Abstract: An unspecified-time airline ticket representing a purchased seat on a flight to be selected later, by the airlines, for a traveler-specified itinerary (e.g., NY to LA on March 3rd) is disclosed. Various methods and systems for matching an unspecified-time ticket with a flight are also disclosed. An exemplary method includes: (1) making available an unspecified-time ticket; (2) examining a plurality of flights which would fulfill the terms of the unspecified-time ticket to determine which flight to select; and (3) providing notification of the selected flight prior to departure. The disclosed embodiments provide travelers with reduced airfare in return for flight-time flexibility and, in turn, permits airlines to fill seats that would have otherwise gone unbooked.

Abstract: A method and system for travel savings assessment is disclosed. The invention analyzes the total travel spend of an entity with many members, employees, or other personnel who incur travel costs using various metrics, estimates the savings that may be achieved by known or new entities, calculates and produces periodic reports that track an entity's progress towards obtaining the estimated savings, and can also estimate the potential savings of an entity.

Abstract: A system and method for planning trips and for processing trip requests that utilizes a centralized network for facilitating travel reservations and/or services. The system includes multi-purpose point of service terminals that provide a plurality of modules for various travel related applications such as an integrated e-mail booking module, a computer telephony integration module, a super passenger name record database, a customer database, a trip planning module, a customer relationship management module, a workflow module, and a low fare search module.

Abstract: A system and method of booking an itinerary on at least one of a multiplicity of host environments include a plurality of host adaptor modules. Each host adaptor module is configured to interact with one of the plurality of host ticketing environments. A booking engine is provided for receiving commands related to booking the air travel itinerary and determining an appropriate host ticketing environment for processing the commands based on a number of predefined criteria. When the booking engine receives a command it forwards the command to a first host adaptor module which is associated with first host ticketing environment selected by the booking engine for processing the command. The host adaptor module receives the command and issues the command to said first host ticketing environment. The first host adaptor module in turn receives a response from the first host ticketing environment and determines whether the response comports with an expected response.

Abstract: A system and method for the control and distribution of expiring free postage in a PC postage system is disclosed. According to the invention, a predetermined portion of the expiring free postage is transferred to a postage meter and the remainder of the expiring free postage is stored in a free postage account that may be reset upon expiration of the free postage.

Abstract: A system and method for planning trips and for processing trip requests that utilizes a centralized network for facilitating travel reservations and/or services. The system and method allow for the integration of various and disparate travel related applications to enable sophisticated travel booking processes. In various embodiments, a translation server is used to aggregate data from disparate sources and optimal travel arrangements are provided responsive to the data.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a system and method for interactively selecting one or more physical locations at a venue by an end user over a wide area network. The system or method transmits information relating to a set of available individual physical locations at a venue to an application running on a general purpose computer on the wide area network for display to the end user.

Abstract: A method, system and computer program product for interfacing between information requesters and information sources. In an embodiment, information is obtained from one or more information sources in response to client requests. In an embodiment, information received from information sources is cached for future use, such as for future client requests. In a caching embodiment, information can also be received by monitoring traffic between an information source and a third party, and/or by proactively querying the information sources. Proactive queries can be generated to populate a cache and/or to update presently cached information. In a caching embodiment, the invention includes methods for determining whether to respond to a request for information out-of-cache and/or with real-time information from an information source. In an embodiment, the invention interfaces with airline availability information sources.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a system and method for displaying airline seats. The system or method transmits data to an application running on a general purpose computer, the data including information descriptive of available individual seats on one or more airplanes, the data processed by the application to generate a graphical user interface on the general purpose computer that comprises an interactive seating map representing individual seats on the one or more airplanes, the data processed by the application to generate an additional display of information about one or more of the individual seats in response to a user interaction with the graphical user interface, the interaction being triggered when placing a mouse over a portion of the graphical user interface.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a system and method for selecting and reserving airline seats. The system or method receives first data representing payment information over the network from a general purpose computer. The system or method also transmits second data to an application running on the general purpose computer, the second data including information descriptive of available individual seats on one or more airplanes, the second data processed by the application to generate a graphical user interface on the general purpose computer that comprises an interactive seating map representing individual seats on the one or more airplanes, the second data processed by the application to generate an additional display of information about one or more of the individual seats in response to a user interaction with the graphical user interface, the interaction being triggered when placing a mouse over a portion of the graphical user interface.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a system and method for selecting and reserving airline seats. The system or method receives first data representing payment information over the network from a general purpose computer. The system or method also transmits second data to an application running on the general purpose computer, the second data including information descriptive of available individual seats on one or more airplanes, the second data processed by the application to generate a graphical user interface on the general purpose computer that comprises an interactive seating map representing individual seats on the one or more airplanes, the second data processed by the application to generate an additional display of information about selection of seats in response to a user interaction with the graphical user interface, the interaction being triggered when placing a mouse over a portion of the graphical user interface.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a system and method for selecting and reserving rooms at a venue. The system or method transmits information relating to a plurality of available individual rooms at a venue to an application running on a general purpose computer on the wide area network for display to the end user. The system or method also provides a graphical user interface that includes an interactive map showing information relating to the available rooms at the venue. Through the interactive map the end user can select one or more available rooms. The interactive map may provide additional information on the one or more of available individual rooms when triggered by, for example, a mouse placed over one of the available individual rooms.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a system and method for selecting and reserving time slots for an appointment. The system or method transmits information relating to a plurality of available individual time slots for an appointment to an application running on a general purpose computer on the wide area network for display to the end user. The system or method also provides a graphical user interface that includes an interactive map showing information relating to the available time slots for the appointment. Through the interactive map the end user can select one or more available time slots. The interactive map may provide additional information on the one or more of available individual time slots when triggered by, for example, a mouse placed over one of the available individual time slots.

Abstract: A system and method for unassisted enterprise-level unassisted customer shipping is described providing for payment of shipping and item costs in a single transaction. In one configuration, a customer utilizes a kiosk to process a shipping bill of materials for presentment at a point of sale terminal.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a system and method for selecting and reserving seats using a touch screen device. The system or method transmits first data to an application running on a personal computing device, the first data including information descriptive of available individual seats at the venue, the first data processed by the application to generate a graphical user interface on the personal computing device that comprises an interactive seating map representing individual seats at the venue. The system or method also receives from the personal computing device second data representing one or more seats selected by a touch screen input. In addition, the system or method receives over the network from the personal computing device third data representing payment information.

Abstract: This invention relates to an electronic means by which people can select the exact seat or seats they want for any type of event or reserve an appointment for any activity. More specifically, a customer or a ticket re-seller or a venue operator can go, for example, to the internet and select the event or activity for which he wants a ticket or tickets or reserve a time and reserve and order the exact seat or seats or the time of his choosing directly online. The seat or seats or reserved time he selects is then removed from the inventory for that activity or event and made not available for any other buyer and such is so indicated by a graphical representation or other such indicator on the online map or picture representing availability of seating or time for that event.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a system and method for selecting and reserving sets of seats in a venue. The system and method transmit information relating to sets of available seats in a venue to an application running on a general purpose computer for display to the end user. The system and method also provide a page that includes an interactive seating map showing information relating to the sets of available seats. Through the interactive seating map the end user can select one or more available seats or sets of seats. The interactive seating map may provide additional information on one or more of the sets of available seats in response to a user interaction with the seating map, for example, when the user places a mouse over one of the sets of available seats.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an interactive user interface and method that presents a coherent view of an inventory of seats in a venue. The user interface is dynamically updated based on selections by the users. Embodiments include a method for displaying to users a physical layout of seats and related status that are based on information returned from a database query. The information may include seat availability and updates to the status of each of the seats based on selections made by other users. The method may further include determining a clickable area for each seat that indicates the status of the seat based on a response to the query, and displaying to the user an updated view that indicates the status of each seat including selections made by other users.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a system and method for maintaining coherency of data entries related to seat information obtained from remote venues. The method handles queries regarding seat status, including information indicating seat availability. Information obtained based on the queries are transmitted to a first general purpose computer for display to a first user. Upon receiving, from the first general purpose computer, selections by the first user, the system or method creates in the database a temporary record based on the selections and requests a confirmation of the selections by the first user. Once the first user sends the confirmation, the system or method locks entries in the database, preventing a second user from selecting any seat confirmed for the first user. The system or method also includes transmitting, to a second general purpose computer, information to be displayed to the second user indicating seats selected by the first.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a system and method for selecting and reserving airline seats. The system or method transmits information relating to available seats on one or more airplanes traveling a flight segment of a trip to an application running on a general purpose computer for display to an end user. The system or method also provides one or more pages that include an interactive seating map showing information relating to the available seats on the one or more airplanes. Through the interactive seating map the end user can select one or more available seats. The interactive seating map may provide additional information on the one or more of available individual seats when triggered by, for example, a mouse placed over one of the available individual seats.