System and method for receiving and loading fare and schedule data

1. A system for loading data to a search system configured to process requests and present data meeting criteria specified in the request, the system comprising:

at least one processor and at least one memory;

a first server configured to monitor a second server for the availability of a new data set, request a transfer of the new data set when the second server indicates that the new data set is available, and store the new data set in the at least one memory;

a third server in communication with the first server, the third server configured to transfer the new data set received from the second server from the first server and simultaneously store an old data set and the new data set in the at least one memory, wherein the old data set comprises status information and the new data set comprises updated travel status information which reflects a change to the status information; and

a fourth server in communication with the third server, the fourth server configured to simultaneously operate a first search process for processing requests searching the old data set and a second search process for processing requests searching the new data set.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first server is a fare load master server.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the second server is a file transfer server.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the third server is a network file system server.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the fourth server is a low fare search engine server.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the status information comprises airline fare and schedule data for a plurality of airline flights.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the second server is configured to set a flag to indicate that the new data set is available.

8. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a query distributor configured to receive user queries and direct the fourth server to process the user queries using one of the old data set and the new data set.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the first server is configured to monitor a global distribution system for an indication that the global distribution system is operating on new data corresponding to the new data set received by the first server.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein:

the first server is configured to alert the query distributor when the global distribution system begins operating on the new data corresponding to the new data set; and

the query distributor is configured to direct search queries to the first search process prior to receiving the alert and to direct queries to the second search process thereafter.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the fourth server includes a random access memory for storing data corresponding to the old data set and the new data set.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the fourth server comprises a plurality of servers.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the third server comprises a plurality servers.

14. A method, operative on at least one processor, for loading data to a search system configured to process requests and present data meeting criteria specified in the request, the method comprising:

receiving a search request;

monitoring a server for availability of a new data set;

storing an old data set and the new data set in a memory when the server indicates that the new data set is available, wherein the old data set comprises status information and the new data set comprises updated status information which reflects a change to the status information;

operating simultaneously a first search process for processing the search request by searching the old data set and a second search process for processing the search request by searching the new data set.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the travel status information comprises at least one of schedule data and fare data.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the at least one of schedule and fare data comprises air carrier data.