Title of Invention

PROCESS FOR ALLOCATING SEATS TO CUSTOMERS IN A COMPUTERIZED RESERVATION SYSTEM

Abstract The present invention relates to a process of allocating seats to customers usable with a computerized reservation system. This process comprises the following allocation steps: assigning, in a database, to each customer, data relating to criteria of placement; - determination of a value of satisfaction of the customer for a seat as a function of its adequacy with respect to the placement criteria, - assigning, in a database, to each customer, a level of priority, - allocating, to each customer, by decreasing order of level of priority, the available seat having the maximum satisfaction value. Particular application to the reservation of seats in the field of aircraft transport.
Full Text "Process for allocating seats to customers in a computerized
reservation system"
The present invention relates to a process of allocation of
seats to customers usable with a computer reservation system.
This process will find particular application in the field
of aerial transport.
In this field, there are frequently used reservation
systems using computer means so as to control the reservation of
seats in the planning of flights or moreover the tariffs
associated with the transport services.
Up until now, the placement of persons onboard the aircraft
takes place by a manual assignment by an. employee. The criteria
essentially used by the employee to carry out displacement are
the distribution of weight within the aircraft and taking into
account on a case by case basis, the desires of the passengers
As a result of the development of aerial transport and
associated services, as well as the stiff competition in this
economic sector, there is at present the need for increased
adaptability to the desires of the customers as well as the need
for rationalizing the steps of placement of persons onboard the
aircraft.
The present invention permits responding to these
requirements and provides, for this purpose, a process for the
allocation of seats according to different parameters.
A first advantage of this process is to take account of
different levels of priority of the customers. It can thus be
adapted to the presence of several different classes of aerial
service such as business class or again economy class.
Another advantage of the invention is that it takes account
of different criteria of choice so as better to respond to the
preferences expressed by the customers. In this regard,
different criteria could be selected and among others the
proximity of the passenger to other persons, the seats or the
zones of the aircraft in which the person desires to be placed,
the assignment to a multi-leg flight (with connections), the
distribution of the weight or of the particular comfort services
such as preservation of free seats about the passenger.
Contrary to the manual mode of placement used at present,
the process proposed here has the advantage of being revisable
with each change of situation and particularly in the case of
cancellation of the reservation of a new reservation.
To achieve these advantages, the present invention uses
different computer means such as a database permitting
exploiting different criteria concurrent to the determination of
a plan of allocation of the seats to the customers.
Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the
description which follows, of a preferred embodiment of the
invention, which is however not limiting.
In this regard, the description which follows is applicable
to a reservation of seats for aircraft travel, onboard an
airplane. However, this application is not limiting and the
invention could be used for any other technical sector in which
a reservation of places is necessary.
The invention relates to a process for the allocation of
seats to customers, usable with a computerized reservation
system and comprising the following allocation steps:
assignment, in a database, to each customer, of data
relating to criteria of placement;
- determination of a value or satisfaction of the customer
for a seat as a function of the correspondence to the
placement criteria,
- assignment, in a database, to each customer, of a level
of priority,
- allocation by an allocation server, to each customer, by-
decreasing order of level of priority, of the
available seat having the maximum satisfaction value
This process could be subject to the following preferred
modifications:
the steps of allocation are reiterated for each new
reservation or cancellation of a seat,
if the available seats are all taken, placement of the
remaining customers on the waiting list,
assigning to each seat at least one attribute of
inclusion in the group of available seats, for the
definition of the seats available for allocation,
excluding from the group of available seats the seats
whose reservation is confirmed by the customer,
for the customers whose seat has a confirmed
reservation, carrying out a search procedure for the
best seat by the allocation steps,
the criteria of placement comprise data as to the zone
or location of seats desdred by the customer,
the placement criteria comprise a criterion of adjacency
of the customer- with at least one other customer,
assigning to each placement criterion an attribute
defining it either as obligatory or as preferred,
assigning to each placement criterion an attribute of
weight for the determination of the values of
satisfaction.
Within the scope of the invention, there are distinguished
seats for which a reservation has already been confirmed and
which are considered as not available in the future, seats for
which the reservation is not yet confirmed, which is to say not
finally. These latter seats are included in the present
allocation procedure. Upon each repetition of the process
according to the invention, these available seats can be
reallocated according to the development of the criteria used by
the process of the invention.
In practice, if a passenger has confirmed his reservation,
the seat allotted to him is thus considered as unavailable.
This is particularly the case when he has already checked in and
has a boarding pass with a published seat number. In other
cases, the seats are considered as available.
In the database used by the present invention, the
character of availability or not of the seats will be defined at
least by an attribute of inclusior in the group of available
seats. If this attribute is positive, the seat is included in
the quantity of seats available for the computation of
allocation. In the contrary case, the seat is excluded from the
allocation process.
More precisely, the attribute of inclusion will be a
function of the fact that the reservation is confirmed by the
customer or not. This being the case, if a customer has a seat
whose reservation is confirmed (particularly checked in with a
published seat number), there can be carried out a search
procedure for a better seat if desired, by the steps of
allocation according to the invention. In this connection,
there is guaranteed to the customer a minimum satisfaction by
the seat which is already assigned and a search is carried out
for a better seat.
For the procedure according to the invention, there will be
used particularly computer means for its practice. These means
comprise data storage means and particularly a computer database
as well as processing means in the form of a processor.
In the first instance, we proceed to the definition of the,
group of seats available, to which will be applied the
allocation process. This group of available seats is defined by
subtraction from all the seats of the airplane the seats
considered as unavailable including those for which the
reservation is confirmed. Other seats can also be considered as
unavailable for other reasons, in particular if they cannot be
used in the course of a flight.
There is assigned moreover, in the database, to each
customer, a level of priority. There can be used as priority
level the different levels of classes used at present in
aircraft transport, such as business class and economy class.
However, any other type of classification can be used to refine
the computation.
The database also comprise, for each customer, data
relative to criteria of placement.
There will be given hereafter various examples of placement
criteria which could be used:
1- Zone of the aircraft in which the passenger with a
certain level of priority should be placed,
2- Particular seat appropriate for the passenger,
3- Criteria of adjacency or relation with other passengers:
according to this criterion, it is possible to carry
out an allocation by respecting a placement adjacenl
one or several other passengers in the aircraft.
There could also be defined different levels of
respect of this adjacency criterion. In particular,
it can be only preferential or, on the contrary,
mandatory.
4- Criterion of multi-leg flight: in certain cases,
connections are necessary between several legs of the
same flight. In this connection, a criterion of
particular placement in the aircraft could be
considered, particularly to ensure the availability of
a seat for a passenge within the scope of a
connecting flight.
5- Criteria of distribution of the weight in the cabin:
this criterion is necessary to ensure good
distribution of the weight in the aircraft and to
ensure the safety of the transportation.
6- Additional criterion of coralort: this criterion is
particularly usable for passengers of a high level of
priority.
By way of example, it can he a matter of additional
services which could give satisiaction, like the preservation of
free seats about the passenger.
The placement criteria of which examples have been given
above can have different levels of importance and the
calculation will thus be mote difficult as a result.in
particular, certain criteria car, be absolutely necessary, others
of minor importance, or others of medium importance. There s
thus given to each criterion a particular weight.
There is given hereafter a particular example of the
practice of the invention.
The above table - gives various possibilities of
characteristics of allocation of seats to customers.
The customers with a "rej e :;:.ed" status will not be taken
into account in the allocation f ?. ¦'•.;e:--.-. .
The process automatically includes any customer to which a
seat has been allocated but who :~ no-; satisfied with it and has
not been confirmed. iJ
Moreover, for customers vino :ia\'.. a seat already confirmdjfl,
an ' allocation procedure accord nq to the invention remajjais
possible for seeking a possibly better seat. The assignmjfct
"Manual assignment indicator" is "hen placed at "Yes".
Table 2 gives, an example of determination of the group of
seats available for allocation. It shows various cases of
unavailability of seats.
In the last analysis, of 100 seats, only 33 seats remain "in
the group of seats available for allocation.
If for example 40 customers must take part in an
allocation, the allocation server wLl attribute the 33
available seats to the 33 passengers who have the highest level
of priority. The 7 others wi not have seats allocated and
will be placed on the waiting lst..
By way of indication, two examples follow as to the weight
given to each criterion to be triken into account.
Example of weighting the criteria of placement in finst
class:
- Zone of the aircraft-: 20%
- Most suitable seat: 80%
- Desire expressed by the pissenger: 901
- Criterion of adjacency: 15%
- Criterion of distribution of mass: 10%
- Additional comfort criteria (courtesy seat): 60%
In this example, the process of allocation of seats will
give priority to the following p acement criteria:
desired expressed by the passenger (90%): the process
of allocation will ma all the decisions necessary
for the satisfaction of the desires of the passengers",
the most suitable seat (80%) the process of
allocation will attribute to the passengers the seats
that are the nearest th? desired passengers,
additional comfort criteria (courtesy seat) (60%): the
process of allocation will seek to keep empty the
seats beside passengers having the highest rank.
Other placement criteria; will be considered as less
important:
criteria of weight distribution (10%): the first class
conventionally repres- r.t.s a small portion of the
aircraft and the criterion of distribution of the
masses is not the key to the allocation drocess.
Adjacency criteria (1M): most of the travelers in
first class are business people having no need to be
side by side (like family could be in economy class) .
Here then is an example o: the weight of the criteria of
placement in economy class:
- Zone of the aircraft: 80%
- The most suitable seat: 30%
- Desire expressed by the p,:. ssenaer: 50%
- Criteria of adjacency: 70%
- Criteria of weight distribution: 10%
- Addition comfort criteria (courtesy seat) : 5%
In this example, the process of allocation of the seats
will favor the following placement criteria:
zone of the aircraft (80'O: the allocation process will
assign the seats principally taking account of their
category. For example, rr.ino: s traveling alone will
have seats in the same , one of the aircraft (rear of
the cabin). The passengers traveling regularly will
be seated in the front of the: :abin.
criterion of adjacency 70 '-. > : a large number of group^j
and families travel ir. e- -onemy class and ,need seats
side by side.
The process of allocation of seats to customers calculates,
for each' passenger, a number of possible seats and classifies
them. For example, the passenger DUPONT could have assigned to
him four seats:
12A: rank 95%-> satisfies all the criteria of
placement (the passenger desires a window and seat 12A
is located next to a windnw) . This is a very good
seat for the DUPONT passenger.
14B: rank 80% -> satisfies a portion of the placement
criteria. It's a good seat for the DUPONT passenger.
20E: rank 20% ...
34F: rank 12% ...
The process of allocation of seat s to these customers taes
into account all the seats possible for each passenger and seeks
for a match: DUPONT will have seat 14B, DURANT will have seat
21A etc.... so as to maximize the satisfaction of the passengers
of the aircraft.
WE CLAIM:
1. Process for the allocation of seats to customers, usable with a
computerized reservation system, characterized by the fact that it comprises
the following allocation steps :
- assignment, in a database, to each customer, of data relative to
placement criteria;
- determination of a value of satisfaction of the customer for a
seat as a function of agreement with the placement criteria;
- assignment, in a database, to each customer, of a priority level;
- allocation by an allocation server, to each customer, by
decreasing order of level of priority, of the available seat having
the maximum satisfaction value;
repeating the steps of allocation upon each new reservation or cancellation
of a seat; and
that there is assigned to each placement criterion an attribute of weight for
the determination of satisfaction values.
2. Process as claimed in claim 1, wherein if the available seats are all
assigned, placement of the remaining customers on the waiting list.
3. Process as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein there is assigned to
each seat at least one attribute of inclusion in the group of available seats, for
the definition of the seats available for allocation.
4. Process as claimed in claim 3, wherein there is excluded from the group
of available seats, the seats whose resen ation is confirmed by the customer.
5. Process as claimed in claim 4, wherein for customers whose seat has a
confirmed reservation, there is carried out a search procedure for a possible
better seat by the steps of allocation.
6. Process as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the placement
criteria comprise data as to one or location of the seats desired by the
customer.
7. Process as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the placement
criteria comprise a criterion of adjacency of the customer to at least one
other customer.
8. Process as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein there is assigned
to each placement criterion an attribute defining it either as mandatory or as
preferred.

The present invention relates to a process of allocating
seats to customers usable with a computerized reservation
system.
This process comprises the following allocation steps:
assigning, in a database, to each customer, data
relating to criteria of placement;
- determination of a value of satisfaction of the customer
for a seat as a function of its adequacy with respect
to the placement criteria,
- assigning, in a database, to each customer, a level of
priority,
- allocating, to each customer, by decreasing order of
level of priority, the available seat having the
maximum satisfaction value.
Particular application to the reservation of seats in the
field of aircraft transport.

Documents:

1917-kolnp-2004-abstract.pdf

1917-kolnp-2004-claims.pdf

1917-kolnp-2004-correspondence.pdf

1917-kolnp-2004-description (complete).pdf

1917-kolnp-2004-examination report.pdf

1917-kolnp-2004-form 1.pdf

1917-kolnp-2004-form 13.pdf

1917-kolnp-2004-form 18.pdf

1917-kolnp-2004-form 2.pdf

1917-kolnp-2004-form 26.pdf

1917-kolnp-2004-form 3.pdf

1917-kolnp-2004-form 5.pdf

1917-KOLNP-2004-FORM-27.pdf

1917-kolnp-2004-reply to examination report.pdf

1917-kolnp-2004-specification.pdf


Patent Number 238714
Indian Patent Application Number 1917/KOLNP/2004
PG Journal Number 08/2010
Publication Date 19-Feb-2010
Grant Date 17-Feb-2010
Date of Filing 14-Dec-2004
Name of Patentee AMADEUS S.A.S.
Applicant Address 485 ROUTE DU PIN MONTARD, SOPHIA ANTIPOLIS, F-06410 BIOT
Inventors:
# Inventor's Name Inventor's Address
1 FAVOREL OLIVIER C/O. OFFICE MEDITERRANEEN DE BREVETS, D'INVENTION ET DE MARQUES, CABINET HAUTIER, 24 RUE MASSENA, F-06000 NICE
2 VIZZARI, EMILLO C/O. OFFICE MEDITERRANEEN DE BREVETS, D'INVENTION ET DE MARQUES, CABINET HAUTIER, 24 RUE MASSENA, F-06000 NICE
3 HASSAN, DAVID C/O. OFFICE MEDITERRANEEN DE BREVETS, D'INVENTION ET DE MARQUES, CABINET HAUTIER, 24 RUE MASSENA, F-06000 NICE
PCT International Classification Number G06F 17/60
PCT International Application Number PCT/FR2003/050011
PCT International Filing date 2003-06-13
PCT Conventions:
# PCT Application Number Date of Convention Priority Country
1 0208243 2002-07-02 France
2 60/444,693 2003-02-04 France