Patent Application
20050114191
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system and in particular to a method and apparatus for managing data. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a method, apparatus, and computer instructions for managing scheduling information for a calendar system.
2. Description of Related Art
Many users employ an electronic calendar to keep track of events. In particular, users employ calendars to keep track of meetings that may occur in different ways. Meetings traditionally took place on a face-to-face basis. Today, meetings may also take place in other ways. For example, a meeting may take place through a telephone conference, a video conference, or a chat session. These meetings are tracked using the calendar program. Additionally, with group calendaring, scheduling may be employed in which a user sets up a meeting with other potential participants. The potential participants are automatically emailed with messages indicating a proposed meeting time. At that point, the calendar program waits for responses from the potential participants.
Some users frequently travel or schedule meetings with those who travel. In this case, such a user must take into account time zone differences between the user's location and the participant's location. For example, if a participant requests a time at 10:30 a.m., the user's time may be 4:30 a.m. based on the time zone difference in the locations between the user and the participant. Further, the user also must determine whether the participant will travel to another location on the proposed meeting date. In such a case, the time zone may again change requiring adjustments for the user.
The present invention recognizes that current calendaring programs do not take into account location of the user and other users for a particular meeting date. Current systems only track the current time zone of the user. Therefore, it would be advantageous for an improved method, apparatus, and computer instructions for providing calendar functions that take travel by users and participants to different locations into account.
The present invention provides a method, apparatus, and computer instructions for managing scheduling information in a calendar program. Location information with scheduling information for a user is stored. The location information includes a time zone associated with a location for the user for a particular day. A calendar view is presented for the user with meetings being shown using a local time using the time zone associated with the location of the user.
The novel features believed characteristic of the present invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
With reference now to the figures,
In the depicted example, server 104 is connected to network 102 along with storage unit 106. In addition, clients 108, 110, and 112 are connected to network 102. These clients 108, 110, and 112 may be, for example, personal computers or network computers. In the depicted example, server 104 provides data, such as boot files, operating system images, and applications to clients 108-112. Clients 108, 110, and 112 are clients to server 104. Network data processing system 100 may include additional servers, clients, and other devices not shown.
In the depicted example, network data processing system 100 is the Internet with network 102 representing a worldwide collection of networks and gateways that use the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) suite of protocols to communicate with one another. At the heart of the Internet is a backbone of high-speed data communication lines between major nodes or host computers, consisting of thousands of commercial, government, educational and other computer systems that route data and messages. Of course, network data processing system 100 also may be implemented as a number of different types of networks, such as for example, an intranet, a local area network (LAN), or a wide area network (WAN).
Referring to
Peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus bridge 214 connected to I/O bus 212 provides an interface to PCI local bus 216. A number of modems may be connected to PCI local bus 216. Typical PCI bus implementations will support four PCI expansion slots or add-in connectors. Communications links to clients 108-112 in
Additional PCI bus bridges 222 and 224 provide interfaces for additional PCI local buses 226 and 228, from which additional modems or network adapters may be supported. In this manner, data processing system 200 allows connections to multiple network computers. A memory-mapped graphics adapter 230 and hard disk 232 may also be connected to I/O bus 212 as depicted, either directly or indirectly.
Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the hardware depicted in
The data processing system depicted in
With reference now to
An operating system runs on processor 302 and is used to coordinate and provide control of various components within data processing system 300 in
Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the hardware in
As another example, data processing system 300 may be a stand-alone system configured to be bootable without relying on some type of network communication interfaces. As a further example, data processing system 300 may be a personal digital assistant (PDA) device, which is configured with ROM and/or flash ROM in order to provide non-volatile memory for storing operating system files and/or user-generated data.
The depicted example in
The present invention provides an improved method, apparatus, and computer instructions for scheduling meetings in which a location and time zone of a user and other participants are taken into account. This mechanism provides a calendar feature that is currently unsupported by current calendar programs. The calendar program of the present invention may include various functions that take the location and time zone of different users into account.
In the illustrative embodiment, a planned location for each calendar user, on each day, is maintained by the calendar process. This feature allows scheduling that takes into account the planned location of users and participants in addition to available times. In this manner, meetings may be automatically scheduled for times when participants are in the same location. Also, with the maintaining of stored location information, a calendar may indicate local times for each user based on the time zone of the location of the user on a particular day.
In this manner, meetings for participants in multiple time zones may be arranged in a manner that is most convenient for all of the participants. The local time zone for a planned location may be displayed on each user's calendar for a particular day based on future plans. As a result, information regarding times of meetings may be displayed with respect to a local time zone for a location on a future date even if the user is not currently at that location. Consequently, scheduling decisions may be made in view of the local time at a planned location. Also, the mechanism of the present invention may display local information, such as local workdays and normal business hours for a particular location. In the United States, for example, the business hours may be 9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. In Japan, however, the business hours may be 10:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Israel may have business days that are from 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, plus Friday morning. Further, holidays for each planned location of a particular user also may be indicated for a particular user. In this manner, the user may schedule meetings that correspond with respect to local business practices.
With reference now to
Calendar process 400 may receive location information from other participants. For example, a participant at calendar process 406 may send scheduling data and location information from schedule database 408 and location information 410. This information may be used by the user at calendar process 400 to set up a meeting such as on a time when both users are in the same location. Further, this exchange of information between calendar process 400 and 406 may allow for different users to schedule meetings for a time that is most convenient for the different participants. With the location information of each user, a user at calendar process 400 may select a desired time for a meeting. With this selected time, the user at calendar process 400 may see the corresponding time for the user at calendar process 406.
In one illustrative example, a user at calendar process 400 is located in London, while a user at calendar process 406 is located in the United States. If the user at calendar process 400 selects a 10:00 a.m. meeting time, calendar process 400 displays the corresponding meeting time with respect to the location of the user at calendar process 406. In this example, the meeting time would then be 4:00 a.m. As a result, the user may adjust the meeting time to a later time to provide for a more convenient time for both users. Such a feature is especially useful when the number of participants in a meeting increases beyond two.
In addition to exchanging schedule and location information directly between calendar process 400 and calendar process 406, a server containing server process 412 may be implemented to allow for a central management of calendar functions. In this example, users schedule data and location information 414 is employed to store schedule information and location information for different client processes, such as calendar process 400 and calendar process 406. Such a configuration allows for Web-based calendar systems as well as reducing the amount of space needed to store information on a client. Server process 412 may be implemented in a server, such as data processing system 200 in
Calendar process 400 and calendar process 406 may be implemented in a client computer, such as data processing system 300 in
Turning now to
As illustrated, the user may enter a subject for the meeting in subject field 502. Further, the user may enter location information as to the location of the user for a particular date in location field 504. The start time for a meeting is indicated in data field 506 and time field 508. The end time for a meeting is indicated in date field 510 and time field 512.
In this example, the user has selected 4:30 a.m. start time and a 5:30 a.m. end time based on the location of another user to accommodate schedules. This time, however, is based on the user's present location. The location that the user has entered in location field 504 is different location from the user's current location. The calendar process displays within window 500 the time of the meeting based on the user's location for that date as being 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. This information may be displayed within the user's calendar by selecting button 514, which is an option to display the time relative to the user's planned location. Additionally, in some cases the location also may result in a change in the date. In this case, the date change also may be displayed in the user's calendar. This option may be presented within window 500 in a manner similar to that provided by button 514.
Further, window 500 provides for an ability to search for times during which the user and planned participants are in the same physical location. This feature may be initiated by selecting button 516 to initiate a location search. To identify the best time for the user and different participants, a selection of button 518 results in pop-up window 520 being displayed. Button 518 provides for a best time search to display the local time for each potential participant on the proposed date.
In this example, the time for John Smith is 4:30 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. on the date selected by the user in window 500. The time for Sarah Wright is 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. based on the selected time. In this manner, a user may identify times that are most convenient for all of the participants based on the location of each participant for the proposed time. This feature in enabled by storing location information for each participant. In this manner, the location of a participant for a particular time in the future may be taken into account in scheduling meetings. Again, these meetings may take place in various forms, such as, for example, through a face-to-face meeting, a telephone conference, a video conference, or a chat session.
Turning now to
Further, each day also indicates location information as to the location of the user on that particular day. For example, the user is located in London on day 602, in Dallas on day 604, and in Tokyo on day 606. Each of these days display hours for a day.
Further, local workdays and normal business hours may be displayed within screen 600. For example, during day 602, section 608 indicates that the business hours for the user are from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. when the user is located in London. Similar business hours are shown for the user on day 604 when the user is in Dallas in section 610. On day 606, the business hours are identified as being from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. in section 612 when the user is located in Tokyo.
In this manner, the user may schedule meetings based on the local workdays for the locations at which the user will be found on those particular dates. Further, holiday information for each location also may be indicated.
Additionally, the scheduled time for a meeting may be shown in the local time in screen 600 in response to a user selecting a user location option, such as through button 514 in
Turning now to
The process begins by receiving scheduling information for a meeting (step 700). This information may be obtained from a database, such as schedule database 402 in
For example, if the user is currently located in Dallas, and the user will be in London for the time of the meeting, then the time zone is different. If the time zone is different, then an option is presented to the user to use the time zone of the location at the meeting time (step 706). This option may be presented to the user through a graphical user interface, such as window 500 in
Next, a determination is made as to whether this option has been selected (step 708). If the option is selected, then the meeting is displayed using the time zone of the location (step 710) with the process terminating thereafter. The display in step 710 is made in a screen, such as screen 600 in
With reference again to step 708, if the option was not selected by the user, then the meeting is displayed using the time zone of the current location (step 712) with the process terminating thereafter. The process also proceeds to step 712 from step 704, if the time zone is not different between the user's current location and the user's location at the meeting time. With reference again to step 702, if the location of a user is not specified, then the process also proceeds to step 712.
Turning now to
The process begins by receiving schedule information with locations for the participants (step 800). This information may be received from the calendar processes for the participants or from a central server process depending on the particular implementation. The schedule information identifies the location for participants on different days.
A determination is then made as to whether a location match is present (step 802). This determination is made by comparing the locations for the participants for different times and determining whether the participants will all be in the same location for one or more times. If a location match is present, the matches are presented (step 804). User input is received selecting a meeting time (step 806). The meeting time is then scheduled (step 808) with the process terminating thereafter.
With reference again to step 802, if a location match is not present, the process terminates. In this manner, the mechanism of the present invention allows for scheduling of meetings between users when a face-to-face or in person meeting is desired. Using the location information, these meetings may be automatically scheduled without requiring lengthy exchanges as to times and locations between the different users.
Turing now to
The process begins by receiving a user input setting a time for the meeting and selecting participants (step 900). This user input may be implemented in a calendar process, such as calendar process 400 in
Thereafter, a time zone is identified for the location of each participant (step 904). With this time zone information, a local time may be identified for the participants. The local times are displayed for each participant (step 906) with the process terminating thereafter. This information may be displayed, such as using pop-up window 520 in
Turning now to
The process begins by receiving schedule information including location information (step 1000). An unprocessed day is selected from the schedule information (step 1002). A time zone is identified for the location for the day (step 1004). The workday is then identified for that location (step 1006). A workday in these examples is the business hours for the particular location.
For example, the business hours for Dallas may be 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. while the business hours for Japan may be 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. A determination is then made as to whether more unprocessed days are present in the schedule information (step 1008). If additional unprocessed days are present, the process returns to step 1002 to select another day for processing. Otherwise, the schedule is displayed using the identified time zone and the identified workday (step 1010) with the process terminating thereafter.
Thus, the present invention provides an improved method, apparatus, and computer instructions for managing scheduling information. The mechanism of the present invention includes a location feature in the calendar process. Location information for a user is stored for different days such that the location of the user for a particular day may be identified in scheduling meetings. By identifying location information for the user and potential participants for a meeting, convenient meeting times may be identified as well as an ability to easily identify a common location for a physical or in-person meeting.
Further, this location information also allows for the display and presentation of meetings based on the local time that will be used by the user on that particular day. Also, the different business hours for different locations may be presented such that the user can more conveniently schedule meetings.
It is important to note that while the present invention has been described in the context of a fully functioning data processing system, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the processes of the present invention are capable of being distributed in the form of a computer readable medium of instructions and a variety of forms and that the present invention applies equally regardless of the particular type of signal bearing media actually used to carry out the distribution. Examples of computer readable media include recordable-type media, such as a floppy disk, a hard disk drive, a RAM, CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, and transmission-type media, such as digital and analog communications links, wired or wireless communications links using transmission forms, such as, for example, radio frequency and light wave transmissions. The computer readable media may take the form of coded formats that are decoded for actual use in a particular data processing system.
The description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, and is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention, the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.
