SYSTEM AND METHOD TO FACILITATE TRAVEL NETWORKING

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to the field of travel networking. More particularly the present invention relates to the field of introducing travelers through networking and providing travel info along with special packages of hotels, airlines etc during each stage of their travel through a mechanism to create a multi-stage travel itinerary that can consist of any mode of travel such as air, rail, road or sea with multiple halts and transits in locations worldwide.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Internet has paved the way for people across the globe to connect with each other. In the beginning, people who knew each other started connecting using the internet. As chatting and instant messaging became more prevalent, even strangers started connecting together. Later came very many web sites on the web for connecting people. These are typically social networking websites where people relating to each other in some way were connected to each other. In the globalized scenario, many people are constantly moving around the globe for travel, business and for various other reasons. There came a need to find new friends in new locations that people were travelling to.

As me world became more and more connected and globalized, people have felt the need to connect people from other parts of the world. Connecting with people while traveling could help them for cultural exchange, business interaction or social companionship. For these same reasons, people in a location would like to meet travelers coming to their locations.

In order to connect to people, currently, users of various websites will have to first establish a social network according to friendship, interests, preferences and so on (101). Subsequently when he intends to make a travel plan (102), he will identify people within his network (103) that will be at that specific location where he is traveling to and contact those individuals

(104) to make up plans to meet up during their stay at that particular location. Once their plan is finalized to meet up, they make necessary arrangements for the same (105). Alternatively, for airline travelers, one must enter flight and airport details with dates and get results of whether other members of the site will be on the same flight or airport on that date.

The US application 2002/0091556 discloses a system and method that lets people enter a travel location of their interest, and looks for people who have the same location interest, but that location must not be either of their home locations.

The US application 2006/0004590 provides a method for travelers to discover where related individuals were, are and will be geographically located. According to the invention, a related individual is an individual with whom the traveler has a relationship with, such as a friend of the traveler, a relative of the traveler or a business associate of the traveler. According to the invention, a related individual can also include a friend of a friend. Using an electronic social network, the traveler will identify related individuals with zero degree of separation, and perhaps their relationships. The traveler's related individuals will inform the system of their present and future whereabouts. This will allow the traveler to discover where related individuals are currently located, and where they will be located for any given future date. The traveler can also inform the system about this/her current/y and future whereabouts, and let the system determine which related individuals will be nearby for the present and future respectively. This system compares the travel plans of users within that social network to find one location where the related individuals might be at the same date and time.

An existing system named airtroductions.com lets one to post their profile and enter flight details. This would be flight number, date, time and airports. Once can then search for people who will be on the same flight or airport and can contact them for a fee. This system is only for air travelers who would like to connect on the same flight or airports. For searching, the four options are a) Users traveling on the same flight as the person, b) Users in the airport on the persons day of departure, c) Users in the destination airport at the time of persons Arrival, d) Users from persons flight interested in sharing a taxi. As can be seen, Airtroductions cannot connect people beyond travelers in flights or who are at airports. It cannot connect

people with others who live in the cities that one is traveling to. It works only for air travel. It cannot have a multiple stage itinerary for cities or towns along with the flights. It does not have information about the cities that the airports are part of, and cannot offer travel information depending on the travel plan. Travel with ticket booking must be ready in order to use Airtroductions. This means that though you know where you will be traveling to 3 months later, you cannot use it till your flight is confirmed. Also, in filing a travel plan, one can only enter one stage of an air travel and search for other users who are sharing the flight or airport at the same time. The system cannot handle an entire travel plan or itinerary in a single go.

The prior art mentioned has some limitations. Travelers are connected based on their social networking rather than on their traveling preferences or on their travel plans. Therefore they connect only with people within their network. Also, according to the prior art, one can only meet people in a single location or airport. During long travel durations, travelers would not only like to find people mat are traveling through the same route for comanionship, but also make friends with residents of the city or town they are traveling to. In the other prior art, only airline travelers can introduce during the flight travel or at airports. It cannot introduce to people staying in different locations. It cannot work unless you are an air traveler with a fixed flight number. It cannot search for the entire itinerary but can only let you post a flight for a date and searches if any other air travelers are going to be in same flight or airport for a single trip. This system compares travel plans of two air travellers and informs them if they will be in the same flight or airport.

There is a need for a system wherein travelers can connect with people in the destinations, halts transits, and during the travel itself. A traveler should be able to find travelers based on his entire travel plan including the destination, transits, halts and during the travel. The traveler should not be restricted to contact only his immediate social network. He should have as wide a list of possibles as his preferences and travel plan allow. A "dynamic" social network is created as the travel plan will find people who match his preferences in each destination, halt, transit and during the travel and allow him to see their profiles. The system will not allow him to browse all profiles in general. This creates the dynamic social network

ensuring a high degree of open-ness while maintaining relevancy to the searched profiles.

There is also a need for a system that lets people who are not travelling interact with travelers who are visiting their locations. This system would be useful for business exchanges, cultural interaction, friendship and dating. The user in the preferences can mention his purpose of using the system, and according to his other prefrences, the system will generate results of people from all over the world coming to mat location. It can be through any mode of travel such as air, rail, ship, bus or car.

Furthermore, there is a need for a system mat generates travel information based on the entire itinerary and provides this to the traveler. This information can include events, travel tips, hotels, restaurants, places of interest, excursions, airlines, pubs and clubs.

The present invention addresses these limitations and needs associated with travel related networking in existing social networking based systems and discloses a system and method of connecting people based on their travel plans not specifically for travelers but also for people around the world who want to meet travelers coming to their location. It also does not confine itself to a social network but keeps it open to the audience of the entire internet. Along with connecting people based on travel plan and preferences, the system also provides relevant travel information relating to events, travel tips, hotels, restaurants, places of interest, excursions, airlines, pubs and clubs. This is done with a system that creates a multi- stage itinerary that can consist of any mode of travel such as air, rail, road or ship and can be a combination of these modes of travel. It can have several halts and transits along with the date and time information of each stage of the travel.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly the present invention provides a system that comprises of a server (303) connected to the internet (302), which processes the business logic and a database (304) at the back end of the server for storing persistent data relating to the users, their travel plans, general information, discussions among users of the system through various media, and data

relating to searching that users conduct based on the users' authentication and authorization. The method of the present invention comprises of steps where a user (301) of the system first enters his profile, his preferences, and optionally his travel plan (203) at multiple levels based on whether he has a need to travel or not. Based on the profile and preferences, the system can send out certain notifications to the user of other users' profiles that he might be interested in and meet up with those people. Alternatively, the user himself can search (204, 205, 206) people based on his profile, preferences and travel plan. The system notifications and the user initiated search is possible only based on the travel plan and preferences. Within the subset of profiles that match (207) the user's preferences and travel plan, the user can choose a particular profiles or multiple profiles based on his personal choice.

The present invention enables users of the system to find other users who are located in the places the user is traveling to, and/or other users who are traveling by the same mode of travel as they are and/or going to be in the same transit location and/or enables users who are not traveling to interact with travelers who are coming to their home location.

The present invention enables a user who wants to travel to create a multi-stage travel plan that can be definite or what the user proposes to undertake in some time. This itinerary creator can be for any mode of travel such as air travel, rail travel, bus or automobile travel or any kind of sea travel. It can also be a combination of any or all the aforementioned modes. The user can define the locations where he will be halting or transiting through. Based on this multi step itinerary creator, hotel bookings, airline bookings, and other travel information will ' be offered to him coupled with an e-commerce system.

The system is able to connect to databases of other systems such as airline ticket systems, hotel booking systems, etc. and customise packages based upon internal parameters and calculations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 shows the flow for connecting with people relating to travel in prior art

Figure 2 shows the method of connecting to people relating to travel according to the present invention

Figure 3 shows the system overview

Figure 4 shows the embodiment of the system with various modules

Figure 5 shows the user interface for filing travel plan with single mode of transport with 2 halts and 1 transit

Figure 6 shows the user interface for filing travel plan with single mode of transport with 3 halts and no transit

Figure 7 shows the user interface for filing travel plan with multiple modes of transport

Figure 8 shows the user interface for search results for profiles of people who reside at certain halts and destinations according the travel plans filed by the user

Figure 9 shows the user interface for search results for profiles of people who are traveling through the same routes or to the same transits according the travel plans filed by the user

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Figure 3 shows a high level view of die system which comprises of a server (303) diat is connected to the internet (302), which processes the business logic, including processing user information, analyzing travel plans, searching users based on their travel plans, matching profiles within the.subset of users that match the travel plan, allowing users to communicate through various means, showing information relating to various travel sites and related facilities, and authenticating and audiorizing users for using the various facilities that the system provides. The server connects to a database (304) at the back end of the server for

storing persistent data relating to the users, their travel plans, general information, discussions among users of die system through various media, and data relating to searching that users of the system conduct based on the users' authentication and authorization.

Figure 2 shows a method enabled by the system. According to the method, a user enters this profile and preferences (201). Preferences could information like whether the user would like to meet people during travel. Or it could also information like whether the user would like to meet people coming into this resident city/state while he is not traveling. Subsequently, die user may enter a travel plan based on his travel needs (203). In case, the user is traveling, he could choose to enter a travel plan. The travel plan details are split into multiple levels from basic information like the place to which he is traveling to more detailed information like exactly with what flight/train/bus he is traveling on and the respective dates. The system optionally gives notifications on profiles based on an event and also periodically on die profiles of people who are traveling either to his city/state, and/or traveling with the same flight/train/bus at the same time, and/or people coming to a particular location of halt/ transit at the same time as the user, and/or about various events/hotel packages/travel packages/must see sites etc. The user can also initiate similar searches based on the user's travel plans and preferences (204, 205, 206). If there are other users whose travel plans and preferences match with that of the user for whom the search is made, then the user will have the option to choose profiles of users according to his personal choice. Otherwise, in general, a user will not be able to search all profiles irrespective of his travel plan or preferences.

EXAMPLE

Figure 4 shows an embodiment of the system where the server is connected to die internet. The server (303) is also connected to a database (304) at the back end to store all relevant persistent data need for die functioning of the system. A user connects to the system from a client (301) through the internet (302).

An embodiment of the system shown in figure 4 comprises of various modules. When die user connects to the system, based on the request made dirough client, die system invokes the

relevant module to perform a relevant action. The relevance of each module is explained hereinafter.

The authentication and authorization module (401) of the system authenticates a user based on a set of unique credentials to allow only valid users to access the system. Users will be allowed to access the system only after authentication. And based on the plans that they subscribe to, users will be authorized to access select portions of the system. The subscription plans are divided into basic, and time based. In a basic subscription mode, the user will pay a fixed amount and will be able to contact a fixed number registered users of the system. In a time based subscription mode, the user will pay a fixed amount for a fixed time and will be able to contact unlimited number of registered users of the system within the fixed time.

The search module (402) of the system allows the user to search for other registered users of the system based on his preferences and travel plan. If there are users within the system that match his preferences and /or travel plan, the user can choose to connect to people based on their profiles. The system does not allows general search on the profiles. The user has to set his travel related preferences or set his travel plan to be able to search. The search module allows four different types of search. The first type of search is based on the user's travel plan according to which there may be certain number of halts and transits. A search can be done based on the halts and transits and destinations, wherein the system will search for people who would be coming the same halts/transits/destinations at the same time as the user who is searching. A second type search could be used in the cases where the user himself is not traveling but looking to connect to people who are coming to home city/state/country. The user will be able to search on people who are traveling to his resident place as defined by him only based on other users' travel plans. A third type of search can be done by a user to search for people traveling on the same flight/train/bus as the user who is searching. This search is possible only when the user has entered his travel details in greater detail. A fourth type of search could be for events happening at places that a user will be passing through or going to. This search also can be done only when the user has entered relevant travel details.

The notification module (403) of the system enables automated notifications of profiles that

are searched by the system automatically based on the preferences entered by the user and his travel plan, if entered. The notifications module in turn uses the search module for fetching results. But the notification module performs automated searches without the intervention of the user based on events and time period. The periodicity of the search for automated notifications can be configured by the user himself during registration. Also, optionally, the notifications module automatically searches for relevant profile whenever an event occurs. An example of an event is a new profile added to the system.

Then upon doing a search or viewing a notification, a user can choose to contact a user. In order that the user contacts another user of the system, payment is to be made ihrough various known means through the system (ex: paypal, visa, mastercard payment gateways). The payment module (404) of the system enables user to make payment online automatically before contacting any other user.

The personal contact module (405) allows the user to organize his own contacts that he has made during the interaction with the system. All his contacts will be maintained in a persistent storage for future reference and contact. The system allows unlimited contact with a particular user after the first contact whether he is a basic subscription user or a time based subscription user. This module is only activated for authorized users who have taken at least the basic subscription.

Authorized users within the system can communicate with each through multiple means. The multiple means include email, chat and instant messaging. Email will be a more common mode of communication between users and also the automated notifications from the system itself are in the form of email. The email module (406) of the system provides the user with facilities to organize his email with commonly known features relating to email.

Instant messaging is another means through which the users of the system can communicate with each other. The instant messaging module (407) enables users to communicate instantly through an integrated messenger within the system.

Typical prior art systems connect travelers within their social network. Contacting people within the network gives a comfort of safety as the users would have been verified through the users network. In the present invention, the users connect with each other based on their travel plans and preferences. It could happen that profiles, travel plans, and preferences entered by a user are not genuine. In order to circumvent that problem, the system allows users to upload certain valid documents for address proof and identity proof. These documents will be verified by the system administrator and such users whose documents are verified are validated as genuine users and such "genuine" stamp of a particular user will be visible to all users who are able to view his profile. The verification module (408) of the system allows the user to upload such documents for verification.

The system provides a blogger module (409) which enables authorized users (who are atleast basic subscription users) to use blogging facility integrated into the system. The blog module includes sections like travel blogs, location blogs and personal blogs.

The chat module (410) of the system provides another means for communication between users of the system where the more than one user can connect to the server simultaneously and communicate among the group. Chatting module of the system has certain pre-defined rooms, and others can be created by users. Profiles of members who are chatting can be seen. Private messaging will also be a feature. Users with atleast basic subscription are only authorized to access the chat module.

The general information module (411) of the system includes sections like recommendations and tips. For example, recommendations include

• Places to see

• Restaurants/Pubs/Clubs

• Airlines

• Hotels

• Events • Excursions

The tips could be entered by the system administrator or they could also be uploaded to the system by the users of the system. For example, country specific tips include:

• Where to exchange currency • How much to tip

• Things to avoid

• Unsafe areas

The user, when he registers for the first time on the system, may be asked for the following information:

• User ID (Email)

• Password

• First Name • Last Name

• Middle Name

• Country

• Location (City/Town)

• Birth Date • Gender

• Marital Status

• Height

• Body Type (Slim/ Average/ Athletic/Heavy)

• Ethnicity • Sexual Orientation

• Children? (Yes/No)

• Languages

• About me (Free format text)

along with other optional information such as:

• Profession

• Industry

• Title

• Company Name • Company Web Page

• Area of Study: Multiple choice

• High School

• Colleges

• Other qualifications • Career Goals

• Career interests

• Career skills

• Diet (Veg/ Non-vegV Vegan/ Eggetarian)

• Interests • Religion

• Political View

• Zodiac

• Music

• Books • Pets

• Hometown

The user is subsequently asked for his preferences relating to the kind of people he would like to meet:

• Age: From -To

• Gender: Male/Female/Both

• Marital Status: Single/Married/Divorced/Separated/Doesn't matter

• Height: From -To/ Doesn't Matter • Body Type: Slim/ Average/Athletic/Heavy/Doesn't matter

• Ethnicity: Multiple Choice

• Sexual Orientation: Multiple Choice

• Children?: Yes/No • Languages: Multiple Choice

After registering the profile and the preferences, the user will be able to file travel plans in the system. Travel plans can be files with a single mode of transport or with a combination of different modes of transport based on the selection by the user- The choice of mode of transport could be air, rail, bus, car, cruise ship, or any combination of these.

Figures 5 and 6 depict a travel plan filed with single mode of transport i.e., air. A travel plan covers the start point and the destination along with the number of halts and transits (502). The travel plan also covers the details of the halts namely the name of halt location, the flight number and the arrival dates (503). In addition, the travel plan also covers the travel details towards the destination (504) and the transit terminals (505). Once the plan is decided upon, the plan can be saved and searches can be done based on the travel plan.

Even within a single travel plan, the number of halts and transits that are part of the travel can be specified. For example, figure 5 shows a specific example with 2 halts and 1 transit (502). Another example is depicted in figure 6 where the number of halts is 3 and no transits (602). Accordingly, the user interface shows the relevant number of fields to be filled in.

Figure 7 depicts a travel plan combining various modes of transport. In filing such a travel plan, the user could also choose a mode of transport for each stage of the travel seperately.

For example, even within the two halts, the mode of transport to one of the halts it air and to the other halts is rail (703). And the mode of transport to the ultimate destination is bus (704).

Figures 8 and 9 show examples of search results for profiles of people interested in travel networking that are returned by the system. Typically search can be performed on profiles of people that are interested in travel networking whose profiles are available in the system, on various hotel packages that are on offer at a specific location or in a combination of locations,

on various resort packages at locations that are being covered as part of the user's travel plan, and on other information that is of interest to tourists in general for specific locations being covered by the user according to his travel plan.

Figure 8 shows an example of results for search on profiles of people who will be residing at various halts and destination according to the user's travel plan. One portion of the result page is the top navigation bar (802). The top navigation consists of two layers of options. The first layer presents the broad search options that are available as part of the system. Upon selecting a broad option among any one of people, hotel packages, airline packages, resort packages, or tourist info, various sub-options within the broad search option appear. For example, Destination & Halts and En Route & Transits (802) are the two such sub-options under the people profile search. Upon selecting "Destination & Halts", the user is presented with search results of various profiles (803) of people who will be residing at those destinations and halts according the travel plan of the user who intends to search. Similar, Figure 8 shows an example of results (903) for search on profiles of people who will be travel through the same route or traveling to (he same transit locations as that of the user who intends to search. The search conducted is highlighted on the top navigation bar.

Although the present invention has been described with specific reference to an example, various modifications and alterations are possible without deviating from the spirit of the invention and all such modifications and alterations become obvious in the light of this disclosure.