F19 (6, 36)' indicate that flight F19 (858) is presented at date 6 at a cost of 36.

FIG. 7B shows the travel graph 800 of FIG. 7A with a determined travel path 900 (shown as a dashed line). In this example, the travel route includes flights F3 814, hotel accommodations H8 824 and H13 834 and flights F18 856. Based on the values included in each selected travel service of the travel route 900, the cost can be calculated as (F3 + H8 + H13 + F18) = 10 + 27 + 21 + 33 = 91. Similarly, FIG. 7C shows the travel graph 800 of FIG. 7A with a determined path 910 (shown with dashed lines). In this example, the travel route includes flights F3 814, hotel accommodations H8 824, H13 834, H14 836 and flights F19 858. Based on the cost value included in each selected travel service of the travel route 910, the cost can be calculated as (F3 + H8 + H13 + H14 + F19) = 10 + 27 + 21 + 20 + 36 = 114. FIG. 7D shows the travel graph 800 of FIG. 7A where hotel accommodation is not required and the hotel accommodation cost is adjusted to zero.

As shown in the example provided in Figures 7A-7D, the travel path can be determined based at least in part on the travel graph of the travel request and one or more time constraints. In general, a travel route satisfies a travel request but does not necessarily consider a specific date, but is generally a combination of travel services that includes a relative date on which the travel service can be scheduled appropriately. Figures 8A-8B provide exemplary travel paths that can be determined based on a travel graph for a travel request. Figure 8A illustrates a trip that can be determined for a travel request that includes a departure location (location 'A') 952, a first destination (location 'B') 954 and a second destination (location 'C') 956 Path 950 is shown. As shown, minimum residence and maximum residence time constraints 958 are associated with location B destination 954. Travel path 950 includes a flight 'F (D)' 960 that indicates that flight 'F' occurs at date 'D' from departure 952 to location B destination 954. Based on the minimum stay requirement 958 for the location B destination 954, the travel route is set to 'H (D)' 962 for hotel stay for two days, ; And 'H (D + 1)' 964 for the hotel stay in the date 'D + 1'. The travel route remains at the location B destination 954 at date D at 'B (D)' 966 due to the first hotel stay H (D) 962 and the travel route remains at the second hotel stay H (D + B (D + 1) '968 due to (1) (964). F (D + 2) '970, after a second night stay at location B destination (i.e., B (D + 1) 968), is between location B destination 954 and location C destination 956 To date D + 2 to travel to. The travel path 950 shown in FIG. 8A may be described as A-B-B1-C.

Figure 8b illustrates a travel path 1000 that can be determined for a travel request that includes a departure 952, a location B destination 954, and a location C destination 956 that includes the same minimum stay and maximum stay time constraints 958, / RTI > Compared to the travel route 950 of FIG. 8A, this travel route 1000 may be a location B destination 954 (i.e., 'B (D + 2)') due to hotel accommodation 'H (D + (1002). ≪ / RTI > Due to the additional stay at location B destination 954, travel route 1000 includes a flight 'F (D + 3)' 1006 from location B destination 954 to location C destination 956. The travel path 1000 shown in FIG. 8B may be described as A-B-B1-B2-C.

9A-9D illustrate an exemplary flow diagram illustrating an operation that may be performed by reservation system 102 to determine one or more travel solutions for travel requests received from client device 104, in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. (1100). In this example, the reservation system 102 is the origin of location A; Destinations of locations B and C; A minimum stay requirement of two days at location B and one day at location C; A maximum stay requirement of three days at location B and one day at location C; The beginning date of September 1; And a travel request 1102 indicating the end date of September 10. The orchestrator 200 of the reservation system 102 may determine one or more travel graphs for the travel request (block 1104). In this example, the travel graph is A-B-C; A-C-B; A-B-A-C-A; And A-B-C-B-A. Based on the determined travel graph, the orchestrator 200 may establish one or more travel routes (block 1106). In this example, the travel path is AB-B1-CA, AB-B1-B2-CA, ACB-B1-A, ACB-B1- -B2-ACA, ABCBA, AB-B1-CBA, ABCB-B1-A. As shown by way of example, some travel paths established for travel requests may include non-continuous stay at certain locations. For example, travel path A-B-B1-C-B-A includes two nights at location B, then travels to location C, then returns to destination B for one additional night.

Based on the travel path, the orchestrator 200 determines at least one sub-request for each travel path that can be communicated to the computing grid 202 for processing (block 1108). For example, the orchestrator may send a sub-request for travel route AB-B1-CA, SR1 (AB-B1-B2-CA, 9/1 - 10 days) A sub-request for the travel route AB-B1-B2-CA, which is on the first day of the month → 10 days. The computing grid 202 may receive each sub-request and may determine one or more individual requests for each received sub-request (block 1110). For example, for the SR1 sub-request, the computing grid 202 may generate an individual request: IR1 (SR1, start on September 1), IR2 (SR1, start on September 2) IR1 (SR1, start Sep. 3), IR4 (SR1, start Sep. 4) and IR5 (SR1, start Sep. 5). In general, an individual sub-request may be determined for each possible start date of the sub-request. The individual request may be similarly determined for other received sub-requests. The computing grid 202 may query the availability and pricing database 138 with the individual requests 1112 and the computing grid 202 may determine the pricing for each individual request (block 1114) 1116) to the computing component of the computing grid 202 that originated the individual request. A priced individual request 1118, which may be referred to as a candidate travel solution, may be returned to the orchestrator 200. The orchestrator may be configured to select a price (e.g., a minimum price sort), traveler preferences (e.g., sorting and / or filtering based on a traveler's preferences), business rules (e.g., ), And / or sorting the received candidate travel solutions based at least in part on other types of rules that may be implemented such that the system dynamically aligns and / or filters candidate travel solutions to determine travel solutions corresponding to travel requests And / or filtered (block 1120). After arranging and / or filtering the candidate travel solution and determining a travel solution for the travel request, the reservation system 102 may communicate the response 1122 to the client device 104.

10 provides an exemplary illustration of a graphical user interface 1200 that may be created by reservation system 102 and accessed by client device 104 and may be provided by a user (e.g., traveler, travel agent, etc.) Information can be input through the graphic user interface 1200. [ The client device 104 may access the graphical user interface 1200 via the communication network 103 by navigating to the Internet address where the reservation server 102 provides the graphical user interface 1200. [ As another example, the graphical user interface 1200 may be a dedicated interface between the reservation system for the travel agency and the client device 104. As shown, through the graphical user interface 1200, the user can select a destination location 1202, one or more destinations 1204, a minimum residence time constraint at each destination 1206, a maximum residence time constraint at each destination 1208, Whether a hotel stay is required at each destination 1210, whether rental is required at each destination 1212, any particular date the traveler wishes to be at a particular destination 1214, a date range (e.g., 1216, preferred traffic mode 1218, maximum duration 1220 for travel, information about traveler 1222, and / or other information that can be used to determine one or more travel solutions in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. Data indicating the information can be input. After entering relevant information via the graphical user interface 1200, the user may submit information and generate a travel request based at least in part on the input information.

In general, routines executed to implement embodiments of the present invention, whether implemented as an operating system or a particular application, component, program, object, module, or portion of a command sequence, or even a subset, Quot; computer program code "or simply" program code ". The program code typically includes one or more instructions resident in various memory and storage devices in a computer, and the instructions, when read and executed by one or more processors in the computer, cause the computer to perform various aspects of the invention Perform the steps necessary to implement the step or element to implement. Moreover, while the present invention has been described in the context of fully functional computer and computer systems, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that many embodiments of the present invention may be distributed in various types of program products, It will be appreciated that the invention is equally applicable regardless of the particular type of computer readable medium used to carry out the invention.

Program codes embodied in any of the applications / modules described herein may be distributed individually or collectively to a number of different types of program products. In particular, the program code may be distributed using a computer-readable medium and a communication medium, which may include a computer-readable storage medium. A computer-readable storage medium, which is essentially non-volatile, includes volatile and nonvolatile, nonvolatile, nonvolatile, nonvolatile, nonvolatile, nonvolatile, nonvolatile, And removable and non-removable tangible media. The computer readable storage medium may be any of a variety of storage devices including but not limited to RAM, ROM, erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other solid state memory technology, CD-ROM), or other optical storage media, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be read by a computer and used to store the desired information can do. The communication medium may embody computer readable instructions, data structures, or other program modules. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media may include wired media, e.g., wired networks or direct-wired connections, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media. Any combination of the above may also be included within the scope of computer readable media.

Computer program instructions that may be stored on a computer-readable medium, such as a computer, a processor, or other type of programmable data processing apparatus or other device capable of functioning in a particular manner may be stored on a computer readable medium, Or < / RTI > instructions that implement the function / action specified in the blocks.

The computer program instructions may be loaded into a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other device to cause a computer to execute a sequence of operations that may be performed on the computer, another processing device, A computer-implemented process that provides one or more processes that implement the functions / operations specified in the blocks or blocks.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of illustrating particular embodiments and is not intended to limit the invention to these embodiments at all. As used herein, the singular terms "a" and "said" are intended to include the plural forms unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. As used herein, the term "comprising" and / or "comprising" means that there is a stated feature, number, step, operation, element and / , Steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups are not intended to be < / RTI > Further, when the terms "comprising", "having", "having", "having", "consisting", or variations thereof are used in either the detailed description or the claims, It is to be understood that the same is intended in a broad sense.

While the present invention has been illustrated and described in considerable detail, it is not intended that the applicant intend to limit or limit the appended claims to such detail. Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those of ordinary skill in the art. Thus, in a broader aspect, the invention is not limited to the specific details, representative apparatus and method, and illustrative examples shown or described. Accordingly, these details may be deviated from the details of the inventor's general inventive concept without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.

Claims (20)

CLAIMS 1. A method for determining at least one travel solution,
Receiving a travel request indicating a departure location, at least one destination, and at least one time constraint;
Establishing in the at least one processor a plurality of travel paths comprising the source and the at least one destination based at least in part on the at least one time constraint;
Determining at least one candidate travel solution for each travel path based at least in part on the at least one time constraint; And
Determining at least one travel solution for the travel request in at least one processor based at least in part on the price and availability of the at least one candidate travel solution for each travel path, How to. The method according to claim 1,
Establishing in the at least one processor a plurality of travel paths comprising the source and the at least one destination based at least in part on the at least one time constraint,
Determining at least one travel graph for the origin and the at least one destination based at least in part on the travel characteristics of the at least one destination,
Wherein the plurality of travel paths are established based at least in part on at least one travel graph. 3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein determining the at least one travel graph for the origin and the at least one destination based at least in part on the travel characteristics of the at least one destination comprises:
Determining whether the at least one destination presents a low cost travel service; And
Determining at least one travel graph shape associated with the low cost travel hub for the at least one destination. 3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the at least one travel characteristic of the at least one destination comprises a low cost travel hub, an international travel hub, a return fare travel hub, a long layover travel hub, or any combination thereof. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein determining the at least one candidate travel solution for each travel path based at least in part on the at least one time constraint comprises:
Determining a price and availability for a plurality of travel detail items of the travel service corresponding to each travel route,
Wherein the at least one candidate travel solution for each travel route is based at least in part on price and availability for a plurality of trip details items corresponding to each travel route. 6. The method of claim 5,
Wherein the step of determining the price and the availability for the plurality of trip detail items corresponding to each travel route comprises:
Generating at least one sub-request for each travel path based at least in part on at least one time constraint; And
Requesting each sub-request to a computing grid that maintains a predetermined price and availability database to determine price and availability for a plurality of travel detail items. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the at least one time constraint comprises a desired minimum residence time at the at least one destination and the travel path is established based at least in part on a desired minimum residence time at the at least one destination. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the at least one time constraint comprises a date range specified in the trip, a minimum stay period specified in at least one destination, a maximum stay period specified in at least one destination, a specified return date, a date specified to be in at least one destination, A location specified in at least one destination, or any combination thereof. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the travel request indicates whether a hotel is required for at least one destination and the travel route is established based at least in part on whether a hotel is required for at least one destination. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the at least one destination is a plurality of destinations, each travel route of the plurality of travel routes includes the plurality of destinations, each travel solution for a travel request includes a price for a travel service corresponding to a departure location and a plurality of destinations, ≪ / RTI > wherein said travel details item comprises a travel details item that has been booked. 11. The method of claim 10,
Wherein the specific travel path of the plurality of travel paths includes a return connection from another one of the plurality of destinations to a specific one of the plurality of destinations. 12. The method of claim 11,
Wherein a particular one of the plurality of travel paths includes a first stay period at a particular destination and a second stay period at a particular destination after a return connection from another destination before traveling to another destination. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the travel request indicates whether a car rental is required for at least one destination and the travel route is established based at least in part on whether car rental is required for at least one destination. A system for determining at least one travel solution,
At least one processor; And
Program code,
Wherein the program code, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to:
Receiving a travel request indicating a departure location, at least one destination, and at least one time constraint;
Establishing a plurality of travel paths comprising the origin and the at least one destination based at least in part on the at least one time constraint;
Determining at least one candidate travel solution for each travel path based at least in part on the at least one time constraint; and
And determine at least one travel solution for the travel request based at least in part on the price and availability for the at least one candidate travel solution for each travel route. 15. The method of claim 14,
Wherein the program code is configured to cause the processor to perform a plurality of travel paths comprising a source and at least one destination based at least in part on at least one time constraint,
And program code configured to cause the processor to, upon execution, perform an operation of determining at least one travel graph for the origin and at least one destination based at least in part on the travel characteristics of the at least one destination, Wherein the travel path is established based at least in part on at least one travel graph. 16. The method of claim 15,
The program code being configured to cause the processor to perform at least one travel graph determination for a source and at least one destination based at least in part on the travel characteristics of the at least one destination,
The method comprising: determining, at runtime, the processor to determine whether at least one destination presents a low cost travel service; and determining a program configured to perform at least one travel graph shape associated with the low cost travel hub for the at least one destination Code. ≪ / RTI > 16. The method of claim 15,
Wherein the at least one travel feature of the at least one destination comprises a low cost travel hub, an international travel hub, a return fare travel hub, a long layover travel hub, or any combination thereof. 15. The method of claim 14,
The program code configured to perform, at run time, the processor to determine at least one candidate travel solution for each travel path based at least in part on at least one time constraint,
And program code configured to cause the processor to, at run time, perform an operation of determining a price and availability for a plurality of trip detail items of a travel service corresponding to each travel route, wherein at least one candidate for each travel route Wherein the travel solution is determined based at least in part on the price and availability for a plurality of travel detail items corresponding to each travel route. 19. The method of claim 18,
The program code being configured to cause the processor to, upon execution, perform an operation of determining a price and availability for a plurality of trip detail items corresponding to each travel path,
Generating at least one sub-request for each travel path based at least in part on at least one time constraint; and
And program code configured to query each sub-request to a computing grid that maintains a predetermined price and availability database to perform operations to determine price and availability for a plurality of travel detail items. A computer readable storage medium; And
And program code stored in the computer readable storage medium,
The program code, when executed, causes at least one processor to:
Determining at least one travel graph for a departure location and at least one destination based at least in part on the travel characteristics of the at least one destination, wherein the plurality of travel paths are configured to, at least in part, ≪ / RTI >

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