WO2001075690A1

WO2001075690A1 - Database management

Info

Publication number: WO2001075690A1
Application number: PCT/AU2001/000376
Authority: WO
Inventors: Paul Jeffrey Thompson; Ian Michael Steventon
Original assignee: Penzance Technology Limited
Priority date: 2000-04-04
Filing date: 2001-04-04
Publication date: 2001-10-11
Also published as: AUPQ670600A0

Abstract

A system having: means (50) to cause periodic interrogation of one or more databases (40) containing a catalogue of available airfares and a library of rules of validity of each of the airfares, means to parse the rules using regular expression technology and to download the rules and airfares into a normalised database, and enquiry means containing a set of standard questions for selection by a user which selects a list of fares complying with the user selected questions and causes the list to be presented to the enquirer.

Description

DATABASE MANAGEMENT

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the manipulation of large volumes of data to facilitate effective database interrogation and response with selected information in a convenient form for an inquirer. The invention extends to computer software packages and computer systems which give effect to these concepts. The present invention will be exemplified with reference to the particular problem of determining options from a complex array of alternatives for airline travel to facilitate reservations and ticketing, but the invention is not necessarily so limited and extends generally to similar or equivalent data management and handling tasks in other applications.

Background to the Invention

The complexity of international travel options is such that it is not practical for even an experienced travel agent to distil from existing published fare and timetable information for all applicable airlines a comprehensive range of options for an intending traveller. Even one particular airline travelling between two ports will often have a very large number of different fares within and between different classes, for different flights, for different times and for different routings. The situation is complicated further by airlines entering into code-share arrangements and partnering to permit a single ticketing plan to cover multiple airlines for multiple sectors of a complex itinerary.

Frequently particular fare packages are the subject of various restrictions and a travel agent has to satisfy passenger needs of finding an acceptable fare with acceptable restrictions for an acceptable routing and finally determining seat availability for reservations that meet the criteria. Finally a booking can be made. Timetable information regarding the departure and arrival of flights operated by commercial airlines worldwide is provided by an independent company, "OAG" . This information is updated on a monthly basis, and is provided in a format that is in accordance with the IATA (International Air Traffic Authority) specification for schedule information, SSIM (Standard Schedule Information Manual) . This permits an inquirer to have a list of all known flights scheduled to fly between two nominated ports for the validity period of the timetable and does permit some options to be selected. However, this set of information does not provide seat availability information which must be a separate inquiry through a Customer Reservation System (CRS) which is a computer based service and most importantly the timetable information does not link to any information on fare structures and restrictions relating to that route. The options are numerous on a typical route such as Sydney/London because a multiplicity of different airlines are available with a large number of different routes via intermediate stops and therefore analysis of all possibilities is most time consuming. Further inquiry through different databases and systems would be needed for a travel agent to provide a comprehensive report on passenger options for travel e.g. on a particular day.

To facilitate international airline travel, computerised booking systems have been developed as systems independent of individual airlines. For example, individual booking systems can be accessed by professional subscribing travel agents to obtain information via that system on seat availability and timetable information, but broadly, the travel agent must have the experience and knowledge of what is essentially required by a passenger before accessing the system. A system such as the Galileo system links individual airline computers so that for practical purposes up-to- date and accurate timetable and booking availability from a multiplicity of airlines is possible. The system can assist a travel agent with acceptable, timetabled connecting flights.

However, conventionally an initial enquiry is usually made by a travel agent to a consolidator' s database of published net fares, such as the Metro-Concorde system, but it is impractical for a travel agent to assess comprehensively the complex fare rules associated with each fare, so that a passenger can quickly and accurately be given all information to make an informed choice. Limited developments have become available to facilitate passenger bookings including Internet trading but to date that has only been effective for dealing with inquiries structured on a very simple basis, usually involving very straightforward itineraries and involving only just one airline.

Summary of the Invention

A most important application of the present invention is to facilitate airline travel and bookings and a particularly significant embodiment of the invention is one intended to be driven by a customer request focusing on available published fares (which need to be indicated comprehensively with applicable restrictions) and if a particular option is attractive, then the passenger request needs to be quickly processed to determine if there is in fact seat availability and if so then to make a confirmed reservation.

In the alternative the passenger focus may be one which is most sensitive to convenient travel times and/or minimum travel times and is less sensitive to price.

Preferably, a system embodying the invention facilitates both fare-focused and travel time-focused enquiries . In. one aspect the present invention consists in a software package suitable for use on a digital computer system to achieve the data processing functions described in this specification. In another aspect the invention consists in a digital computer system mounting and operating such a software package. In a third aspect the invention consists in a method of responding in standard format to queries in a standard format by utilising a uniquely developed database system which operates such a computer package. A further aspect consists in a compilation of databases arranged to facilitate such standard format answers to queries. The general form of the invention may be applied to systems further characterised by selected further inventive developments or options and therefore in further aspects the invention may be defined as a system characterised by any one or more of the individual inventive developments singly or in any combination.

Broadly, the present invention may be defined in one form as being founded on the concept of a system which has

(a) means to cause periodic interrogation of one or more databases containing a catalogue of available airfares and a library of rules of validity of each of the airfares,

(b) means to parse the rules using regular expression technology and to download the rules and airfares into a normalised database, and

(c) enquiry means containing a set of standard questions for selection by a user which selects a list of fares complying with the user selected questions and causes the list to be presented to the enquirer.

Preferably, the parsing means is adapted to operate in plain English text by first re-defining the text into logical paragraphs, and secondly analysing each paragraph for relevant information by searching for an expression in a suitable form such as two letter codes defining an airline on which the fare may be booked.

Preferably, the parsing means deals with information relating to the following parameters :

• rules about the fare; • price for each port pair/date range within the fare;

• booking class for each carrier and sector within the trip;

• included segments/ports/carrier combinations; • applicable travel dates for each segment; and

• applicable journeys for each trip.

An important embodiment of the invention is one in which the system has second interrogation means to interrogate a timetable database and to download and catalogue the information into a calendar orientated datafile whereby a searcher of this datafile, by using the enquiry means , can determine the days on which a particularly priced fare may be available. Thus, the system is adapted to be mounted on a server with quickly searchable data on (a) fares (b) rules relating to fares and (c) a calendar display indicating the days on which at least one flight exists with the fare potentially applicable.

The system most preferably includes a booking robot in the form of a software tool having functionality to transform a seat availability request drawn from a user selection from the calendar into a formatted enquiry useable on a third party customer seat reservation computerised system and to translate the reply into an indicator showing whether or not a reservation can be accepted.

A further function of a preferred embodiment is for the system to record passenger details, selected payment options and to initiate through the robot a booking, including calculation of additional charges such as taxes. The present invention lends itself to having an associated website which facilitates external persons using the system. The system can be arranged to provide a user friendly Windows-type format which can go so far as to arrange confirmed reservations, ticket issuing, collection of passenger details, and even payments using e.g. credit cards.

To facilitate clear and effective presentation of information to users on seat availability for an option, preferably a graphical calendar is provided with appropriate colour coding to indicate whether a particular flight is available on a particular day and a status indicator of whether seats are available .

Embodiments of the invention may be extended to provide other advantageous options such as itinerary saving features for regular passengers and extension to associated booking services such as hotel, car rental, other transport, and tour add-ons.

To illustrate concepts of the invention, an overall system in the preferred form will now be outlined.

Relevant third party databases of published airline fares are accessed periodically e.g. monthly to build the file, while consolidating and normalising the data using the parsing algorithm to code the restrictions and characteristics of a particular fare. An example of sources of airline fares is use of a service such as Metro/Concorde "Smart Fares" via an interface provided by the Amadeus/LCN service into a central database. The various fare options are mapped out into a set of reservation and routing rules and by virtue of a normalised form of fares from the database, this can be operated upon by the booking system.

A preferred embodiment of the invention consists in a system having an inquiry facility responsive to the user putting in selected parameters (such as departure and arrival ports) and a travel date period, e.g the month of proposed travel. An option is for the user to restrict the data e.g. to a particular airline or group of airlines. This causes the normalised database to be interrogated e.g. to provide a list in ascending fare order for the selected class of travel and with regard to any other user selected limitations. For example, a Qantas fare from Sydney to London may be available through various routes under different prices on the same day and in the same class of travel possibly with code-share partner linkages. For example, in economy class, several ticket prices may be published as the airline will have a strategy of allocating different numbers of seats in the aircraft at different prices but the airline does not publish the number of seats at a particular price and manipulates the number of seats at each price as frequently as it wishes. Therefore, the present preferred system does not download and store seat availability at a particular price but instead makes an availability check into the Customer Reservation System (CRS) applicable to the customer selected airline and fare.

The preferred embodiment of the present system permits access to any CRS of which the Amadeus system is an example. The system uses a normalised command language to instruct the CRS to make availability checks for flights which match the fare rules criteria.

A further important part of the present system is automatic interrogation of a CRS to determine which flights and which carriers have a flight for the selected day and colour coding in a window is used to indicate if seat availability for the selected fare exists on a particular flight. For example, on a particular date, the customer may have identified a "V" class fare as the cheapest economy published fare, potentially available on Flight QFl. If seats are available at this price on QF1, it will be highlighted in green as well as any other options such as QF5 which might also be available. Thus, there is a listed alternative conveniently displayed. The customer then makes a selection and the system proceeds with the booking dealing with passenger details, payment arrangements and the production of a documentary trail with a confirmed reservation.

The system thus can solve the problem of complex and different databases being coordinated to provide a user- friendly customer-orientated service which can be used, for example, by a travel agent or even by a passenger using an Internet provided interface to make their own fully informed choices and booking arrangements .

It is believed that the present invention for the first time permits effective coordination and integration of hitherto disparate databases for fare information and timetable information and then provides effective search options to determine actual seat availability.

Further options to enhance the basic system according to the invention include the capacity to have a user "save function" for regular travellers and the capacity to re- interrogate seat availability at a particular price at a later time. For example, an airline may have decided to allocate 20 seats on a Sydney-London flight at the cheapest special fare, possibly with -severe restrictions such as advance payment and no change to travel dates. Simultaneously, the customer may have the choice of a somewhat higher fare with fewer restrictions. All the cheapest seats may be sold and nearer travel time the airline may find that its reservations at the higher fares are poor and decides to release more seats in the cheapest category. Re-interrogation may then locate these extra seats .

The present invention can be implemented in a system which essentially automates the functions of a travel agency in an efficient way by centralising and automating work flow processes. The system preferably has a Graphical User Interface (GUI) back office system which monitors the processes in bookings created either directly in a CRS or from inquiry from an Internet website. A preferred embodiment will be further explained with reference to the accompanying diagrams of which:

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the basic scheme for query processing in an embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram showing the overall system in which the invention can be implemented; and Figure 3 to Figure 10 are examples of computer screen data presentation available from the system.

Figure 1 illustrates a broad basic concept used in an embodiment of the present invention. An intersection 30 is indicated for a subset of data where preferred carriers 20 operate on a given date or range of dates chosen by the customer, having regard to a timetable database 10 for a given destination from a starting point.

Referring now to Figure 2 , the overall hardware comprises third party databases 40 each containing data on published fares with associated relevant restrictions for particular carriers, and an arbitrator 50 adapted to operate periodically, e.g. monthly, to interrogate and download data from the fare databases 40, and to normalise the data using a parsing algorithm so that all the information from the various databases 40 are in the same format and readable by a travel inquiry. The system includes an application server 70 which is adapted to operate as a travel booking engine .

The arbitrator 50 acts as a "Fare Loader" which permits access to timetable information from diverse third party databases 60. Each time the Fare Loader processes its run, e.g. hourly, daily, weekly or monthly, a check is made to establish whether a particular fare rule has been updated or deleted. The preferred system includes a program known as a Rule Parse Inspector which lets the human operator verify that the rule sheet has been correctly interpreted.

The application server 70 is adapted to be interrogated by independent personal computers PC 80 either directly or through a webserver 71.

In the above process, the parameters required are that the parsing algorithm normalises its data into a useable uniform form which contains:

• rules about a particular fare;

• price of fare between nominated ports and the data availability for validity of that fare; • booking class for each carrier;

• segment within a multi-flight trip.

When a customer selects through a PC80 a choice, the system causes a booking request to be issued from the application server

Referring now to Figure 3, an illustration is made of the raw information downloaded from an independent database containing catalogued fares . The left column shows the database coding of fares with arbitrary codes relating to a particular fare, the second column indicates the particular selection of fares applicable to the first selected fare code M2TYAKL and the main display shows the plain English rules applicable for this fare on a carrier having the carrier code 2T. These rules represent the traditional form of information available to travel agents. Travel agents thus have a mass of complex variable rules which need to be understood and explained to a customer.

Figure 4 is a similar computer screen of information for fare code MKEPRC3MB but in this case the rules have been parsed into distinct paragraphs having topic headings which are summarised in the third column. However, a system with such cataloguing is simply an intermediate step to a system embodying the invention. Regular expression technology is used to distil out of the particular paragraphs salient information which can be catalogued, an example being given in Figure 5 wherein the selected display of certain paragraphs has now been catalogued into computer useable coded information. The system also accesses a timetable database in order to recatalogue, for a particular fare, the dates on which at least one journey (potentially composed of many flights) is available between the various departure and arrival airports covered by the fare .

Figure 6 shows a typical inquiry screen for the present system. In this case the intending passenger has designated the routes Sydney to London for a return economy. travel and only wishes to know about premium airlines . This feature permits airlines to be coded into groups so as to give customers airline quality selections where requested. The inquiry is for one adult ticket and the range of travel dates is specified in the lower portion of the screen. A system in this form permits the travel inquiry to be pursued either by a search aimed at available in ascending order or a search focused on particular dates with available fares then displayed. The user simply uses a mouse to point at the relevant search button and clicks. The system then searches its compiled and normalised database to find a list of catalogued fares . An example of a customer report is shown in Figure 7 which is a convenient graphical display with fares in ascending order and clicking on buttons permits the user to go further and find information on e.g. restrictions.

However, the information in Figure 7 does not indicate on which days each fare may be available or the availability of seats. By clicking on the "select" button the user can go to a graphic calendar of the type shown in Figure 8. The calendar will be encoded with the days of the months and for a particular fare selected the calendar will be colour painted having regard to the specially formatted database of airline timetables . A square will be painted yellow if at least one flight is available on the selected day for the selected fare and grey if there is no flight available on that day for the selected fare. For example, QF1 and QF5 might both fly everyday from Sydney to Bangkok and on Tuesday 04 April 2000 the selected fare may only be potentially available on QF5 but on Wednesday 05 April 2000 it might be available on both flights and neither on Thursday 06 April '2000. In this case yellow squares will appear on Tuesday and Wednesday 04 and 05 April and a grey square on Thursday 06 April. If a customer then selects the Wednesday option and clicks, then the system will then determine if there is an available seat on a journey between the depar^'ture port and the arrival port that is in accordance with the various restrictions entailed by the fare code that was previously selected. On clicking, a robot of the system codes the inquiry into the required form to suit the third party computer reservation system and makes an inquiry which will work through to the airlines reservations system at the instant of the inquiry.

Behind the system seen by the customer is a calendar datafile, which stores all the combinations of fare code, departure date, departure airport, and arrival airport, for which there is at least one journey (which may require potentially many flights) departing on the departure date, from the departure airport, ending at the arrival airport, and remaining within the other rules of the fare code. Figure 9 is an example of the data on which a customer inquiry may operate. This is a simplified example where a carrier with the code 2T flies only on Tuesdays Sydney to Auckland and the applicable fare code is M2TYAKL. In summary, the principal advantages over the prior art achieved by at least a preferred embodiment of the invention include the following points:

• analysis of fare options from several prior art databases occurs in the manner to meet an untrained user to make an informed decision; these databases are not held within CRS systems presently;

• bookings can easily be made in multi-point combinations on several different airline carriers on the same fare code;

• the user needs only check for flight availability on dates for which travel is likely since the system can be developed to predict and advance the dates on which a particular published fare can be used;

• an interactive graphical calendar is provided to facilitate the user determining when they can travel from selected dates;

• availability can be determined by a combination of several sources including specific CRS systems as well as accessing other sources such as directly into airlines reservation systems;

• a large party of up to nine persons with association of the bookings in a group can be effected.

• the rules are interpreted into easily understood jargonless format.

Claims

1. A system having:

(d) means to cause periodic interrogation of one or more databases containing a catalogue of available airfares and a library of rules of validity of each of the airfares,

(e) means to parse the rules using regular expression technology and to download the rules and airfares into a normalised database, and

(f) enquiry means containing a set of standard questions for selection by a user which selects a list of fares complying with the user selected questions and causes the list to be presented to the enquirer.

2. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the parsing means examines the rules, which are in plain English, re-defines the text into logical paragraphs, analyses each paragraph for relevant information by searching for an expression in an understandable defined form and then stores the results in the normalised database.

3. A system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the parsing means analyses the rules with reference to: • rules about the fare;

• price for each port pair/date range within the fare;

• booking class for each carrier and sector within the trip; • included segments/ports/carrier combinations;

• applicable travel dates for each segment; and

• applicable journeys for each trip.

4. A system as claimed in any one of claims 1-3 wherein the system has second interrogation means to interrogate a timetable database and to download and catalogue the information into a calendar orientated datafile whereby a searcher of this datafile, by using the enquiry means, can determine the days on which a particularly priced fare may be available.

5. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the system includes booking software having means to transform a seat availability request drawn from a user selection from the calendar into a formatted enquiry useable on a third party customer seat reservation computerised system and to translate the reply into an indicator showing whether or not a reservation can be accepted.

6. A system as claimed in any one of claims 1-5 wherein the system has reservation means for recording passenger details, presenting payment options, calculating final costs and processing a booking request .

7. A system as claime.d in any one of claims 1-6, and including a website adapted to interface within other components of the system to facilitate user enquiry and making of confirmed reservations.

8. A system as claimed in any one of claims 1-7 wherein the system has a graphical calendar with means characterising whether:

(a) a particular fare code is available on a particular day, and

(b) seats are available.

(c) the booking, routing, ticketing, code share and other reservation rules are met.

9. A system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the characterising means applies a colour coding to the graphical calendar to indicate both flight availability and seat availability after a seat availability enquiry has been made.

10. A method of travel data processing comprising:

(a) accessing databases of published airline fares;

(b) building a consolidated and normalised data file using a parsing algorithm to code restrictions relating to each fare whereby fare options are mapped into a set of reservation and routing rules on which a computerised booking system can operate;

(c) loading the data file into a computer booking system;

(d) using inquiry means adapted to receive a user enquiry with selected "travel parameters;

(e) interrogating the data file to provide a list of options responsive to the enquiry in terms of ticketing price options;

(f) responding to a user selection and initiating a seat availability enquiry as a reservation system, and

(g) making a reservation when a seat is available.

11. A method as claimed in claim 10, and further characterised by establishing a graphical calendar display and applying a colour coding such that date on which a fare code is not available, or, is potentially available, or, is confirmed to have at least one available seat, or is confirmed to have no available seats, is displayed.

12. A compilation database derived from airline published fares and timetables, and derived by building a consolidated and normalised data file using a parsing algorithm to code restrictions relating to each fare whereby fare options are mapped into a set of reservation and routing rules on which a computerised booking system can operate and adapted to be used in the method of claim 10.