Abstract: A travel product reservation system having a central computer system for processing the user requests, includes elements for calculating and returning to the user selling price information relating to travel products, the central computer system being accessible from at least one user station. The reservation system includes: database containing rules for determining the association with a fare family for each travel fare, a search engine for products that meet the input criteria of a user request and associated fares, the search engine being in communication with the database for accessing the determination rules and applying them to the travel products that meet the input criteria, for returning to the user station, for display, a reply containing information relating to the products that meet the input criteria, sorting them into fare families.

Abstract: A method of insuring the integrity of a plurality of updates brought in real-time to a production database concurrently used by one or more software applications is described. The production database includes a plurality of products participating to the definition of objects. The method first includes requesting the issuance of a unique filing number associated to a draft state version of the plurality of updates while keeping them invisible to the end-users of the production database. Then, a set of product items identified as a whole by the unique filing number are created or copied from the production database and gathered under the form of a meta-product on which the plurality of updates is applied. After updating, the meta-product is successively set into a customizable flow of one or more validation states in order to perform a cross-validation of the plurality of updates.

Abstract: A method of integrating large volumes of updates in a database system is described. Each individual update is comprised of a coherent set of data records supplied by a data provider. The database system includes a master file repository and an active image repository. The method comprises the steps of first obtaining for each individual update a unique modification identifier from a logistic table of the database system. The master file repository is then updated with the coherent set of data records of each uniquely identified individual update. A unique commit identifier is further obtained from the logistic table for each individual update that has been committed by the master file. The active image repository is synchronized by successively loading into the active image, in the order specified by the commit identifier, each individual update. Synchronization includes retrieving from the master file repository the coherent set of data records of each uniquely identified individual update.

Abstract: A system for identifying a parameter in a version of a data entity created at a specific time, wherein at a first time the version is an active version and at a second time the version is a previous version, the system comprising: a database for storing the plurality of versions of the data entity as they are created; a cache for storing the first active version of the data entity; wherein when a new version of the data entity is created by updating at least one parameter of the data entity, a new active version replaces the first active version stored in a cache and the first active version becomes a previous version stored in the cache; and wherein the new active version includes a list of the or each previous version of the data entity with an associated time at which the version was an active version, such that by identifying the version of the data entity which was active at the specific time the parameter is determined.

Abstract: A method and a system for maintaining coherence of cache contents in a multi-tiered architecture of servers are described. This includes a front tier of satellite servers, each operating a local cache, and a middle tier of central servers each operating a central cache. Central servers interface with databases through database servers to retrieve the data elements used to construct objects and store them in central caches. Once constructed, objects are attributed a time-to-live (TTL) and stored in central caches then, forwarded to the satellite servers where they are stored in local caches before being delivered to the software applications that have requested them. They are invalidated when outdated and reconstructed from a central server from where they are forwarded to all central caches and to the local caches where they are needed.

Abstract: A method and a system maintain consistency of a cache memory, accessible by multiple independent processes. The processes can share common data, and perform simultaneous data searching operations optionally followed by providing the data to the processes, and data removal/insertion. The searching, removal and insertion operations are comprehensively executed once initiated by processes, excluding one another when they must operate on common data. Removal and insertion are reversible. Providing, removing and inserting the data have a finite execution duration, preventing locking. Particularly, insertion (including a step of releasing an input when a partition of the cache memory is full) if requiring browsing through the entire partition to make a selection, is possibly interrupted if maximum browsing time is reached. Here, the most appropriate input among those already browsed is released.

Abstract: A travel product reservation system having a central computer system for processing the user requests, includes elements for calculating and returning to the user selling price information relating to travel products, the central computer system being accessible from at least one user station. The reservation system includes: database containing rules for determining the association with a fare family for each travel fare, a search engine for products that meet the input criteria of a user request and associated fares, the search engine being in communication with the database for accessing the determination rules and applying them to the travel products that meet the input criteria, for returning to the user station, for display, a reply containing information relating to the products that meet the input criteria, sorting them into fare families.

Abstract: A central computer system for processing user travel requests including an outbound journey and an inbound journey, includes elements for calculating and returning information on travel products to user, including sale prices, the central computer system being accessible from at least one user terminal, and including: A travel solutions search engine that can access at least one travel segment database (FDB) and having elements for determining outbound segments and inbound segments that comply with input criteria; A fare search engine having elements to determine the fare associated with possible travel solutions; A travel products grouping engine that applies grouping criteria which include at least one fare equivalence criterion; Elements for extracting the outbound and inbound segments from each group of travel products; Elements for displaying information on at least one group of travel products on the user terminal, separating the outbound segments and inbound segments.