Claim of Priority

This application claims priority to U.S. Application 62/303,785 filed on March 4, 2016 and U.S. Application 62/295,240 filed on February 15, 2016 and U.S. Application 62/281,552 filed on January 21, 2016, the contents of all of which are hereby fully incorporated by reference.

Field of the Embodiments

The field of the embodiments of the present invention relate to systems and methods to quantify likeability and to forecast revenue for travel accommodations. In particular, the present invention utilizes various analytic measures that quantify how a potential accommodation is presented to a potential guest and uses these analytics to increase revenue and optimize rates for the travel accommodation providers.

Background of the Embodiments

The travel and hospitality industry in the United States and throughout the world is an ever increasing business sector. Many of these increases have been brought about by advances in communications networks, such as the internet, and the information available to the general public at large. This has enabled data to be captured, analyzed, and converted into usable metrics to define varying factors associated with the particular travel accommodation.

For example, website based systems, such as individual booking sites or content aggregators, are used to offer the sale and/or rental of many travel accommodations and are used to make a large percentage of travel reservations/bookings. When a user of these systems makes a reservation/booking, a generous amount of user travel data by the travel accommodation provider. The travel data may include, but is not limited to, a destination city, specific properties, dates of arrival, length of stay, room type, amenities, price, availability information, and/or other travel information.

Such data can be invaluable to a travel accommodation provider and can be used to greatly influence the price and availability of the accommodations. In some instances, travel accommodation owners and managers can use this travel data to improve decisions relating to the management and sale of relating to their travel accommodations. The mere availability of this data, however, does not by itself improve decisions that may lead to increased profits for the travel property. There are a number of conventional revenue management systems and booking engines that are simply not equipped to make sufficient use of this newfound wealth of acquired user travel data in order to deliver actionable insights and analysis as needed.

Thus, there is a need for a system and method that provides travel accommodation providers with an optimized rate for their accommodations in order to increase revenues based on publicly available information. The present invention and its embodiments meets and exceeds these objectives.

Review of related technology: U.S. Patent 8,903,872 pertains to a breadth- first join module that receives, at a runtime, a query for travel data, wherein the travel data is stored in a data store, the data store comprising parent and child data structures arranged in a hierarchy. The breadth- first join module identifies a first child data structure associated with the travel data, the first child data structure comprising a plurality of pointers, wherein each of the plurality of pointers is associated with one of a plurality of first level parent data structures in the data store and queries each of the plurality of first level parent data structures to resolve the plurality of pointers in the first child data structure, wherein the plurality of first level parent data structures comprise travel data objects associated with the plurality of pointers, and wherein at least one of the plurality of first level parent data structures comprises a pointer to a second level parent data structure. The breadth- first join module queries the second level parent data structure to resolve the pointer in the at least one first level parent data structure, wherein all of the plurality of pointers in the first child data structure are resolved prior to querying the second level parent data structure.

U.S. Patent Application 2011/0116844 pertains to an industry-neutral price optimization solution that recommends optimal prices by performing a simultaneous evaluation of all network- wide demand and supply considerations. Travel Price Optimization (TPO) produces an optimal time-phased price profile designed to achieve the greatest return on inventory. An optimizer technique takes the baseline demand forecasts, competitive intelligence, inventory data, and other related parameters and data representing real- world objects, and determines the optimal prices at which the user will achieve the greatest return on inventory. The optimizer technique can be directed to maximize revenues, profits, or market share. TPO produces a recommended price profile, that can be manipulated in an interactive graphical user interface, and illustrates what price must be charged now, and what prices must be charged later in the booking cycle. Using price sensitive forecasting to estimate how price impacts demand, TPO helps users to maximize revenues, profits, or market share. TPO recommends prices by dated- resources.

U.S. Patent Application 2014/0222518 pertains to a method and system for setting the optimal price for a hotel property. The method includes the steps of receiving electronic data having marketing information, including, for example, the customers won and lost by competitors. One or more price sensitivity coefficients are calculated based on the market data. The price sensitivity coefficients are used to calculate a predicted share value representing the probability that a next customer will book a property at the subject hotel at a particular price. The price sensitivity coefficients are also used to calculate a price elasticity value representing the responsiveness of demand for the hotel property to a change in the price of that property. The price of the hotel property is set at a point where the price elasticity value is substantially equal to -1.0.

U.S. Patent Application 2014/0257938 pertains to hospitality customer acquisition and retention costs that are analyzed on a per-channel, channel-agnostic, and aggregated basis. Hotel performance is analyzed by examining net revenue by channel (accounting for each channel's contribution to operating expenses and profits), net revenue in aggregate (via net revPAR and revPAR capture metrics), and the relative benefit of sales and marketing expenses by quantifying net sales and marketing efficiency. Conceptually, this differentiation parses the relevant business into a revenue performance evaluation and a return on investment evaluation, in terms that are specific to the hospitality environment. Transaction data is analyzed from multiple hotels and each hotel's costs are mapped to a common data structure to allow for hotel-to-industry comparisons. Graphical user interfaces are provided for reporting data and comparisons, and for receiving input to initiate what-if analyses to determine projected impacts to performance metrics as a result of changes made to business mix components.

U.S. Patent Application 2015/0193799 pertains to a method that allows for a

comprehensive and unbiased analysis on hotel prices for a market. It allows positioning of a particular hotel vis-a-vis the market characteristics where it is located. This market price analysis is integrated into a revenue management system in order to update price recommendations based on market elements which are external to the hotel. The method according to the present invention poses no limit to the number of competitors against whom the hotel's own rates are benchmarked, its purpose being to provide a global market vision. Hoteliers do not even need to figure out whom they are competing with. The method provides new analyses on market trends, and it allows the hotel user to truly position his property vis-a-vis the market over time. At last, it provides insightful recommendations based on user rules which are self-explainable.

Various systems and methodologies are known in the art. However, their structure and means of operation are substantially different from the present disclosure. The other inventions fail to solve all the problems taught by the present disclosure. At least one embodiment of this invention is presented in the drawings below and will be described in more detail herein.

Summary of the Embodiments

In general, the present invention and its embodiments provide methods and systems for optimizing rates for a travel accommodation provider thereby increasing revenues attributable to the provider. The travel accommodations contained under the purview of the present invention may include, but is not limited to, airline tickets, cruise ship tickets, hotel room reservations/bookings, theme park tickets, rental car reservation/booking, attraction tickets, vacation rentals, tour reservations/bookings, and the like or any combination thereof.

The present invention and its embodiments further provide a technique to predict the likeability of a travel accommodation by a potential guest or traveler and using that information to make an accurate forecast of travel accommodation reservations/bookings and optimizing the rate of the travel accommodation.

In one embodiment, this may be implemented as a commercial management software which affords hotels and other corporative accommodation providers an effective managerial tool to influence their room rates.

In another embodiment, there is a more user driven software platform geared towards individuals intending to rent out all or part of their property holding(s). The underlying method and system utilizes analytics to convert a traditionally subjective aspect of a room (e.g. an image or a textual description of a review) and quantify it with a mathematical score which is representative of a potential guest's predicted likeability. The underlying assumption is that some of the strongest features for a guest to make a reservation for a particular travel accommodation are price, quality of room image, and reviews/description of the travel accommodation.

In some embodiments, the guest making the reservation may receive the corresponding score in real time based on a number of factors as described herein. In some embodiments, the score and reflected price of the potential booking may be tailored specifically for the guest. This enables unique prices to be applied to potentially every potential guest to maximize the revenue of a hotel, rental property, etc. based on their existing and potential clientele.

In one embodiment of the present invention there is a system comprising: a processor having a memory, the memory having computer readable instructions stored thereon that when executed by the processor perform the steps comprising: receiving, from a user, a first query pertaining to a travel accommodation; generating, via a processor, a first score pertaining to a plurality of travel accommodations, wherein the first score comprises a human element, a machine element, and forecast element, wherein the forecast element is generated via the human element and the machine element; generating, via a processor, a second score from the first score and a competitive element; and sending, to the user, the second score for each of the plurality of travel accommodations.

In another embodiment of the present invention there is a method of modifying a travel accommodation listing, the method comprising: analyzing information associated with the travel accommodation listing, wherein the information comprises at least textual based information and/or at least one image; computing a first score based on the information analyzed; comparing the first score to a baseline score; making at least one recommendation pertaining to the information, wherein the at least one recommendation is a modification of the information configured to increase the first score.

In another embodiment of the present invention there is a system comprising: an information processing device comprising, a communication interface configured to connect with a communications network; a processor coupled to the communication interface, and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions for the information processing device, the instructions, when executed by the processor, causing the information processing device to perform the steps of: applying, via the processor, a geo-tag to a travel accommodation property; generating, via the processor, a comparison travel accommodation property set; computing, via the processor, a market compression of the travel accommodation property; computing, via the processor, local compression of the travel accommodation property; computing, via the processor, a first score; and comparing, via the processor, the first score to the travel accommodation property set.

In another embodiment of the present invention there is a non-transitory computer readable medium containing a set of computer readable instructions for optimizing a rate of a travel accommodation that when loaded into a computer device configure that computer device to perform the steps of: applying, via the processor, a geo-tag to a travel accommodation property; generating, via the processor, a comparison travel accommodation property set;

computing, via the processor, a market compression of the travel accommodation property; computing, via the processor, local compression of the travel accommodation property;

computing, via the processor, a first score; and comparing, via the processor, the first score to the travel accommodation property set.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention there is a system comprising: a communication interface to which a plurality of image processing devices are connectable through a network; a memory storing a price optimization program for optimizing a price of a travel accommodation on each of the image processing devices; and a processor configured to execute the price optimization program to cause the following steps to be performed: applying, via the processor, a geo-tag to a travel accommodation property; generating, via the processor, a comparison travel accommodation property set; computing, via the processor, a market compression of the travel accommodation property; computing, via the processor, local compression of the travel accommodation property; computing, via the processor, a first score; and comparing, via the processor, the first score to the travel accommodation property set.

In general, the present invention succeeds in conferring the following, and others not mentioned, benefits and objectives. It is an object of the present invention to provide a system that provides prediction factors regarding the likeability of a potential travel accommodation by a potential guest.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a system that optimizes the sell price for a travel related accommodation.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a system that identifies the features most important for a potential guest of a travel accommodation.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a system that uses textual and image analysis to provide a quantifiable metric for predictive analytics.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a system that utilizes a scoring system to create an identifiable metric for the system user.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a system that uses a combination of human and machine variables.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a system that uses an interactive dashboard to configure the optimized rates of a travel accommodation provider.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a system that may be used both by potential guests of a travel accommodation and owners/managers of the travel accommodation to either book a travel accommodation or optimize the available accommodations.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a system to provide custom tailored metrics for potential guests in real time.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a system that uses machine learning to influence the metrics associated with a travel accommodation provider. It is an object of the present invention to provide a system that provides

recommendations to travel accommodation providers in improve their chances of receiving a travel accommodation booking.

Brief Description of the Drawings

FIG. 1 is a comparison of an image of a travel accommodation and a corresponding saliency map of the image.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a high level architecture of obtaining a saliency map from an image.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating various images and a score attributable to each image.

FIG. 4 is an example screen showing a low scoring image of a travel accommodation.

FIG. 5 is an example screen showing a higher scoring image of the image shown in FIG. 4 which has been improved via modification of the image.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of machine learning employed by the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of machine learning employed by the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of machine learning employed by the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an example screen illustrating an overall score and sub-scores for a travel accommodation.

FIG. 10 is an example screen illustrating a user profile in accordance with the present invention. FIG. 11 is an example screen illustrating a rate setting screen in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 12 is an example screen illustrating a revenue forecast screen in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 13 is an example screen illustrating a calendar screen in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 14 is an example screen illustrating a first interactive dashboard in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 15 is an example screen illustrating a second interactive dashboard in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a flow diagram illustrating at least some of the modules comprising the speech recognition feature of embodiments of the present invention.

Description of the Preferred Embodiments

The preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. Identical elements in the various figures are identified with the same reference numerals.

Reference will now be made in detail to each embodiment of the present invention. Such embodiments are provided by way of explanation of the present invention, which is not intended to be limited thereto. In fact, those of ordinary skill in the art may appreciate upon reading the present specification and viewing the present drawings that various modifications and variations can be made thereto. Typically, a user or users, which may be people or groups of users and/or other systems, may engage information technology systems (e.g., computers) to facilitate operation of the system and information processing. In turn, computers employ processors to process information and such processors may be referred to as central processing units (CPU). One form of processor is referred to as a microprocessor. CPUs use communicative circuits to pass binary encoded signals acting as instructions to enable various operations. These instructions may be operational and/or data instructions containing and/or referencing other instructions and data in various processor accessible and operable areas of memory (e.g., registers, cache memory, random access memory, etc.). Such communicative instructions may be stored and/or transmitted in batches (e.g., batches of instructions) as programs and/or data components to facilitate desired operations. These stored instruction codes, e.g., programs, may engage the CPU circuit components and other motherboard and/or system components to perform desired operations.

One type of program is a computer operating system, which, may be executed by CPU on a computer; the operating system enables and facilitates users to access and operate computer information technology and resources. Some resources that may be employed in information technology systems include: input and output mechanisms through which data may pass into and out of a computer; memory storage into which data may be saved; and processors by which information may be processed. These information technology systems may be used to collect data for later retrieval, analysis, and manipulation, which may be facilitated through a database program. These information technology systems provide interfaces that allow users to access and operate various system components.

In one embodiment, the present invention may be connected to and/or communicate with entities such as, but not limited to: one or more users from user input devices; peripheral devices; an optional cryptographic processor device; and/or a communications network. For example, the present invention may be connected to and/or communicate with users, operating client device(s), including, but not limited to, personal computer(s), server(s) and/or various mobile device(s) including, but not limited to, cellular telephone(s), smartphone(s) (e.g., iPhone®, Blackberry®, Android OS-based phones etc.), tablet computer(s) (e.g., Apple iPad™, HP

Slate™, Motorola Xoom™, etc.), eBook reader(s) (e.g., Amazon Kindle™, Barnes and Noble's Nook™ eReader, etc.), laptop computer(s), notebook(s), netbook(s), gaming console(s) (e.g., XBOX Live™, Nintendo® DS, Sony PlayStation® Portable, etc.), portable scanner(s) and/or the like.

Networks are commonly thought to comprise the interconnection and interoperation of clients, servers, and intermediary nodes in a graph topology. It should be noted that the term "server" as used throughout this application refers generally to a computer, other device, program, or combination thereof that processes and responds to the requests of remote users across a communications network. Servers serve their information to requesting "clients." The term "client" as used herein refers generally to a computer, program, other device, user and/or combination thereof that is capable of processing and making requests and obtaining and processing any responses from servers across a communications network. A computer, other device, program, or combination thereof that facilitates, processes information and requests, and/or furthers the passage of information from a source user to a destination user is commonly referred to as a "node."

Networks are generally thought to facilitate the transfer of information from source points to destinations. A node specifically tasked with furthering the passage of information from a source to a destination is commonly called a "router." There are many forms of networks such as Local Area Networks (LANs), Pico networks, Wide Area Networks (WANs), Wireless Networks (WLANs), etc. For example, the Internet is generally accepted as being an interconnection of a multitude of networks whereby remote clients and servers may access and interoperate with one another.

The present invention may be based on computer systems that may comprise, but are not limited to, components such as: a computer systemization connected to memory.

Computer Systemization

A computer systemization may comprise a clock, central processing unit ("CPU(s))" and/or "processor(s)" (these terms are used interchangeable throughout the disclosure unless noted to the contrary)), a memory (e.g., a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), etc.), and/or an interface bus, and most frequently, although not necessarily, are all interconnected and/or communicating through a system bus on one or more (mother)board(s) having conductive and/or otherwise transportive circuit pathways through which instructions (e.g., binary encoded signals) may travel to effect communications, operations, storage, etc. Optionally, the computer systemization may be connected to an internal power source; e.g., optionally the power source may be internal. Optionally, a cryptographic processor and/or transceivers (e.g., ICs) may be connected to the system bus. In another embodiment, the cryptographic processor and/or transceivers may be connected as either internal and/or external peripheral devices via the interface bus I/O.

In turn, the transceivers may be connected to antenna(s), thereby effectuating wireless transmission and reception of various communication and/or sensor protocols; for example the antenna(s) may connect to: a Texas Instruments WiLink WL1283 transceiver chip (e.g., providing 802.11η, Bluetooth 3.0, FM, global positioning system (GPS) (thereby allowing the controller of the present invention to determine its location)); Broadcom BCM4329FKUBG transceiver chip (e.g., providing 802.11η, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, FM, etc.); a Broadcom

BCM4750IUB8 receiver chip (e.g., GPS); an Infineon Technologies X-Gold 618-PMB9800 (e.g., providing 2G/3G HSDPA/HSUPA communications); and/or the like.

The system clock typically has a crystal oscillator and generates a base signal through the computer systemization' s circuit pathways. The clock is typically coupled to the system bus and various clock multipliers that will increase or decrease the base operating frequency for other components interconnected in the computer systemization. The clock and various components in a computer systemization drive signals embodying information throughout the system. Such transmission and reception of instructions embodying information throughout a computer systemization may be commonly referred to as communications. These communicative instructions may further be transmitted, received, and the cause of return and/or reply communications beyond the instant computer systemization to: communications networks, input devices, other computer systemizations, peripheral devices, and/or the like. Of course, any of the above components may be connected directly to one another, connected to the CPU, and/or organized in numerous variations employed as exemplified by various computer systems.

The CPU comprises at least one high-speed data processor adequate to execute program components for executing user and/or system-generated requests. Often, the processors themselves will incorporate various specialized processing units, such as, but not limited to: integrated system (bus) controllers, memory management control units, floating point units, and even specialized processing sub-units like graphics processing units, digital signal processing units, and/or the like. Additionally, processors may include internal fast access addressable memory, and be capable of mapping and addressing memory beyond the processor itself; internal memory may include, but is not limited to: fast registers, various levels of cache memory (e.g., level 1, 2, 3, etc.), RAM, etc. The processor may access this memory through the use of a memory address space that is accessible via instruction address, which the processor can construct and decode allowing it to access a circuit path to a specific memory address space having a memory state.

The CPU may be a microprocessor such as: AMD's Athlon, Duron and/or Opteron;

ARM's application, embedded and secure processors; IBM and/or Motorola's DragonBall and PowerPC; IBM's and Sony's Cell processor; Intel's Celeron, Core (2) Duo, Itanium, Pentium, Xeon, and/or XScale; and/or the like processor(s). The CPU interacts with memory through instruction passing through conductive and/or transportive conduits (e.g., (printed) electronic and/or optic circuits) to execute stored instructions (i.e., program code) according to

conventional data processing techniques. Such instruction passing facilitates communication within the present invention and beyond through various interfaces. Should processing requirements dictate a greater amount speed and/or capacity, distributed processors (e.g.,

Distributed embodiments of the present invention), mainframe, multi-core, parallel, and/or supercomputer architectures may similarly be employed. Alternatively, should deployment requirements dictate greater portability, smaller Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) may be employed.

Depending on the particular implementation, features of the present invention may be achieved by implementing a microcontroller such as CAST' S R8051XC2 microcontroller; Intel's MCS 51 (i.e., 8051 microcontroller); and/or the like. Also, to implement certain features of the various embodiments, some feature implementations may rely on embedded components, such as: Application-Specific Integrated Circuit ("ASIC"), Digital Signal Processing ("DSP"), Field Programmable Gate Array ("FPGA"), and/or the like embedded technology. For example, any of the component collection (distributed or otherwise) and/or features of the present invention may be implemented via the microprocessor and/or via embedded components; e.g., via ASIC, coprocessor, DSP, FPGA, and/or the like. Alternately, some implementations of the present invention may be implemented with embedded components that are configured and used to achieve a variety of features or signal processing.

Depending on the particular implementation, the embedded components may include software solutions, hardware solutions, and/or some combination of both hardware/software solutions. For example, features of the present invention discussed herein may be achieved through implementing FPGAs, which are a semiconductor devices containing programmable logic components called "logic blocks", and programmable interconnects, such as the high performance FPGA Virtex series and/or the low cost Spartan series manufactured by Xilinx.

Logic blocks and interconnects can be programmed by the customer or designer, after the FPGA is manufactured, to implement any of the features of the present invention. A hierarchy of programmable interconnects allow logic blocks to be interconnected as needed by the system designer/administrator of the present invention, somewhat like a one-chip programmable breadboard. An FPGA's logic blocks can be programmed to perform the function of basic logic gates such as AND, and XOR, or more complex combinational functions such as decoders or simple mathematical functions. In most FPGAs, the logic blocks also include memory elements, which may be simple flip-flops or more complete blocks of memory. In some circumstances, the present invention may be developed on regular FPGAs and then migrated into a fixed version that more resembles ASIC implementations. Alternate or coordinating implementations may migrate features of the controller of the present invention to a final ASIC instead of or in addition to FPGAs. Depending on the implementation all of the aforementioned embedded components and microprocessors may be considered the "CPU" and/or "processor" for the present invention.

Power Source

The power source may be of any standard form for powering small electronic circuit board devices such as the following power cells: alkaline, lithium hydride, lithium ion, lithium polymer, nickel cadmium, solar cells, and/or the like. Other types of AC or DC power sources may be used as well. In the case of solar cells, in one embodiment, the case provides an aperture through which the solar cell may capture photonic energy. The power cell is connected to at least one of the interconnected subsequent components of the present invention thereby providing an electric current to all subsequent components. In one example, the power source is connected to the system bus component. In an alternative embodiment, an outside power source is provided through a connection across the I/O interface. For example, a USB and/or IEEE 1394 connection carries both data and power across the connection and is therefore a suitable source of power.

Interface Adapters

Interface bus(ses) may accept, connect, and/or communicate to a number of interface adapters, conventionally although not necessarily in the form of adapter cards, such as but not limited to: input output interfaces (I/O), storage interfaces, network interfaces, and/or the like. Optionally, cryptographic processor interfaces similarly may be connected to the interface bus. The interface bus provides for the communications of interface adapters with one another as well as with other components of the computer systemization. Interface adapters are adapted for a compatible interface bus. Interface adapters conventionally connect to the interface bus via a slot architecture. Conventional slot architectures may be employed, such as, but not limited to:

Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP), Card Bus, (Extended) Industry Standard Architecture

((E)ISA), Micro Channel Architecture (MCA), NuBus, Peripheral Component Interconnect (Extended) (PCI(X)), PCI Express, Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA), and/or the like.

Storage interfaces may accept, communicate, and/or connect to a number of storage devices such as, but not limited to: storage devices, removable disc devices, and/or the like. Storage interfaces may employ connection protocols such as, but not limited to: (Ultra) (Serial) Advanced Technology Attachment (Packet Interface) ((Ultra) (Serial) ATA(PI)), (Enhanced) Integrated Drive Electronics ((E)IDE), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1394, fiber channel, Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI), Universal Serial Bus (USB), and/or the like.

Network interfaces may accept, communicate, and/or connect to a communications network. Through a communications network, the controller of the present invention is accessible through remote clients (e.g., computers with web browsers) by users. Network interfaces may employ connection protocols such as, but not limited to: direct connect, Ethernet (thick, thin, twisted pair 10/100/1000 Base T, and/or the like), Token Ring, wireless connection such as IEEE 802.1 la-x, and/or the like. Should processing requirements dictate a greater amount speed and/or capacity, distributed network controllers (e.g., Distributed embodiments of the present invention), architectures may similarly be employed to pool, load balance, and/or otherwise increase the communicative bandwidth required by the controller of the present invention. A communications network may be any one and/or the combination of the following: a direct interconnection; the Internet; a Local Area Network (LAN); a Metropolitan Area Network (MAN); an Operating Missions as Nodes on the Internet (OMNI); a secured custom connection; a Wide Area Network (WAN); a wireless network (e.g., employing protocols such as, but not limited to a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), I-mode, and/or the like); and/or the like. A network interface may be regarded as a specialized form of an input output interface. Further, multiple network interfaces may be used to engage with various communications network types. For example, multiple network interfaces may be employed to allow for the communication over broadcast, multicast, and/or unicast networks.

Input Output interfaces (I/O) may accept, communicate, and/or connect to user input devices, peripheral devices, cryptographic processor devices, and/or the like. I/O may employ connection protocols such as, but not limited to: audio: analog, digital, monaural, RCA, stereo, and/or the like; data: Apple Desktop Bus (ADB), IEEE 1394a-b, serial, universal serial bus (USB); infrared; joystick; keyboard; midi; optical; PC AT; PS/2; parallel; radio; video interface: Apple Desktop Connector (ADC), BNC, coaxial, component, composite, digital, Digital Visual Interface (DVI), high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI), RCA, RF antennae, S-Video, VGA, and/or the like; wireless transceivers: 802.11a/b/g/n/x; Bluetooth; cellular (e.g., code division multiple access (CDMA), high speed packet access (HSPA(+)), high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA), global system for mobile communications (GSM), long term evolution (LTE), WiMax, etc.); and/or the like. One typical output device may include a video display, which typically comprises a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) or Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) based monitor with an interface (e.g., DVI circuitry and cable) that accepts signals from a video interface, may be used. The video interface composites information generated by a computer sy stemization and generates video signals based on the composited information in a video memory frame. Another output device is a television set, which accepts signals from a video interface. Typically, the video interface provides the composited video information through a video connection interface that accepts a video display interface (e.g., an RCA composite video connector accepting an RCA composite video cable; a DVI connector accepting a DVI display cable, etc.).

User input devices often are a type of peripheral device (see below) and may include: card readers, dongles, finger print readers, gloves, graphics tablets, joysticks, keyboards, microphones, mouse (mice), remote controls, retina readers, touch screens (e.g., capacitive, resistive, etc.), trackballs, trackpads, sensors (e.g., accelerometers, ambient light, GPS, gyroscopes, proximity, etc.), styluses, and/or the like.

Peripheral devices and the like may be connected and/or communicate to I/O and/or other facilities of the like such as network interfaces, storage interfaces, directly to the interface bus, system bus, the CPU, and/or the like. Peripheral devices may be external, internal and/or part of the controller of the present invention. Peripheral devices may also include, for example, an antenna, audio devices (e.g., line-in, line-out, microphone input, speakers, etc.), cameras (e.g., still, video, webcam, etc.), drive motors, lighting, video monitors and/or the like.

Cryptographic units such as, but not limited to, microcontrollers, processors, interfaces, and/or devices may be attached, and/or communicate with the controller of the present invention. A MC68HC16 microcontroller, manufactured by Motorola Inc., may be used for and/or within cryptographic units. The MC68HC16 microcontroller utilizes a 16-bit multiply-and-accumulate instruction in the 16 MHz configuration and requires less than one second to perform a 512-bit RSA private key operation. Cryptographic units support the authentication of communications from interacting agents, as well as allowing for anonymous transactions. Cryptographic units may also be configured as part of CPU. Equivalent microcontrollers and/or processors may also be used. Other commercially available specialized cryptographic processors include: the Broadcom's Crypto NetX and other Security Processors; nCipher's nShield, SafeNet's Luna PCI (e.g., 7100) series; Semaphore Communications' 40 MHz Roadrunner 184; Sun's Cryptographic Accelerators (e.g., Accelerator 6000 PCIe Board, Accelerator 500 Daughtercard); Via Nano Processor (e.g., L2100, L2200, U2400) line, which is capable of performing 500+ MB/s of cryptographic instructions; VLSI Technology's 33 MHz 6868; and/or the like. Memory

Generally, any mechanization and/or embodiment allowing a processor to affect the storage and/or retrieval of information is regarded as memory. However, memory is a fungible technology and resource, thus, any number of memory embodiments may be employed in lieu of or in concert with one another. It is to be understood that the controller of the present invention and/or a computer systemization may employ various forms of memory. For example, a computer systemization may be configured wherein the functionality of on-chip CPU memory (e.g., registers), RAM, ROM, and any other storage devices are provided by a paper punch tape or paper punch card mechanism; of course such an embodiment would result in an extremely slow rate of operation.

In a typical configuration, memory will include ROM, RAM, and a storage device. A storage device may be any conventional computer system storage. Storage devices may include a drum; a (fixed and/or removable) magnetic disk drive; a magneto-optical drive; an optical drive (i.e., Blueray, CD ROM/RAM/Recordable (R)/ReWritable (RW), DVD R/RW, HD DVD R/RW etc.); an array of devices (e.g., Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID)); solid state memory devices (USB memory, solid state drives (SSD), etc.); other processor-readable storage mediums; and/or other devices of the like. Thus, a computer systemization generally requires and makes use of memory.

Component Collection

The memory may contain a collection of program and/or database components and/or data such as, but not limited to: operating system component(s) (operating system); information server component(s) (information server); user interface component(s) (user interface); Web browser component(s) (Web browser); database(s); mail server component(s); mail client component(s); cryptographic server component(s) (cryptographic server) and/or the like (i.e., collectively a component collection). These components may be stored and accessed from the storage devices and/or from storage devices accessible through an interface bus. Although non- conventional program components such as those in the component collection, typically, are stored in a local storage device, they may also be loaded and/or stored in memory such as:

peripheral devices, RAM, remote storage facilities through a communications network, ROM, various forms of memory, and/or the like.

Operating System

The operating system component is an executable program component facilitating the operation of the controller of the present invention. Typically, the operating system facilitates access of I/O, network interfaces, peripheral devices, storage devices, and/or the like. The operating system may be a highly fault tolerant, scalable, and secure system such as: Apple Macintosh OS X (Server); AT&T Plan 9; Be OS; Unix and Unix-like system distributions (such as AT&T's UNIX; Berkley Software Distribution (BSD) variations such as FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, and/or the like; Linux distributions such as Red Hat, Ubuntu, and/or the like); and/or the like operating systems. However, more limited and/or less secure operating systems also may be employed such as Apple Macintosh OS, IBM OS/2, Microsoft DOS, Microsoft Windows 2000/2003/3.1/95/98/CE/Millenium/NT/Vista/XP (Server), Palm OS, and/or the like. The operating system may be one specifically optimized to be run on a mobile computing device, such as iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Tizen, Symbian, and/or the like.

An operating system may communicate to and/or with other components in a component collection, including itself, and/or the like. Most frequently, the operating system communicates with other program components, user interfaces, and/or the like. For example, the operating system may contain, communicate, generate, obtain, and/or provide program component, system, user, and/or data communications, requests, and/or responses. The operating system, once executed by the CPU, may enable the interaction with communications networks, data, I/O, peripheral devices, program components, memory, user input devices, and/or the like. The operating system may provide communications protocols that allow the controller of the present invention to communicate with other entities through a communications network. Various communication protocols may be used by the controller of the present invention as a subcarrier transport mechanism for interaction, such as, but not limited to: multicast, TCP/IP, UDP, unicast, and/or the like.

Information Server An information server component is a stored program component that is executed by a CPU. The information server may be a conventional Internet information server such as, but not limited to Apache Software Foundation's Apache, Microsoft's Internet Information Server, and/or the like. The information server may allow for the execution of program components through facilities such as Active Server Page (ASP), ActiveX, (ANSI) (Objective-) C (++), C# and/or .NET, Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts, dynamic (D) hypertext markup language (HTML), FLASH, Java, JavaScript, Practical Extraction Report Language (PERL), Hypertext Pre-Processor (PHP), pipes, Python, wireless application protocol (WAP),

WebObjects, and/or the like. The information server may support secure communications protocols such as, but not limited to, File Transfer Protocol (FTP); HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP); Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTPS), Secure Socket Layer (SSL), messaging protocols (e.g., America Online (AOL) Instant Messenger (AIM), Application Exchange (APEX), ICQ, Internet Relay Chat (IRC), Microsoft Network (MSN) Messenger Service, Presence and Instant Messaging Protocol (PRIM), Internet Engineering Task Force's (IETF's) Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), SIP for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE), open XML-based Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) (i.e., Jabber or Open Mobile Alliance's (OMA's) Instant Messaging and Presence Service (IMPS)), Yahoo! Instant Messenger Service, and/or the like. The information server provides results in the form of Web pages to Web browsers, and allows for the manipulated generation of the Web pages through interaction with other program components.

After a Domain Name System (DNS) resolution portion of an HTTP request is resolved to a particular information server, the information server resolves requests for information at specified locations on the controller of the present invention based on the remainder of the HTTP request. For example, a request such as "http://123.124.125.126/myInformation.html" might have the IP portion of the request "123.124.125.126" resolved by a DNS server to an information server at that IP address; that information server might in turn further parse the http request for the "/mylnformation.html" portion of the request and resolve it to a location in memory containing the information "mylnformation.html." Additionally, other information serving protocols may be employed across various ports, e.g., FTP communications across port, and/or the like. An information server may communicate to and/or with other components in a component collection, including itself, and/or facilities of the like. Most frequently, the information server communicates with the database of the present invention, operating systems, other program components, user interfaces, Web browsers, and/or the like.

Access to the database of the present invention may be achieved through a number of database bridge mechanisms such as through scripting languages as enumerated below (e.g., CGI) and through inter-application communication channels as enumerated below (e.g., CORBA, WebObjects, etc.). Any data requests through a Web browser are parsed through the bridge mechanism into appropriate grammars as required by the present invention. In one embodiment, the information server would provide a Web form accessible by a Web browser. Entries made into supplied fields in the Web form are tagged as having been entered into the particular fields, and parsed as such. The entered terms are then passed along with the field tags, which act to instruct the parser to generate queries directed to appropriate tables and/or fields. In one embodiment, the parser may generate queries in standard SQL by instantiating a search string with the proper join/select commands based on the tagged text entries, wherein the resulting command is provided over the bridge mechanism to the present invention as a query. Upon generating query results from the query, the results are passed over the bridge mechanism, and may be parsed for formatting and generation of a new results Web page by the bridge mechanism. Such a new results Web page is then provided to the information server, which may supply it to the requesting Web browser.

Also, an information server may contain, communicate, generate, obtain, and/or provide program component, system, user, and/or data communications, requests, and/or responses.

User Interface

Computer interfaces in some respects are similar to automobile operation

interfaces. Automobile operation interface elements such as steering wheels, gearshifts, and speedometers facilitate the access, operation, and display of automobile resources, and status. Computer interaction interface elements such as check boxes, cursors, menus, scrollers, and windows (collectively and commonly referred to as widgets) similarly facilitate the access, capabilities, operation, and display of data and computer hardware and operating system resources, and status. Operation interfaces are commonly called user interfaces. Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) such as the Apple Macintosh Operating System's Aqua, IBM's OS/2,

Microsoft's Windows 2000/2003/3. l/95/98/CE/Millenium/NT/XP/Vista/7 (i.e., Aero), Unix's X- Windows (e.g., which may include additional Unix graphic interface libraries and layers such as K Desktop Environment (KDE), mythTV and GNU Network Object Model Environment (GNOME)), web interface libraries (e.g., ActiveX, AJAX, (D)HTML, FLASH, Java, JavaScript, etc. interface libraries such as, but not limited to, Dojo, jQuery(UI), MooTools, Prototype, script. aculo. us, SWFObject, Yahoo! User Interface, any of which may be used and) provide a baseline and means of accessing and displaying information graphically to users. A user interface component is a stored program component that is executed by a CPU. The user interface may be a conventional graphic user interface as provided by, with, and/or atop operating systems and/or operating environments such as already discussed. The user interface may allow for the display, execution, interaction, manipulation, and/or operation of program components and/or system facilities through textual and/or graphical facilities. The user interface provides a facility through which users may affect, interact, and/or operate a computer system. A user interface may communicate to and/or with other components in a component collection, including itself, and/or facilities of the like. Most frequently, the user interface communicates with operating systems, other program components, and/or the like. The user interface may contain, communicate, generate, obtain, and/or provide program component, system, user, and/or data communications, requests, and/or responses.

Web Browser

A Web browser component is a stored program component that is executed by a CPU. The Web browser may be a conventional hypertext viewing application such as Microsoft

Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator. Secure Web browsing may be supplied with 128bit (or greater) encryption by way of HTTPS, SSL, and/or the like. Web browsers allowing for the execution of program components through facilities such as ActiveX, AJAX, (D)HTML, FLASH, Java, JavaScript, web browser plug-in APIs (e.g., FireFox, Safari Plug-in, and/or the like APIs), and/or the like. Web browsers and like information access tools may be integrated into PDAs, cellular telephones, and/or other mobile devices. A Web browser may communicate to and/or with other components in a component collection, including itself, and/or facilities of the like. Most frequently, the Web browser communicates with information servers, operating systems, integrated program components (e.g., plug-ins), and/or the like; e.g., it may contain, communicate, generate, obtain, and/or provide program component, system, user, and/or data communications, requests, and/or responses. Of course, in place of a Web browser and information server, a combined application may be developed to perform similar functions of both. The combined application would similarly affect the obtaining and the provision of information to users, user agents, and/or the like from the enabled nodes of the present invention. The combined application may be nugatory on systems employing standard Web browsers.

Mail Server

A mail server component is a stored program component that is executed by a CPU. The mail server may be a conventional Internet mail server such as, but not limited to sendmail, Microsoft Exchange, and/or the like. The mail server may allow for the execution of program components through facilities such as ASP, ActiveX, (ANSI) (Objective-) C (++), C# and/or .NET, CGI scripts, Java, JavaScript, PERL, PHP, pipes, Python, WebObjects, and/or the like. The mail server may support communications protocols such as, but not limited to: Internet message access protocol (IMAP), Messaging Application Programming Interface

(MAPI)/Microsoft Exchange, post office protocol (POP3), simple mail transfer protocol

(SMTP), and/or the like. The mail server can route, forward, and process incoming and outgoing mail messages that have been sent, relayed and/or otherwise traversing through and/or to the present invention.

Access to the mail of the present invention may be achieved through a number of APIs offered by the individual Web server components and/or the operating system. Also, a mail server may contain, communicate, generate, obtain, and/or provide program component, system, user, and/or data communications, requests, information, and/or responses.

Mail Client

A mail client component is a stored program component that is executed by a CPU. The mail client may be a conventional mail viewing application such as Apple Mail, Microsoft Entourage, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Outlook Express, Mozilla, Thunderbird, and/or the like. Mail clients may support a number of transfer protocols, such as: IMAP, Microsoft

Exchange, POP3, SMTP, and/or the like. A mail client may communicate to and/or with other components in a component collection, including itself, and/or facilities of the like. Most frequently, the mail client communicates with mail servers, operating systems, other mail clients, and/or the like; e.g., it may contain, communicate, generate, obtain, and/or provide program component, system, user, and/or data communications, requests, information, and/or responses. Generally, the mail client provides a facility to compose and transmit electronic mail messages.

Cryptographic Server

A cryptographic server component is a stored program component that is executed by a CPU, cryptographic processor, cryptographic processor interface, cryptographic processor device, and/or the like. Cryptographic processor interfaces will allow for expedition of encryption and/or decryption requests by the cryptographic component; however, the

cryptographic component, alternatively, may run on a conventional CPU. The cryptographic component allows for the encryption and/or decryption of provided data. The cryptographic component allows for both symmetric and asymmetric (e.g., Pretty Good Protection (PGP)) encryption and/or decryption. The cryptographic component may employ cryptographic techniques such as, but not limited to: digital certificates (e.g., X.509 authentication framework), digital signatures, dual signatures, enveloping, password access protection, public key management, and/or the like.

The cryptographic component will facilitate numerous (encryption and/or decryption) security protocols such as, but not limited to: checksum, Data Encryption Standard (DES), Elliptical Curve Encryption (ECC), International Data Encryption Algorithm (IDEA), Message Digest 5 (MD5, which is a one way hash function), passwords, Rivest Cipher (RC5), Rijndael, RSA (which is an Internet encryption and authentication system that uses an algorithm developed in 1977 by Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard Adleman), Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA), Secure Socket Layer (SSL), Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTPS), and/or the like. Employing such encryption security protocols, the present invention may encrypt all incoming and/or outgoing communications and may serve as node within a virtual private network (VPN) with a wider communications network.

The cryptographic component facilitates the process of "security authorization" whereby access to a resource is inhibited by a security protocol wherein the cryptographic component effects authorized access to the secured resource. In addition, the cryptographic component may provide unique identifiers of content, e.g., employing and MD5 hash to obtain a unique signature for a digital audio file. A cryptographic component may communicate to and/or with other components in a component collection, including itself, and/or facilities of the like. The cryptographic component supports encryption schemes allowing for the secure transmission of information across a communications network to enable the component of the present invention to engage in secure transactions if so desired. The cryptographic component facilitates the secure accessing of resources on the present invention and facilitates the access of secured resources on remote systems; i.e., it may act as a client and/or server of secured resources. Most frequently, the cryptographic component communicates with information servers, operating systems, other program components, and/or the like. The cryptographic component may contain, communicate, generate, obtain, and/or provide program component, system, user, and/or data communications, requests, and/or responses.

The Database of the Preferred Embodiment

The database component of the present invention may be embodied in a database and its stored data. The database is a stored program component, which is executed by the CPU; the stored program component portion configuring the CPU to process the stored data. The database may be a conventional, fault tolerant, relational, scalable, secure database such as Oracle or Sybase. Relational databases are an extension of a flat file. Relational databases consist of a series of related tables. The tables are interconnected via a key field. Use of the key field allows the combination of the tables by indexing against the key field; i.e., the key fields act as dimensional pivot points for combining information from various tables. Relationships generally identify links maintained between tables by matching primary keys. Primary keys represent fields that uniquely identify the rows of a table in a relational database. More precisely, they uniquely identify rows of a table on the "one" side of a one-to-many relationship.

Alternatively, the database of the present invention may be implemented using various standard data-structures, such as an array, hash, (linked) list, struct, structured text file (e.g., XML), table, and/or the like. Such data- structures may be stored in memory and/or in

(structured) files. In another alternative, an object-oriented database may be used, such as Frontier, ObjectStore, Poet, Zope, and/or the like. Object databases can include a number of object collections that are grouped and/or linked together by common attributes; they may be related to other object collections by some common attributes. Object-oriented databases perform similarly to relational databases with the exception that objects are not just pieces of data but may have other types of functionality encapsulated within a given object. If the database of the present invention is implemented as a data- structure, the use of the database of the present invention may be integrated into another component such as the component of the present invention. Also, the database may be implemented as a mix of data structures, objects, and relational structures. Databases may be consolidated and/or distributed in countless variations through standard data processing techniques. Portions of databases, e.g., tables, may be exported and/or imported and thus decentralized and/or integrated.

Embodiments of the Present Invention

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is an example image of an accommodation 100 provided by a travel accommodation provider. In the example image, there are various features including but not limited to a bed, tables, nightstands, lighting, pictures, curtains, etc. To the right side of the accommodation 100 there is a saliency map 200 of the accommodation 100.

The saliency map 200 illustrates that when viewing images, humans do not assimilate information uniformly from the entire scene but pay attention selectively to a few regions of the images. This selective attention of humans is innate and therefore immediate and involuntary. As such, these attention-grabbing regions in the scene regions stay highly consistent across different users. This phenomenon of visual saliency for a test image is illustrated in the two images in FIG. 1 as presented. While the left-half of the figure shows the accommodation 100, the right- half shows its saliency map 200, as noted above.

In the saliency map 200, the higher the intensity of a pixel in the saliency map (white patches), the greater the saliency of the corresponding pixel in the image. The present invention and its embodiments predict the attention grabbing regions in an image, such as that shown, using a deep learning architecture (e.g., convolutional neural networks (CNN)). For this particular CNN architecture to reliably predict visual saliency, the architecture is trained on thousands of images annotated with human eye fixation locations. Once one can predict the highly salient portion or portions of an image, then one can focus, for example, on rearranging elements of the image to fit within these highly salient areas. Alternatively, one may modify the elements already within those highly salient areas by modifying a color or other appearance of an object to provide a greater sense of perceived value to a potential customer.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram which identifies one iteration of creating a saliency map, as shown in FIG. 1, of a particular test image or existing travel accommodation listing image. Via the process shown in FIG. 2, the input image of the travel accommodation is resized to preferably a fixed dimension of about 256 pixels by about 256 pixels. In other embodiments, other sizes of the images may be used, and even in other embodiments, resizing may not be required.

The resizing of the travel accommodation images enables the present invention and its embodiments to account for varying resolutions between sample or test or existing travel accommodation listing images. Each pixel may then be prescribed a value depending on the pixel intensity. The value prescribed may be a numerical score which may range from one (1) to one hundred (100). The average value of the pixels can then be equated to the likeability score for any given travel accommodation image. Such a score may be referred to as the computer score or computer element.

For example, in FIG. 3, there are a number of travel accommodation images, in this case a hotel room, with each travel accommodation image having a predicted likeability score based on the saliency map of the respective image. The predicted scores in the travel accommodation images correlate to the likeability based on the saliency map. Scores (denoted in FIG. 3 above or below the image) with higher values are perceived or predicted to be more liked by a potential consumer whereas the lower scores are perceived or predicted to have a lower level of likeability. This information can be used to manipulate the perceived likeability of a travel accommodation, and forms but a piece of the overall formula in determining the optimized rate for a travel accommodation.

In addition to the computer predicted likeability, there is preferably also a human component that relates to the likeability of an image. In order to collect such data, the images may be presented to potential travel accommodation guests for a numerical score, which may be between one (1) and one hundred (100), which can then be averaged or otherwise weighted to comprise the human element or human score.

Further, the human element or human component may further comprise manual text which is created by each of the respondents in the forms of comments regarding likes and dislikes of a particular travel accommodation image. These comments may be analyzed similar to reviews placed for a particular travel accommodation (see below) for specific wording or phrases to determine a score based on this manual text-based portion of the human element or component. FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate two different images each comprising the same angle and subject matter of a potential travel accommodation. FIG. 4, for example, has been identified as having a low contrast ratio. In this example, the identification of a low contrast, or other flaw in the image for the travel accommodation, may be identified by the software and a correction notification may be issued. The correction notification may take the form of an alert, a push notification, a recommendation, or the like, or some combination thereof.

In FIG. 4, it is evident that such a contrast ratio creates a "washed out" appearance of the image leading to the low score represented in the figure as one point (1) out of ten (10) possible points. In some embodiments, clicking a button such as the shown "update now" may automatically adjust the contrast ratio, or other property of the requisite image, to an ideal ratio given the properties and subject matter of the image. In other embodiments, one may manually adjust such a property and have a dynamic score that changes in relation to the nature of the changes made to the image(s). As shown in FIG. 5, the contrast ratio has been improved and the changes may be made an applied automatically or may require the user to save the changes made to the image.

FIGS. 6-8 refer to flow charts that describe the manner of machine learning employed by the embodiments of the present invention. Embodiments of the present invention are intended to cause the system to "learn" as the system operates. The system, in some embodiments, may be primed with some initial weights of the contributing factors to the likeability of a particular travel accommodation. However, the initial weights would only provide an initial snapshot of the formulation used and would be static in nature requiring manual updating of the system. As opposed to a dynamic system, as contemplated by the present invention, the weights be updated and constantly calibrated by the system as the system operates. As the system operates the predicted and actual values using, in some embodiment a held out test set, is compared and a "loss function" may be computed. In order to solve the

optimization problem, one would need to find the global minima of the loss function and recalibrate the weights. This is where the learning of the system pronounces itself.

In the FIG. 6, as shown, data is collected as the system operates in the form of training data. After which, specific features (images, reviews, occupancy rates, etc. or some combination thereof) are extracted and used to generate a predicted output "Y." The predicted output is compared to the actual to output to re-calibrate the weight "W." More specifically, in case of sentiment analysis the weights of the tokens would be updated as shown in figure 7. In case of image analysis, the parameters of the deep neural network (DNN) would be updated as shown in figure 8.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a score screen in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In this particular example, mSCOR stands for the Statistically Computed Optimal Rate or, in more colloquial terms, the money score. mSCOR is preferably a

dynamically computed score for a rental property with respect to a set of competitor properties (i.e. similar properties in the area). A set of competitor properties may be referred to herein as the comp-set or comparative set. A comparative set may be based on a micro-location representing a local neighborhood view or a city wide view or other suitable view.

The mSCOR is preferably normalized and scaled to a number between 0 and 100. In a preferred embodiment, this mSCOR would be reflected as a numerical score 300 with a series or set of sub-scores 310. A calendar 320 may further be represented to demonstrate the availability and booked rate of a particular accommodation in relation to the optimized rate for that accommodation. In other embodiments, there may also be a set of actionable recommendations to improve either of the sub-scores 310 or the overall numerical score 300. In other embodiments, other representations such as images or symbols are used to communicate the mSCOR.

The mSCOR, in a preferred embodiment, would be a composite index which will have several contributing factors. The initial contributing factors may include but are not limited to: travel accommodation images, review, descriptions, pricing rates, cancellation policies, sleeping capacities, occupancy, neighborhood safety/desirability, etc. This score helps a prospective travel accommodation provider or a prospective guest, or an end user, to visual at least three key areas of their particular travel accommodation and to help answer the questions: how to boost the overall earning potential? how does the property rank against the comparable properties? what is/are the set of actionable recommendation(s) to yield better revenues and occupancy rates? The mSCOR is contemplated to assist individuals in listing and improving their potential rental properties or other offered travel accommodations. In some embodiments, an mSCOR (or PPS - see below) of 67 would signify that the price of a particular travel accommodation would be ideally set at 67% of the highest competitive set price and mSCOR of 89 should price at 89% of the highest competitive set price.

Alternative, on the enterprise side (for major hotel chains, airlines, cruise lines, etc.), a "Pricing Power Score" or PPS may be computed. Again, a dynamically-identified competitor set is used to compute the PPS so that a specific hotel or other travel accommodation provider can index themselves against the comparative set.

In some embodiments, a certain class of hotel within a micro-location is the default for any comparative set. However, comparative sets could also be based on other attributes (size of hotel, number of rooms, ratings, amount of business, etc.). PPS is intended to provide relative positioning against the competition with the intention that it is the "equivalent" of a credit score for the hotel room. Preferably, it is a composite index based on, in some embodiments, a numerical score from zero (0) to one hundred (100). The numerical or other score may be based in part on reviews, images, descriptions, ADR, OCC, and RevPAR. These sub-components may then be distilled into one statistic, the PPS. In some embodiments, different weights are assigned to different attributes. In other embodiments, the weights are not static, but dynamically computed and evolve over time using machine learning approach as described herein in at least FIGS. 6-8.

One intended goal of the PPS is to act as an indicator showing how aggressive one can with their pricing. The greater the PPS, the more one may yield for a specific segment for a specific room type. As noted above, in some embodiments the PPS would be a composite index which will have several contributing factors. In a preferred embodiment, the initial contributing factors would be: travel accommodation images, reviews, descriptions, pricing rates, occupancy, ADR, RevPAR, and the like. Additional factors may include competitive rates, events (concerts, sporting events, etc.), airline data, inventory supply changes, housing data, news, and weather. The factors may further be varied to the specific industry in which the PPS or mSCOR is being applied.

FIGS. 10-13 illustrate example screens of one potential embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 10, there is a dashboard illustrating a user profile 400 viewable by the end user. In this scenario, a local landlord (i.e. renting a room, home, etc.) can view profiles attributed to potential or booked guests. It allows them to see various information pertaining to the guest including but not limited to the value of their stay, name, age, sex, arrival date, departure date, picture, reviews, and the like. Further, a notification screen 410 supplies the end user with notifications pertaining to their use and optimization of their use of the present invention. It may suggest actions to be taken by the end user or in some instances may notify them of actions taken by others. The

notifications may be customized to a user's preferences and in some embodiments may be capable of being hidden or minimized. A calendar feature 420 displays the calculated optimized rate for a given travel accommodation on a given day as well as the rate for which it was rented or booked on that day enabling a visual indicator of the difference in price. Guest bookings may also be displayed on the calendar 420. An expanded view of the calendar feature 420 is shown in FIG. 13. The calendar 420 may be available in other versions or alternatively may be available in only one or more than one of the versions shown and others not explicitly shown herein. The score 440 for the particular accommodation as previously described herein is on display for the end user.

Referring now to FIG. 11, there is a rate window 430 which displays information pertinent to the rate for the particular travel accommodation for that particular date(s) and/or bookings. The rate indicators present in the rate window 430 indicate dynamic factors that are recommended to influence the end user in setting the price for their respective accommodation. As shown the rate should be increased since hotels in the area are full and there is a festival in town. However, it is also a Tuesday which represents a decline in price. A final optimized rate is then offered to the end user by the system to maximize their revenues and profits. The numbers and factors shown are only intended to be representative and various other dollar amounts and indicators may be applied on any given day.

FIG. 12 illustrates a revenue window 450 which displays in a clean format to the end user the amount of revenue that can expected to be generated for a particular time period or time periods. In some embodiments, the revenue window 450 can display not only what the end user is forecasted to make for any given time, but can further show the potential revenue assuming the optimized rates are implemented by the end user.

FIGS. 14-15 illustrate display screens or dashboards of another embodiment of the present invention. This particular embodiment may be best suited for a corporate structure such as a hotel manager. In FIG. 14 there is a search bar 510, an alert window 520, smart tiles 530, calendar 540, revenue bar 550, group bar 560, score 570, and performance indicators 580. In some embodiments there may be more or less windows/features shown on a particular dashboard and the look of the dashboard may be customized for a particular user based on their preferences.

The search bar 510 enables searches to be performed within the site or external to the site depending on user preferences and the particular search query employed.

The alert window 520 functions to alert a user to a particular condition in which they may take advantage of in order to fully maximize their revenue stream.

The smart tiles 530 are located around the dashboard and may be moveable within the dashboard to suit a user's particular configuration. In some embodiments the smart tiles are capable of being dragged and dropped at points across the screen to interact with other features where dropped on the screen. For example, the flights smart tile may be selected and then drug onto the graph located central in the dashboard. When the tile is released by the user the information associated with that tile populates in the graph presenting the end user with a powerful tool to visualize various parameters and variables in order to help maximize revenues. In some embodiments smart tiles 530 may be combined with one another into a particular smart tile group which can then be applied to the graph or other areas of the dashboard. The drag and drop feature is also pronounced in the group bar 560. Tiles of individuals' user profiles, competitors, or the like can be dragged and dropped into the honeycomb feature to create a custom group by which their collective data can then be analyzed by the system and the end user. This analysis may take place in the graph or in another area of the system.

The calendar 540 serves to show a plethora of information relating to revenues, bookings, rates, optimized rates, etc. Color schemes may be employed to differentiate between various factors and the information contained therein may be readily transferable or capable of being analyzed to other parts of the system.

The revenue window or bar 550 displays the amount of revenue that can expected to be generated for a particular time period or time periods. In some embodiments, the revenue window 550 can display not only what the end user is forecasted to make for any given time, but can further show the potential revenue assuming the optimized rates are implemented by the end user.

The score 570 displays the score for the travel accommodation provider as a whole as well as individual accommodations. The score 570, in this case, the PPS has been described previously herein and the score 570 is displayed here as a visual indicator only.

The performance indicators 580 are various tiles present on the dashboard that contained various data and metrics therein. The performance indicators may include items such as year- over- year performance, booking rates, pick-up, competitive analysis, and the like or some combination thereof. The performance indicators 580 may be customized and may be selectable from a menu of factors to be displayed or hidden to suit the end user's preferences. FIG. 15 displays an alternate view of the dashboard. Such a view may be shown if the central graph is selected in order to more clearly show the information on the graph. In some embodiments, the dashboard shown in this figure is the default view for the system.

Referring now to FIG. 16, as shown there are at least four modules involved in the voice recognition functionality and interface: 1) a speech recognition module; 2) a natural language understanding module; 3) a business logic module; and 4) a text to speech module. Other modules or combinations of modules may exist in varying embodiments and implementations of the present invention.

In a preferred embodiment, the speech recognition module transcribes what is said by a user into text, the natural language understanding module takes that text and turns it into actionable data for processing, and the fulfillment module processes the request and responds in text which in turn is converted to speech by text to speech module and played back to the user. Further, the voice recognition engine provides for machine learning that helps in understanding differing patterns of similar yet different requests and mapping these requests into a single user intent which is structured in a format that is understood by the APIs for further processing.

At times, there may be missing critical information from users request in natural language that is required in order to fulfill the request. In these situations, identifying the missing information and prompting the user for the missing input is important. Similarly, in some embodiments, a user can follow up a previous request with another request without providing all the information since it's implicitly made available in the previous request. Remembering context in which a user is making requests plays another vital role in providing outstanding user experiences. Thus, in a preferred embodiment, the voice recognition engine will evolve in understanding and become personalized for the specific user. In some embodiments the voice recognition engine and the invention as a whole is applicable towards the hotel or hospitality industry. Often times, hotel revenue managers use terminologies that are very specific to hospitality (hotel) industry but not part of standard English vocabulary. Words such as RevPar, ADR, Compset, sell rate, etc. are contemplated to be added to the engine and provided with meaning such that the engine can communicate in these nonstandard terms.

The voice recognition engine may be able to readily answer questions such as "what is my <day> <metric>?" Such a base question, in practical usage, may give rise to user prompted questions such as "what is my today's occupancy?" and "what is my tomorrow's revenue?" and "what is my yesterday's occupancy?"

A further base question may be "what is my <metric> for <date period>?" Sample questions may include "what is my occupancy for next month?" and "what is my revenue for March?" and "what is my average daily rate for the next fifteen days?" and "what is my occupancy for next week?"

A further base question may be "how about <day / period >?" After asking any of the questions, or others not specifically listed therein, a user can follow up with a question for a different period preserving the same context (metric). For example: What is my occupancy today? How about tomorrow? What is my revenue this month? How about next month?

Still yet another base question may be "how about <metric>?" However, instead of users following up with a question for a different period, as described above, they follow up for a different metric preserving the same date context. For example: What is my today's average daily rate? How about revenue? What is my occupancy for next month? How about revenue? In yet other embodiments there may be other questions/command and question/command types such as: list all the events this month, are there any events this week, and what upcoming events are. Various other functionality may be included to provide a seamless interactive experience. For example if the user said "hello" the voice recognition engine may reply with "Hello <firstname>."

In one intended usage a user can touch or touch and hold a specific portion of a touch sensitive display. Upon such action, the user may be greeted and prompted with a question such as "how may I help you?" In other embodiments, no greeting is made and the engine simply waits for a prompting from the user. One the user has spoken the information desired, the engine operates to provide the answer. While the engine "thinks" certain animations or images may display on the touchscreen or touch sensitive surface. The answer may then be presented to the user using audio or visual cues.

Although this invention has been described with a certain degree of particularity, it is to be understood that the present disclosure has been made only by way of illustration and that numerous changes in the details of construction and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention.