WO2018024372A1 - Suggesting an offer for air travel - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for operating a device (3) for suggesting an offer (55) for air travel, comprising: determining a location (x,y,z) of the device (3) using the device; selecting at least one airport (47) on the basis of the determined location (x,y,z); and displaying at least one offer (55) for an aircraft flight, which contains the selected airport (47) as a departure airport.

Description

 Proposing an offer of a flight

The present invention relates to a method of operating a device for proposing an offer of air travel, further relates to

Computer program product and further relates to a device for proposing an offer of a flight.

background

Traditionally, it is difficult for users of websites and smartphone or tablet apps to find the right deals for a flight holiday. First of all, various information must be provided, e.g. Enter the desired departure airport before getting the appropriate offers. This is not only cumbersome, but it may be overlooked that a departure airport is only 1-2 hours away, from which you could get a much cheaper offer.

Common to conventional apps or applications in this industry is one of the techniques described below.

Variant 1: Selection by list

 The user is shown a list of larger, rarely smaller airports. The list is usually sorted alphabetically. Often this is a single choice, i. the user can choose exactly one airport. Each airport in this list is assigned a unique ID, commonly called airportID. After selection by the customer, the corresponding airportID is transmitted to the backend. The local algorithm searches the database with the filter criterion of the selected airport. All offers departing from the selected airport will then be returned as a result set and displayed accordingly in the app.

Variant 2: Enter the airport name

The user sees an input field, in which he can enter the name or the international ΙΑΤΑ-Code, more rarely also ICAO-Code, around a result set to restrict a particular airport. It is usual that the user is thereby offered an automatic completion. After the user has entered three or more letters, a list will appear directly below the input field showing airports matching their previous input. From this list, the user can then select exactly one airport. Each airport in this list is assigned a unique ID, commonly called airportID. After selection by the customer, the corresponding airportID is transmitted to the backend. The local algorithm searches the database with the

Filter criterion of the selected airport. All offers departing from the selected airport will then be returned as a result set and displayed accordingly in the app.

It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a method of operating a device for proposing an offer of air travel, a computer program product implementing the method, and a method of performing the method

Provide method suitable device, with a simple operation is possible, in particular, a requirement of inputs is reduced.

The object is solved by the subject matters of the independent claims. The dependent claims specify advantageous embodiments of the present invention.

Summary of the invention

A software solution and an algorithm are proposed that allow users to immediately see the right travel offers from departure airports that are easily accessible to them without prior input. This saves users several clicks and inputs, which is a very important aspect in the online world. In addition the users profit from it, also cheaper offers from other easily attainable ones

To see airports that would have escaped them when entering a specific departure airport.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method of operating a device for proposing an offer of air travel is provided provided. In this case, the method comprises determining a location of the device using the device, selecting at least one airport based on the determined location, and displaying at least one offer of a flight that includes the selected airport as the departure airport.

The device may be e.g. to a mobile device, such as a mobile phone

Smartphone, a tablet computer device or a computer or a

Workstation with a fixed location. The device may thus be a mobile (e.g., user-portable) device, whichever is appropriate

The user can change his current location. The location may be relative to a fixed coordinate system, e.g. regarding geographic

Coordinates, in particular geographical longitude and latitude, are determined. To determine the location of the device can be different

Procedures used individually or in combination. It can be a

Radio communication and / or cable-based communication, such as over the Internet, are used.

The device can work with one or more networks, such as one

Radio network and / or be connected to the Internet individually or simultaneously. In particular, the device can be unique via an identification tag

(worldwide) be identifiable, for example via an IP address.

The device may also be identifiable via a MAC identifier. The device may help to determine the location of the device, by e.g. sends one or more (wireless or cable-based) signals and receives one or more (wireless or cable-based) signals. It can e.g. Signals to radio towers of a mobile network and / or to one or more servers that are located in a network, such as the Internet, are sent out, and of these

Communication partners can receive signals, such as responses to requests, and be evaluated by the device. The device may include a processor and a memory on which an operating system and more

Application software is installed and runs during the procedure. The device may also have, for example, one or more acceleration sensors, by means of which a displacement of the device relative to a previously determined location of the device Device can be tracked so that the later location of the device due to the previous location and the tracked displacement of the device

can be determinable.

The at least one airport may be selected based on a criterion defining a distance between the particular location of the device and the

Airport contains. For example, The criterion for selecting the airport can be completely or partially defined by the user of the device. For example, For example, the user may specify airports within a radius of e.g. 20 km, 50 km, 100 km or 200 km away from the determined location of the device. In other embodiments, the user may alternatively or additionally also specify a directional range (e.g., from south to east) in which direction the airport is located from the determined location of the device. Further, the criterion may include on soft roads the airport is reachable, e.g. Motorway and / or highway, railway line, S-Bahn line, etc.

The device includes a display, such as LED screen, plasma screen,

Cathode Ray Tube, LCD Screen, i. in particular a two-dimensional screen on which strings, images and symbols for representing the at least one offer of the flight can be displayed. The display may e.g. be designed as a Berührschirm (touch screen). The user can e.g. interact with the display by touching a specific area (such as a pictorial button or switch) to make further entries or to change settings or to change entries. For example, For example, a control panel may be provided for defining or changing the criterion according to which the

Airport is selected depending on the determined location.

In a default setting, the at least one airport can be without a

User interaction. In this case, the at least one offer of air travel without user input of the departure airport may be selected and displayed according to a standard criterion (eg airport within 50 km from the location of the device). In other embodiments, the Users manually set the desired departure airport by typing on the keypad, touching screen and / or voice input.

The device may run an operating system such as Unix, Linux, Android, OS X, Windows (any version), or any other operating system.

This operating system may access a memory, which may also be included in the device, in order to store a location there, which was determined manually or automatically during an installation of the operating system, for example.

The place can also be obtained by retrieving the in or from the operating system

stored location can be determined. Alternatively or additionally, the location may be determined using GPS location, mobile phone triangulation and / or WLAN based location. A combination of different determination methods is possible in order to increase a precision of the location determination. The operating system may be configured by means of a locale, and this locale may be retrieved during the procedure. A most populous city of the country assigned country may be from a database, such as a network, e.g. the Internet, and determined as the location of the device, if e.g. a determination via GPS positioning or mobile phone triangulation or WLAN-based positioning is not feasible.

The device may be connected to the Internet via an internet service provider. The Internet service provider can use a server with memory, e.g. a database, in which information about an identification of the device associated with a location information are stored. At this at a

Location information stored by Internet service providers may be accessed by the device for determining the location, e.g. a request is made to the internet service provider and the latter transmits the location information in a reply.

The method may also support an update of its particular location in a server's memory by the determined location of the device

is sent regularly to the server, especially if one comparatively accurate location determination was carried out eg by GPS positioning or another reliable method. In other situations, accurate GPS location positioning may be impossible due to various problems. In these cases, it is also possible to fall back on the last location of the device stored in the memory (either locally on the device or remotely on a server).

The device can communicate with a database, such as on the Internet, to make the selection of the airport. In this case, a plurality of airports with associated location information of the airports can be stored in the database. A query comprising the location of the device and a maximum distance between the location of the device and the location of the airport may be sent from the device to an access software of the database (e.g., wired or wireless). The query may be executed by the data access software and a result set of the query may be returned to the device. The result set of the query may include a list of (identifiers of) airports (e.g., sorted by distance from the determined location of the device). If the result set of the query includes multiple airports, the user may perform a further selection of the airports included in the result set to further limit the number of airports, such as an airport.

The query need not be performed with a fixed maximum distance, but can also be performed iteratively (with or without user interaction, depending on the configuration), where the maximum distance can be varied, for example, can be gradually reduced until the result set of the query is at least two Airports contains or even only one airport contains. In this way, an effective selection of at least one airport can be achieved.

The distance between the device and the airport in question may be determined as the shortest connection distance (e.g., as measured by the road sections leading to the airport, sections of rail or as the crow flies) between the device and the airport concerned. It can

Differential equations of the second order are solved. Alternatively, if about the location of the equipment as well as the location of all airports are determined by geographic coordinates, the arc length between the two points on the globe being used to define the distance between the equipment and the airport in question. The deviation of the earth's shape from the spherical shape can be taken into account, for example, depending on the latitude.

Once at least one airport is selected, a request or query at least one airline or travel provider (or in particular at a

Plurality of airlines), e.g. accessible via the Internet. The selected airport will be the departure airport

specified. Here, too, the user may have the option of defining, determining or restricting the quantity of the flight or travel providers by, for example, one or more criteria. Corresponding setting options (such as input windows, switches, buttons) can be displayed on the device's display.

The device can be provided with a memory in which a

Computer program product (such as a computer program, an app) can be loaded, which can then be executed by the device, in particular by a processor of the device to implement the method (at least in terms of performed by the device part).

It should be understood that features, individual or in any

Combination mentioned, described, deployed or provided for a method of operating a device for proposing an offer of air travel, also being applicable, individually or in any combination, to a device for proposing an offer of air travel and vice versa, according to embodiments of the present invention.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a device for proposing an offer of air travel, comprising: a determination module configured to determine a location of the device using the device, a selection module that selects at least one airport based on the designated location is formed, and an advertisement, which is designed to display at least one offer of a flight that the selected airport as a departure.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings. The invention is not limited to the illustrated or described embodiments.

Brief description of the drawings

Fig. 1 schematically illustrates a system for proposing an offer of a

 Air travel with a device and other communication partners according to embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows by way of example a part of a display screen of the one illustrated in FIG

 Apparatus during a step of proposing an offer of air travel according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 3 shows by way of example a part of the display screen of the one illustrated in FIG

 Apparatus during a step of proposing an offer of air travel according to an embodiment of the present invention according to another configuration.

Description of embodiments of the invention

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a system 1 for proposing an offer of air travel according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is a device 3 for proposing an offer of air travel according to a

Embodiment of the present invention. The device 3 comprises a determination module 5 which is designed to determine a location (x, y, z), for example with respect to a coordinate system K using the device. The device 3 further comprises a selection module 7, which is designed to select at least one airport based on the determined location (x, y, z), and comprises and a display 9, which is designed to display at least one offer of a flight that includes the selected airport as the departure airport.

The selection module 7 and the determination module 5 may be e.g. be included as software within a processor 11 within the device 3. In doing so, the processor 11 may access a memory 13 which may be e.g. one

Computer program product containing instructions which are formed, a method for operating the device 3 for

Propose an offer of air travel according to an embodiment of the present invention. On the processor 11, an operating system may be installed or run, which may be e.g. within the memory 13 may have stored a last known location.

To determine the location of the device, the device may be equipped with one or more transceivers 15, which are able to perform a location of the device via a GPS location (by means of radio signals 17), for what

Radio signals 17 are sent to one or more satellites 19 and

Answer radio signals 21 can be received. Alternatively or additionally, the device 3 via the transceiver 15 with a wireless network via

Radio transmitters 23 may be connected and may communicate via radio signals 25 and 27 with the radio transmitters 23 for a mobile radio triangulation for determining the location. Further, the device 3 may be e.g. be connected via Wi-Fi or a cable-based connection to the Internet 29.

The location (x, y, z) may e.g. be specified by the longitude and latitude of the device on Earth. The device can query a

Internet provider 31, which e.g. provides a server 32 with a database 33. In the database 33, an identification code of the device 3 may be stored together with a (last determined) location of the device. Via the Internet connection 35, the device can retrieve, by means of a data packet 39 specifying a request, the location (last known) of the device 3 stored in the database 33, e.g. via an answer 37 from the service provider 31.

For example, in cases where the device uses GPS positioning and / or the

Funktriangulation for determining the location of the device 3 is capable of, the currently determined location can be brought to the service provider 31 by means of a data packet 39 and stored in the database 33, for example Retrieval in cases where GPS tracking or mobile phone triangulation is not possible.

Once the location of the device 3 is determined, the device 3 can direct a request 41 to a database 43 in the airports with a location of the airports

are stored. The query 41 may include a maximum distance between the location of the device and the location of the airport. The

Database 43 can then perform the query and return a result set 45 to the device 3, which contains one or more airports, which meets the one or more contained in the query 41 criterion. In this case, e.g. the distance contained in query 41 stepwise (e.g., without user interaction)

reduced (or increased) to reduce (or increase) the number of airports contained in the result set 45. For example, For example, in query 45, it may be specified that those airports are to be selected which are less than a distance D from the location of the device 3.

Within this distance, in Fig. 1, e.g. an airport 47 which can then be identified as a potential departure airport. Once at least one airport 47 has been identified, the device may also send a query 49 to at least one air travel provider 51, wherein in query 49 the selected airport 47 is included as a departure airport. The flight provider 51 can then transmit a response data packet 53 to the device, in which

at least one offer is included, in which the airport 47 is defined as the departure airport.

Fig. 2 illustrates a portion 10 of the display 9 of the device 3, with offers 55 are listed for air travel, the departure airport is Leipzig, as in the

Display field 57 is specified. The offers 55 may e.g. a picture and

Description text with details of the travel period or beginning. In this case, the departure airport was determined automatically according to a method for operating the device 3 without user input. Via further operating elements in an input bar 59, a configuration of the software for proposing a flight is possible. Here, for example, a criterion for selecting a departure airport can be defined or changed. Via a control 61, a new query can be started. Fig. 2 thus shows how a user gets displayed air travel deals in the vicinity of his location (in this example Leipzig), where no input by the user is required.

Fig. 3 again illustrates a part 10 of the display 9 of the device 3, for explaining a possibility to manually define a departure airport by user input. For this purpose, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the user can be shown a window 63 in the display 9, which enables the possibility of manually entering a departure airport in an input field 65. By way of another operating element 67, the user can e.g. determine whether the manually entered location e.g. to the Internet provider 31 (or, for example, to another server on the Internet). Alternatively, it may be determined by the operating element 67 whether, after manual input of the location in the future, the location will be automatically, e.g. by GPS positioning and / or mobile radio triangulation and / or other determination methods to be determined. Other configuration options can be provided. By pressing a field or button 68, the user can confirm his inputs.

Thus, FIG. 3 shows how a user can change his location manually if desired, or can switch the automatic location detection off and on.

Details of embodiments of the present invention are explained below:

 The proposed solution completely waives (or does not require) a selection or input by the user. The app determines the current location of the device on which it is installed without interacting with the user. Various techniques can be used for this. To get a quick app launch too

ensure that the most recent location known to the operating system can be obtained. Over the course of the app use, GPS,

Mobile radio triangulation (GSM location) and / or WLAN-based positioning an even more accurate or current location can be determined. The location can be defined by geographical coordinates (latitude and latitude). The coordinates can describe the position of the terminal on earth. Longitude and latitude can be recorded in the decimal system with an accuracy of at least 5 decimal places. The coordinates can then be sent via an API to the backend where they can be stored in the database in conjunction with the unique ID of the terminal. The user can have a choice of setting options in the operating system, whether he agrees to a positioning by the app or rejects it. If the user disagrees with such a setting with a location determination, the app can alternatively retrieve the general regional settings of the operating system. The country settings may include the Alpha-2 country code in accordance with ISO 3166, among others. By means of a final list within the app, the populated country can be assigned a populous city. The geographic center of this city can be considered as the adopted geographical location of the terminal and can be connected to the

Backend be transferred.

As an alternative solution to the part of the location determination, the following can be implemented: The user can have a choice of setting options of the operating system, whether he agrees to a location determination or rejects it. If the user does not agree with a positioning via such a setting, the current IP address of the. Can be used as an alternative to the geographical coordinates

Terminal are transmitted via an API to the backend. The IP address can be stored in the database in conjunction with the unique ID of the terminal. With the help of external provider services, the stored IP address can in turn be assigned geographical coordinates. They can be less precise, but can define a sufficiently accurate location.

A determination of airports in the vicinity can be carried out as follows:

 The backend can be stored on the basis of the respective terminal

geographic coordinates of nearby airports. The database can contain a table of all the airports that are relevant for the app. The table may include the country code, the name and latitude and longitude of the center of each of these airports. To find the airports that are close to the user, a database query can iteratively so often

be executed until the result set contains at least two airports or an alternative termination criterion occurs. The query can be checked with one Distance of 50 km circularly begin around the user's location and can determine the number of airports within this circle. If there are less than two airports in a circle, the distance to be checked may be increased by eg 50 km. The iteration may end after the test of the 200 km distance. This may be the alternative termination criterion. The calculation of the result set can be carried out by differential equations of the second order, the solution of which is the removal of the shortest connection between the user location and the respective airport. For simplicity, it can be assumed that the earth is a sphere. Through this procedure, the number of airports in the

Result set be different. The parameters of the determination of airports in

Perimeter can be customized country and user-specific in the backend to ensure that each user can access the accessible and relevant airports.

A determination of offers with departures in the vicinity can be carried out as follows:

 The backend can use the found airports to determine offers, the departure of which is carried out at one of these airports. This can be done to all

Travel offers in our database that are assigned to departure airports in the form of unique IDs. The previously determined airports in the vicinity of the user location can be compared with the airports of the travel offers. All offers with an airport that corresponds to an airport in the area can count towards the final result set. These offers can be transmitted to the app via the response function of an API and presented in the local frontend to the user in a graphically appealing way.

Claims

claims A method of operating a device (3) for proposing an offer (55) of a flight, comprising:  Determining a location (x, y, z) of the device (3) using the device; Selecting at least one airport (47) based on the determined location (x, y, z); and  Displaying at least one offer (55) of a flight involving the  selected airport (47) as a departure airport contains. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the at least one  Airport (47) without a user interaction. 3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein for determining the location (x, y, z) of the device (3) a last known operating system of the device location  is used. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein determining the location of the device using GPS location (17, 21),  Mobile radio triangulation (25, 27), and / or WLAN-based positioning is performed. 5. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein determining the location (x, y, z) of the device (3) comprises determining geographic coordinates, in particular geographic longitude and latitude, of the location, in particular to an accuracy of at least five Decimal places of decimal degrees. 6. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein determining the location of the device (3) includes retrieving a locale of the operating system of the device and, in particular, determining a most populous city of the locale assigned country and determining the location of the city, especially center of the city, includes. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein determining the location (x, y, z) of the device (3) comprises:  Directing a query (39) to an Internet service provider (31) of the device to obtain an indication of the location, in particular geographical coordinates, of the device based on the IP address of the device. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the method further comprises:  Transmission of the geographical coordinates of the determined location and in particular an identification and / or IP address of the device to a server (31), in particular via a network (29), and storing the geographical coordinates in association with the identification and / or the IP Address of the device in an electronic memory (33), in particular database table. A method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein selecting the at least one airport (47) based on the particular location comprises a query (41) of a database (43) containing airports with a location of the airports, in particular geographic coordinates, and in particular further associated with a country identifier, the query comprising the location of the device and a maximum distance (D) between the location of the device and the location of the airport. 10. The method according to the preceding claim, wherein the query (41) is carried out iteratively, wherein the maximum distance is changed until a  Result set of the query contains at least two airports (47), wherein the iterative query is aborted if a query with contained  predetermined maximum distance results in an empty result set. A method according to any of the preceding claims 9 or 10, wherein an arc length between the location of the apparatus (3) and the relevant airport (47) on the globe is calculated, which corresponds to the direct connection distance between the apparatus and the airport in question. 12. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, further comprising: Performing a request (49) to at least one air carrier (51), wherein in the request each of the selected airports as possible  Departure airports are specified; and  Receive at least one offer (53, 55) for a flight. 13. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the device (3) is a mobile phone, a smartphone, a tablet computing device, or a computer. A computer program product, in particular for a mobile device (3), which contains instructions which, when executed by a processor, are designed to carry out a method according to one of the preceding claims. 15. Device (3) for proposing an offer of a flight, comprising:  a determination module (5) which is used to determine a location (x, y, z) of the Device (3) is formed using the device;  a selection module (7) for selecting at least one airport (47) is formed based on the determined location (x, y, z); and  a display (9) adapted to display at least one offer (55) of an air travel departing the selected airport. 16. System (1) for proposing an offer of air travel, comprising:  a device according to the preceding claim; and  at least one communication partner (19, 23, 31), which contributes to determining the location (x, y, z) of the device and / or determining the airport.