WO2010097319A1 - Graphical user interface for search request management - Google Patents
Graphical user interface for search request management Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- WO2010097319A1 WO2010097319A1 PCT/EP2010/051983 EP2010051983W WO2010097319A1 WO 2010097319 A1 WO2010097319 A1 WO 2010097319A1 EP 2010051983 W EP2010051983 W EP 2010051983W WO 2010097319 A1 WO2010097319 A1 WO 2010097319A1
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- WIPO (PCT)
- Prior art keywords
- commands
- cryptic
- command interface
- cryptic commands
- command
- Prior art date
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Classifications
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
- G06F9/00—Arrangements for program control, e.g. control units
- G06F9/06—Arrangements for program control, e.g. control units using stored programs, i.e. using an internal store of processing equipment to receive or retain programs
- G06F9/44—Arrangements for executing specific programs
- G06F9/455—Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines
- G06F9/45504—Abstract machines for programme code execution, e.g. Java virtual machine [JVM], interpreters, emulators
- G06F9/45508—Runtime interpretation or emulation, e g. emulator loops, bytecode interpretation
- G06F9/45512—Command shells
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
- G06F16/00—Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
- G06F16/20—Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor of structured data, e.g. relational data
- G06F16/24—Querying
- G06F16/242—Query formulation
- G06F16/243—Natural language query formulation
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
- G06F16/00—Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
- G06F16/30—Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor of unstructured textual data
- G06F16/33—Querying
- G06F16/3331—Query processing
- G06F16/3332—Query translation
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
- G06F16/00—Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
- G06F16/90—Details of database functions independent of the retrieved data types
- G06F16/95—Retrieval from the web
- G06F16/951—Indexing; Web crawling techniques
Definitions
- the present invention relates to a computer apparatus, method and computer program product providing a graphical user interface for the management of search requests.
- One application is the processing of search and booking requests for various transportation means such as, but not limited to, air or car and for other aspects of a trip such as, but not limited to, hotel accommodations.
- Travel requests are typically conducted via inputs to a computer device, such as a personal computer, and these inputs are then sent to a search engine of a computerized system such as a Global Distribution System (GDS) for processing purposes.
- GDS Global Distribution System
- Major GDSs are known under the following trademarks:
- the GDSs are capable of replying with travel solutions matching the user's request.
- Users typically are travel agents skilled in translating the travel criteria of their clients into a computer request format compatible with the GDS with which they are used to working.
- the travel agent is required to type GDS-specific commands, known as cryptic commands, on a computer keyboard to dialog with a software application using a command line (i.e. text-based) user interface.
- GUI graphical user interface
- command line interfaces require that numerous commands be learned and remembered by the user of a software application before she or he can use it efficiently.
- command line commands can enable significantly faster interaction with the system.
- Cryptic commands are indeed often more efficient for very skilled users such as expert travel agents.
- experienced travel agents use cryptic language commands which are unique to each of the GDSs. Travel agents are generally more comfortable with one cryptic language than another. In a multi- GDS/multi-content travel procurement environment, however, it is essential for these agents to be able to work in other languages as dictated by those sources.
- the invention proposes a new apparatus, method and computer program which intend to reach this goal.
- a new GUI combines a first command interface area dedicated to cryptic commands and a second command interface area having a form-based design.
- the invention provides a new experience to the user who can enter cryptic commands in one command interface area of the Ul and dynamically see the effect of his/her input in a friendly manner in a second command interface area.
- the user can use either command interface area as an input interface, and thereby select the interface most adapted to his or her needs and skills.
- the invention is also capable of converting a cryptic request so that it is compatible with any GDS, independent of the original cryptic language format entered by the agent.
- travel requests can be entered in any GDS cryptic language, converted into the form-based input, and then sent to the search (or travel booking) engine which may request content from, or make the reservation with, any GDS or content source.
- search or travel booking engine which may request content from, or make the reservation with, any GDS or content source.
- an agency can have 5 different agents (1 Sabre expert, 1 Worldspan expert, 1 Apollo expert, 1 Amadeus expert, and 1 inexperienced agent) all using the same tool and requesting and receiving the same information from whatever content sources have been configured in the rules and administration engine without needing to be retrained on a new GDS language.
- Another objective of the invention is to standardize data stream exchanged between the client applications and server.
- the parsing and processing of the travel requests can be handled by logic and code embedded within the form.
- the invention relates to a computer apparatus for generating a graphical user interface on a display screen.
- the graphical user interface or GUI, comprises a first command interface area for inputting and displaying cryptic commands for the definition of a search request, and a form-based second command interface area having fields for displaying parameters of the search request.
- the computer apparatus further comprises means for coupling the first and the second command interface areas such that the input of cryptic commands in the first command interface area generates a pseudo-simultaneous display of parameters reflecting at least some of the cryptic commands. More precisely, the coupling means may involve the following features:
- the second command interface area allows for the input of parameters of the search request and the means for coupling are configured to generate a pseudo-simultaneous display of cryptic commands reflecting at least some of the graphical input parameters.
- At least the second graphical input command interface area is embedded in a Hyper Text Mark-up Language page, - it comprises program instructions for generating a visual indication of a parsing status of the cryptic commands,
- the first command interface area comprises means for selecting a code type of cryptic commands and the means for parsing comprise a set of parsers each dedicated to a code type of cryptic commands,
- the graphical user interface is a web page generated by a web application
- the means for coupling are embedded within the web page.
- the invention also concerns a method for generating a graphical user interface on a display screen comprising the steps of: - in a first area of the display screen, displaying a first command interface for inputting and displaying cryptic commands for the definition of a search request,
- the method may also include any of the features indicated below:
- the step of coupling comprises parsing the cryptic commands
- the step of coupling comprises extracting structured data from the parsed cryptic commands
- the step of coupling comprises storing said structured data within JavaScript objects
- the step of coupling comprises filling fields of the second command interface area by mapping the structured data
- - it comprises the steps of inputting parameters of the search request on the second command interface area and coupling the first and second command interface areas to generate a pseudo-simultaneous display of cryptic commands reflecting at least some of the input parameters
- - it comprises the steps of creating a query in a canonical format on the basis of the structured data and of converting the query into a search request in a code type of cryptic commands compatible with a remote search engine
- the remote search engine is part of a computerized travel reservation system
- the search request is communicated to an intermediary engine for application of travel policy rules and then transmitted to the remote search engine, - the cryptic commands input on the first command interface area are of a first code type which is not compatible with the remote search engine,
- a third aspect of the invention is a computer program product comprising computer executable instructions for causing a computer to operate the method of the invention.
- Figure 1 is a schematic illustration of a GUI as displayed according to the invention.
- FIGS 2, 3 and 4 are diagrams describing some aspects of the invention.
- Figu re 5 provides an example of relationships between a computer apparatus and other components of a reservation system.
- FIGS 6 to 26 illustrate examples of GUI generated according to the invention.
- the apparatus of the invention can be implemented within a conventional personal computer, the later comprising a display screen, input means such as a keyboard and a pointer l i ke a mouse, and commu n ication means.
- Communication means typically include hardware for transmission over a network and software components such as a browser (e.g. Netscape ®, Internet Explorer ® or the like).
- a GUI is provided for building requests such as requests for travel products, for availability, for booking travel products etc.
- the requests are then handled by a remote system typically a search engine of a server part of one GDS.
- the invention may operate as a web application supported by a web browser like the ones previously cited and produce web pages embedding the required logic and code.
- FIG. 1 An example of web page WP is depicted in figure 1 in a purely schematic fashion. It comprises a first region corresponding to a first command interface area 10.
- the first command interface area is for the input of cryptic commands and operates as a command line interface. It comprises a text entry zone 11 for the user's input. It may also include a button 12 (or any adapted GU I component) for selecting the code type of the cryptic commands the operator wishes to use. This renders the invention fully flexible and adaptable to any code type.
- the web page WP also comprises a second command interface 20 which is advantageously a HTML (for Hyper Text Mark up Language) form. Any GUI component helpful for building the request can be incorporated in this section.
- text entry zones 21 corresponding to fields are depicted.
- Field names 22 are located near the Text entry zones 21 .
- Checkboxes 23 are also depicted with their corresponding description.
- the second interface 20 comprises a plurality of tabs to present the various fields in various form portions in a differentiated manner according to the type of data.
- a first tab may be assigned to Air travel, another to Hotel and so forth.
- the input of commands by the first interface 10 dynamically affects the display of the second interface 20.
- the reverse function is also possible as depicted in figure 2.
- the means for parsing are advantageously JavaScript-based like the rest of the logic used for the coupling means.
- the invention may be used to interact with a plurality of GDSs and the parsing means are designed accordingly in that case.
- a single monolithic parser can be utilized or individual parsers (depending on the code type of the cryptic commands) forming a set of parsers. Typically parsers will be implemented per GDS.
- the parsing of the commands is preferably context sensitive to not only the GDS selected, but also the previous commands and the current context of the page. If the previous command entered and sent to server was an air availability command (e.g. AD12OCTBOSORD8A) a follow up air availability command may be used (e.g. ACR15OCT). The parser will use the previous context of the search to pre-fill the HTML form for air availability. Then only the modified fields of the follow up command will be used. The same principle of context sensitivity applies to "short sell" commands. It is possible to send the cryptic command for short selling a flight on the flight availability page. On other pages, the short sell command for air is not relevant, and therefore will be ignored by the parser(s).
- the parsing means may comprise program instructions in this perspective.
- the structured data extracted by the parser from the command is stored within a JavaScript object. While the parsers are typically very different for different GDSs, the objects representing the commands (e.g. air availability object, hotel availability object) are typically shared between GDSs. That is to say, the object used to store the information from the parsing of a first GDS air availability is the same, or derived from the same base object, as the object used to store the information from the parsing of an air availability command of another GDS. This allows the input of the command in the format of one GDS for eventual submission on any other GDS or non-GDS system.
- the objects representing the commands e.g. air availability object, hotel availability object
- the objects store several different types of data.
- the primary functionality is to store the structured data (e.g. dates, times, origin city, etc.) parsed from the cryptic command in a normalized format.
- the objects store the raw text input, the tokenized results of the parsing, the GDS assumed for the parsing, any errors encountered during parsing, and other relevant information.
- JavaScript is used to dynamically show the user feedback about the parsing of the commands.
- the GUI is used to provide a visual indication of the status of the parsing. HTML indicating which parts of the commands were parsed, and which parts of the commands were not parsed is shown to the user.
- JavaScript is used to update the HTML form fields with the structured data from the data objects.
- the information updated in the form includes the relevant structured information (e.g. dates, times) as well as hidden information used by the system (e.g. a JSON representation of the parsed cryptic objects.).
- JSON short for JavaScript Object Notation
- JSON is a lightweight computer data interchange format. It is a text-based, human-readable format for representing simple data structures and associative arrays called objects.
- HTML forms allowing the types commands sent to the GDS must be available.
- the data extracted as described before are used to create a canonical query, the canonical data model being a design pattern used to communicate between different formats. Instead of writing translators between each format of cryptic commands, it is sufficient to write a unique converter between the canonical format and each format of cryptic command codes.
- Figure 4 illustrates that the canonical query is converted in the code type format compatible with the remote system which will process the request.
- the request is then sent to the GDS or any other device capable of handling with the request.
- Figure 2 more precisely shows that the two interfaces may be used to enter the information required for constructing the search request.
- the data being formatted as structured data, the two sources of user input are combined and the user benefits from the advantages of the two types of interface.
- the present description mainly focuses on the case where data input is made by means of the first interface and where the data are further processed to populate the second interface. However the input may also be made with the second interface and the first interface is populated using a data conversion in the reversed direction but using a similar processing.
- the request 2a is directly sent to the GDS computer system.
- the request is firstly received at an intermediary engine in charge of applying travel management rules and settings to the request.
- the agent uses this rules engine that can apply policy rules and filter results display 3b/3c automatically. Since the invention allows agents to use the same technology, but keep their comfortable and efficient mode of entry via cryptic command, travel agents can benefit from the automatic profile and rules lookup, too. This saves time for the agent, makes the client call more productive, and improves the agent's ability to accurately represent and comply with the company and agency policies.
- Figure 5 also shows that a request in the format 1 of GDS 1 may be built and sent on the basis of an original input of cryptic commands in another format (format 2) for which the agent is more skilled.
- format 2 another format for which the agent is more skilled.
- the results can also be presented on the display screen with indications given using the format 2.
- the parsers for the GDS are configured with a command or commands that should be passed directly to the GDS. Additionally, the parsers are configured with commands (bypass code) that should pass directly to the GDS and put the parser in bypass mode. Once in bypass mode, the parser will send all commands (or a configurable, but different subset of commands) through the bypass until the bypass is terminated with a configurable command or commands. Commands that are sent through the bypass mode are done using an AJAX call to the server. The server passes the commands to the GDS and returns the text response. This text response is received by the browser and displayed in a text area for the agent.
- Figures 6 through 26 show examples of GUI generated with the apparatus and according to the method of the invention.
- Figure 6 depicts a web page displayed by a browser for initiating a travel request.
- the window includes a "quick start" region with the two interfaces described before. The user first selects the name of the code type he wants to work with among choices defined by the name of the corresponding GDS. A default code type is preferably defined. The user can now input cryptic commands in the text entry region.
- Helping tools are proposed to the agent and a particular one is depicted in figure 8 where visual indications about the status of the cryptic commands are given.
- the parsing step produces a display about the parsing status notably by assigning a color to the command strings, a color code being predetermined to reflect a particular status.
- Figures 9 and 10 further represent this feature with the following color codes: green for commands successfully parsed, red for commands that cannot be parsed and grey for commands entered in an invalid format.
- Figures 11 to 13 provide with examples of GUI obtained as results are displayed.
- the results are presented in a list located under the two command interfaces.
- the window of figure 12 only displays the first command interface and the list of results.
- codes can be used to describe the fields of each travel solution and they are advantageously in the format used for typing the request.
- the Hotel tab of the second command interface is selected with the mouse or any other pointer or the tab is automatically displayed as the user types the appropriate command in the first command interface (see figure 16).
- the user inputs the criteria of the hotel request either via the command line or via the form proposed in the second command interface. This corresponds to figure 17 to 19.
- the computer apparatus waits for the reply of the remote system and finally obtains the results presented in a further window like in figure 20. Again at least one of the command interfaces remains available for further entry like a selection command depicted in figure 21.
- a bypass mode enables the agent to use an alternative operating mode for cases not supported by the previously described interfaces.
- a bypass command in the first command interface Upon typing a bypass command in the first command interface, a dedicated tab is open in lieu of the form-based interface as illustrated in figure 22. Further inputs can be done by the agent with a display in this tab as given in the examples of figures 23 and 24.
- a quit command in figure 25 closes the tab which is replaced by the original GUI window of figure 26.
Abstract
Description
Claims
Priority Applications (7)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
CN201080014780.5A CN102365638B (en) | 2009-02-27 | 2010-02-17 | Graphical user interface for search request management |
AU2010217724A AU2010217724B2 (en) | 2009-02-27 | 2010-02-17 | Graphical user interface for search request management |
SG2011061132A SG173841A1 (en) | 2009-02-27 | 2010-02-17 | Graphical user interface for search request management |
BRPI1007865A BRPI1007865A2 (en) | 2009-02-27 | 2010-02-17 | computer apparatus for generating graphical user interface on a display screen, method for generating graphical user interface on a display screen, computer program product |
CA2753676A CA2753676C (en) | 2009-02-27 | 2010-02-17 | Graphical user interface for search request management |
JP2011551462A JP5667991B2 (en) | 2009-02-27 | 2010-02-17 | Graphical user interface for search request management |
ZA2011/06117A ZA201106117B (en) | 2009-02-27 | 2011-08-19 | Graphical user interface for search request management |
Applications Claiming Priority (4)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
EP09305180A EP2224358A1 (en) | 2009-02-27 | 2009-02-27 | Graphical user interface for search request management |
EP09305180.3 | 2009-02-27 | ||
US12/398,437 US9459765B2 (en) | 2009-02-27 | 2009-03-05 | Graphical user interface for search request management |
US12/398,437 | 2009-03-05 |
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WO2010097319A1 true WO2010097319A1 (en) | 2010-09-02 |
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PCT/EP2010/051983 WO2010097319A1 (en) | 2009-02-27 | 2010-02-17 | Graphical user interface for search request management |
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Cited By (1)
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---|---|---|---|---|
EP2541439A1 (en) * | 2011-06-27 | 2013-01-02 | Amadeus s.a.s. | Method and system for processing a search request |
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EP2541439A1 (en) * | 2011-06-27 | 2013-01-02 | Amadeus s.a.s. | Method and system for processing a search request |
WO2013000884A1 (en) | 2011-06-27 | 2013-01-03 | Amadeus S.A.S. | Method and system for processing a search request |
CN103649953A (en) * | 2011-06-27 | 2014-03-19 | 阿玛得斯两合公司 | Method and system for processing a search request |
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