Patents by Inventor Hugh H. Birch

Hugh H. Birch has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 7272568
    Abstract: Described is a system and method for matching a customer's offer for travel services with quotes from providers of those travel services in a way that allows the providers to negotiate preferential treatment. An online travel service exchanger receives an offer from a customer for travel services, such as airfare. The online travel service exchanger attempts to satisfy the customer's offer by retrieving from a global distribution system one or more quotes for the identified travel services. Rather than merely requesting quotes from randomly selected airlines, the online travel service exchanger first requests quotes from one preferred airline at a time in descending order of preference until the offer is satisfied. If no preferred airline satisfies the offer, the online travel service exchanger may request quotes from a group of non-preferred airlines. The online travel service exchanger then satisfies, if possible, the offer with one of the quotes from the non-preferred airlines.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2007
    Assignee: Expedia, Inc.
    Inventors: Hugh H. Birch, David A. Beitel, Dhiren R. Fonseca