Obviousness

This analysis will focus on the obviousness of US Patent 5948040 under 35 U.S.C. § 103, considering the provided prior art. A patent claim is obvious if "the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains."

To establish obviousness, it's necessary to:

1. Identify the scope and content of the prior art.
2. Ascertain the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art.
3. Determine the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Consider secondary indicia of obviousness (e.g., commercial success, long-felt need, failure of others), although none are explicitly provided in the patent text for this analysis.

The priority date for US 5948040 is 1994-06-24.

Level of Ordinary Skill in the Art

A person having ordinary skill in the art (PHOSITA) in this field would likely possess a strong understanding of computer systems, database management, geographic information systems (GIS), and network communications. They would be familiar with software development for interactive applications, multimedia integration, and transaction processing. Experience with travel planning systems and the various modes of transportation and accommodation reservations would also be expected.

Prior Art References

The patent itself identifies and discusses several pieces of prior art:

• Assignee's Prior Systems (DeLorme Publishing Co Inc): These systems involved computer-based databases with software for creating map displays of selectable detail, planning trips with intermediate "waypoints," observing points of interest (POIs) and events of interest (EOIs) along routes, and multimedia displays. They also included capabilities for retrieving detailed addresses, coordinating digital and paper maps, and communicating map information between remote devices including GPS sensors/transmitters.
  • US 5,559,707 (DeLorme & Gray): This patent, cross-referenced in the current patent, describes routing software that facilitates input of a user's proposed initial departure point, final destination, and intermediate waypoints to compute optimal routes based on user-selected parameters (e.g., Quickest, Shortest, Scenic).
• Internet Travel Network (ITN) and Casto Travel (http://www.itn.net, http://www.casto.com): These online reservation access systems allowed browsers to link with travel service providers and offered online booking, including "ticketless" travel, though ticketing still involved a third-party provider with separate fees.
• Microsoft™ Expedia (http://www.expedia.msn.com): This Internet Web Site provided an "online travel agency" to book flights, hotel rooms, and rental cars, and offered travel forums, news, weather, currency, multimedia guidebooks, and photographs.
• Rand McNally TRIPMAKER™ software: This product allowed planning car trips in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, calculated quickest, shortest, and preferred scenic routes, and incorporated a database of many points of interest. However, its multimedia travelog information was limited to preplanned scenic tours.
• American Automobile Association (AAA) in cooperation with Compton's NewMedia CD-ROM product: This product provided travel planning from start to destination with stopping points, containing a database of travel information, but its multimedia information was limited to "suggested routes of travel," again restricting user choice.
• U.S. Pat. No. 5,237,499 (Garback): This patent described an individual-accessible planning system linking users to service and ticket providers for developing travel arrangements. However, these arrangements were "fixed based upon pre-set travel destinations," and users could not create a customized travel plan and execute it through a mix of arrangements. It was limited to basic car and hotel for point-to-point travel (e.g., between airports).
• U.S. Pat. No. 5,021,953 (Webber et al.): This patent described a system for airline flight options, weighting various options by expense, convenience, and availability. While customizable, it was restricted to flight arrangements.

Obviousness Analysis

Independent Claim 1

Claim 1 describes a TRIPS with:

1. A digital computer, display, and computer link.
2. Electronic maps.
3. A TRIPS database of loc/objects, POIs, and EOIs, organized into types as electronic overlays.
4. TRIPS software for:
   • User selection of origin, destination, and waypoints.
   • Calculation and display of a travel route (shortest, quickest, preferred, considering availability, pricing, times).
   • A transaction subsystem for comparing/purchasing tickets/reservations (travel, lodging, events).
   • Generating a customized itinerary document with maps and machine-readable tickets, printable.
   • A multimedia travelog preview of the user-defined route, POIs/EOIs, enabling iterative planning.

Combination 1: Assignee's Prior Systems (including US 5,559,707) + Internet Travel Network/Expedia + Garback/Webber

• Assignee's Prior Systems (including US 5,559,707): These systems already provide core mapping, routing with waypoints (e.g., shortest, quickest, scenic routes as taught by US 5,559,707), POI/EOI display, and multimedia capabilities. They also have the concept of communicating map data to remote devices and some level of coordination with external data. The patent states that the assignee's prior systems "have involved the use of computer-based databases combined with software to create map displays of selectable and variable levels of detail. They also include the capability to selectively plan a trip from one location to another, with intermediate 'waypoints' anywhere along the way." The systems allowed users to "define the route of interest, to observe the location of points of interest and events of interest along the way and within a defined range of the route selected." Multimedia display was also available and arrangeable by the user. Furthermore, they included "the capability to retrieve detailed address locations" and "communicate map information between remote devices, which remote devices may include Global Positioning System (GPS) sensors and/or transmitters."
• Internet Travel Network/Expedia: These references disclose online reservation and booking systems for flights, hotels, and rental cars, offering the ability to link with travel service providers and participate in online transactions. Expedia specifically offered a "travel agency" to "book flights, hotel rooms, and rental cars." The Internet Travel Network included "access to an online booking system" and permitted "ticketless" travel.
• Garback (US 5,237,499) and Webber (US 5,021,953): Garback describes an "individual-accessible planning system that permits a user to develop travel arrangements through linkage to service providers and to ticket providers." Webber describes a "system that provides the user with information regarding airline flight options," directed to "weighting various flight options by expense, convenience, and availability, and giving the user travel possibilities on that basis."

Motivation for Combination:

A PHOSITA would have been motivated to combine these systems to provide a more comprehensive and integrated travel planning experience. The assignee's prior systems offered robust mapping and route planning, but lacked direct, real-time transaction capabilities for a wide range of travel services. Internet Travel Network and Expedia provided online booking, but without the sophisticated mapping and customized multimedia travelog generation tied directly to a user-defined route that the assignee's systems offered.

The motivation would be to enhance the user's ability to not only plan a detailed, customized route with POIs and EOIs but also to immediately transact for necessary travel components (flights, hotels, events) directly within the same integrated system. Specifically, combining the detailed route planning and multimedia travelog generation of the assignee's prior systems with the online reservation and transaction capabilities of ITN/Expedia would address the limitation in prior systems where "the user cannot create a customized travel plan and execute that plan through a mix of travel arrangements" (Garback's limitation) and where customizing was "specifically restricted to making flight arrangements" (Webber's limitation).

The addition of machine-readable tickets (e.g., bar codes) to a printed itinerary document, as claimed, would be an obvious improvement for efficiency and automation, as such technologies were known for various ticketing and access control applications. The patent itself mentions the use of "bar codes" or "unique numerical code" or "magnetic ink technology" for automated processing, indicating these were existing technologies.

Therefore, a PHOSITA would combine:

• The mapping, routing, waypoint selection, and multimedia display of POIs/EOIs from the assignee's prior systems (including US 5,559,707).
• The online reservation and booking capabilities for diverse travel services (flights, hotels, rental cars) from Internet Travel Network and Microsoft Expedia.
• The concept of linking to service providers and ticket providers from Garback and Webber, while extending the scope beyond their limitations.

This combination would yield a system that allows users to construct a highly selective travel route, preview a customized multimedia travelog, and then reserve, purchase, and print machine-readable tickets for various services directly, overcoming the identified shortcomings of the individual prior art references.

Independent Claim 25

Claim 25 describes a method for travel reservation information and planning, involving:

1. Providing user access to a database of mappable geographic information to create a user-determined digital map.
2. Linking and making accessible travel information associated with the geographic information.
3. Making reservation information and materials from travel service providers accessible.
4. Providing a customized output (e.g., map/ticket combo with machine-readable encoding).
5. Remote accessibility via modem.
6. Electronic data transfer to other digital computers, PDAs, or GPS receivers.

Combination 2: Rand McNally TRIPMAKER™ / AAA CD-ROM + Internet Travel Network/Expedia + Assignee's Prior Systems

• Rand McNally TRIPMAKER™ / AAA CD-ROM: These references provide systems for planning trips with digital maps and databases of points of interest. Rand McNally "calculates quickest, shortest, and preferred scenic routes" and incorporates "a database of many points of interest." The AAA CD-ROM also "contains a database of travel information."
• Internet Travel Network/Expedia: As discussed above, these provide online reservation information and the ability to link with travel service providers for bookings.
• Assignee's Prior Systems: These systems provide for map information communication between remote devices, including GPS sensors, and coordinate digital and paper maps.

Motivation for Combination:

A PHOSITA would be motivated to integrate the robust map-based travel planning of Rand McNally/AAA with the online transactional capabilities of ITN/Expedia. The limitation of Rand McNally and AAA was that their multimedia information was "limited to preplanned scenic tours" or "suggested routes of travel," implying a lack of user customization in the transactional aspect beyond basic route planning.

The further motivation to incorporate elements from the assignee's prior systems, particularly regarding "the capability to communicate map information between remote devices, which remote devices may include Global Positioning System (GPS) sensors and/or transmitters," would lead to the electronic data transfer to PDAs or GPS receivers as claimed. The idea of a "customized output" in the form of a map/ticket combination with machine-readable encoding would be an obvious extension of existing ticketing and mapping technologies when combined with online reservation systems.

The provision for remote accessibility via a modem was a standard feature of online systems like ITN and Expedia at the time.

Independent Claim 26

Claim 26 describes a method for providing travel reservation and information services, largely mirroring Claim 1's features as a method. The same combination of prior art references and motivations for Claim 1 would apply here.

Independent Claim 40

Claim 40 describes a TRIPS with a digital computer, display, link to a remote server, digital map display, user-defined travel route, database of loc/objects with multimedia information, calculation and display of route, identification of loc/objects along the route, display of multimedia in a customized travelog, means for comparing/purchasing reservations/tickets, transmitting purchases, and printing a hard-copy map/ticket with machine-readable information.

Combination 3: Assignee's Prior Systems + Rand McNally TRIPMAKER™ + Internet Travel Network/Expedia

• Assignee's Prior Systems: Provide the core mapping, loc/objects, multimedia information, and the concept of customizable travelogs. The patent explicitly states that the "TRIPS software responds by assembling a user-customized travelog or sequential assemblage of multimedia information for previewing the entire trip."
• Rand McNally TRIPMAKER™: Offers route calculation and display, and a database of points of interest.
• Internet Travel Network/Expedia: Provide the online transaction capabilities for reservations and tickets, and the ability to transmit purchases to service providers.

Motivation for Combination:

The motivation is to combine the interactive, multimedia-rich route planning and customized travelog generation (assignee's prior art) with detailed route calculation (Rand McNally) and real-time online booking (ITN/Expedia). The combination addresses the shortcomings of Rand McNally's "canned" travelogs and the limited scope of online booking systems by creating a fully integrated system that allows users to dynamically build a route, view relevant multimedia information, and make reservations, all within a single interface. The printing of a hard-copy map/ticket with machine-readable reservation information is an obvious integration of existing technologies to streamline the travel process.

Independent Claim 47

Claim 47 describes a TRIPS with enhanced communication capabilities, including:

1. Digital computer, display, link to travel service providers.
2. TRIPS database of loc/objects, POIs, EOIs.
3. TRIPS software for route selection, calculation, display, multimedia preview, transaction subsystem.
4. Communication links for online transfer of reservation data, ticketing data, spatially related data, and map reading software tools between computers and users.
5. Communication with external databases, service bureaus, online mapping services for updated information.
6. Coupling to a radio location receiver (e.g., GPS) to display user's location, direction, and speed.

Combination 4: Assignee's Prior Systems (including GPS capabilities) + Internet Travel Network/Expedia + General Communication Technologies

• Assignee's Prior Systems: These systems already included "the capability to communicate map information between remote devices, which remote devices may include Global Positioning System (GPS) sensors and/or transmitters." The patent also states that the "TRIPS software is coupled to a radio location receiver such as a loran receiver or a GPS receiver for generating signals corresponding to the geographical coordinate location and direction of travel of a TRIPS user." The database manager was "constructed for displaying on the TRIPS computer display the location, direction of travel, speed and traveling route of the TRIPS user."
• Internet Travel Network/Expedia: These demonstrate the ability to link to travel service providers and handle online transactions.
• General Communication Technologies: The concept of online communication and data transfer between computers was well-established by the priority date of 1994, particularly with the rise of the internet. Modems and networking protocols for transferring various types of data were common.

Motivation for Combination:

A PHOSITA would be motivated to combine the established GPS and remote device communication capabilities of the assignee's prior systems with the online transactional capabilities of ITN/Expedia and general communication technologies. The goal would be to create a truly dynamic and real-time travel planning and assistance system. Integrating real-time location and direction information from GPS with the ability to access and update reservations or find new points of interest while en route would address a clear user need for immediate, contextual information and adjustments to travel plans.

The communication links for transferring reservation/ticketing data and spatially related data between users and external databases, service bureaus, or online mapping services would be an obvious extension of existing communication technologies to support the core functionalities of TRIPS in a networked environment. The patent explicitly states, "the TRIPS user can be provided with communications links for online communication and transfer of reservation data, ticketing data, spatially related data, and software tools for map reading between computers and between users." This indicates that the concept of online data transfer was known.

Independent Claim 53

Claim 53 describes a system focusing on portable device integration, including:

1. Digital computer, display, computer link.
2. Electronic maps.
3. TRIPS database of loc/objects, multimedia information.
4. TRIPS software for user-defined travel route, loc/object identification, multimedia travelog preview.
5. Transaction subsystem for comparing/purchasing tickets/reservations.
6. Electronically transferring travel route, loc/object data, and reservation information to a portable digital device (PDA, GPS receiver) for use during travel.

Combination 5: Assignee's Prior Systems (including remote device communication) + Rand McNally TRIPMAKER™ + Internet Travel Network/Expedia + Portable Digital Devices (e.g., early PDAs, GPS units)

• Assignee's Prior Systems: These systems had the capability to "communicate map information between remote devices, which remote devices may include Global Positioning System (GPS) sensors and/or transmitters." This directly suggests the idea of transferring map data to portable devices.
• Rand McNally TRIPMAKER™: Provided route planning and POI databases.
• Internet Travel Network/Expedia: Offered online reservation and ticketing.
• Portable Digital Devices: By the priority date, early PDAs (personal digital assistants) and consumer-grade GPS receivers were becoming available, demonstrating a clear trend toward portable computing and navigation. The patent itself mentions the use of a "handheld personal digital assistant (PDA), or 'dumb' network terminal" as potential user terminals and refers to the user taking "TRIPS electronic output as downloaded into a PDA or GPS to guide the user during their travel."

Motivation for Combination:

A PHOSITA would be motivated to make the comprehensive travel plans and booking capabilities of the combined prior art systems available on portable devices for use during actual travel. The convenience of having maps, routes, POI information, and reservation details readily accessible on a PDA or GPS receiver would be an obvious extension of the stationary planning system. The assignee's prior art already laid the groundwork for communicating with such devices. Integrating the multimedia travelog and reservation information would enhance the utility of these portable devices for travelers. The transfer of "travel route, loc/object data, and reservation information" to these devices is a logical step to enable the user to leverage the pre-planned trip data while in transit.

Conclusion

Based on the analysis, a person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the identified prior art references to arrive at the claimed inventions of US Patent 5948040. The evolution of computing, networking (especially the internet), GIS, and portable electronic devices by the 1994 priority date would have led a PHOSITA to integrate disparate systems for map-based route planning, online reservations, multimedia information display, and mobile guidance into a single, comprehensive travel planning and execution system. The claimed features, while innovative in their integration, appear to be logical advancements and combinations of existing technologies and known functionalities in the fields of computer science, travel services, and navigation.