Patent Application
20210049440
A task management solution enables users to track various tasks. A user may prefer to complete a task in any of a variety of different ways in view of one or more constraints. However, determining the optimal way to complete a task in view of such constraints is difficult, especially when considering multiple constraints. For example, users may struggle to prioritize tasks, struggle with too many tasks, struggle with procrastination of important tasks, and have difficulty taking first steps on tasks. While users generally want to be more productive, some of the above obstacles often stand in their way.
It is with respect to these and other general considerations that embodiments have been described. Also, although relatively specific problems have been discussed, it should be understood that the embodiments should not be limited to solving the specific problems identified in the background.
Examples of the present disclosure describe systems and methods for implementing a smart coaching task management system for modifying task, or goal, placement to assist a user in completing the goal in an optimal manner. To complete a task optimally may depend on user and task circumstances. For example, an optimization of task may be based on but is not limited to, task/event dependencies (for example, one task may depend on the completion of another task), a user optimization goal (for example, providing an order of tasks that achieves a highest amount of user happiness), an efficiency goal (for example, providing an order of tasks/events where the tasks/events having a large degree of mental difficulty are spaced apart from one another may optimize an efficiency; alternatively, providing an order of tasks/events where the tasks/events having a large degree of mental difficulty are close to one another may optimize an efficiency), task/event priorities (for example, tasks having a higher priority may be completed before tasks having lower priorities), and combinations thereof. Accordingly, a smart coach may be utilized to understand users' tasks and help them decompose, purge, and prioritize their tasks into manageable daily, weekly and monthly agendas, while ensuring daily progress towards long-term goals. In accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure, the smart coaching task management system may solicit user input on task importance, task difficulty/complexity, and a user's emotional valence with respect to the task. The system may proactively prompt the user to delete tasks that are not important, have lingered on the to-do list for a long time, and/or have low probability of ever being completed. In some instances, the system may generate an agenda for the day or other time-span of interest, to assist a user in completing a goal or task in an optimized manner. In one non-limiting example, the system may attempt to maximize productivity, promote an overall positive emotional disposition to the task list, and attempt to ensure long-term achievement of the more difficult goals.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Additional aspects, features, and/or advantages of examples will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the disclosure.
Non-limiting and non-exhaustive examples are described with reference to the following figures.
Various aspects of the disclosure are described more fully below with reference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and which show specific example aspects. However, different aspects of the disclosure may be implemented in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the aspects set forth herein; rather, these aspects are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the aspects to those skilled in the art. Aspects may be practiced as methods, systems or devices. Accordingly, aspects may take the form of a hardware implementation, an entirely software implementation or an implementation combining software and hardware aspects. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense.
A task management application provides functionality that enables a user to manage and track a task to completion. For example, a task may be comprised of a set of subtasks, have one or more associated resources, and/or have other users with which aspects of the task are associated. Thus, it is possible to view progress toward completion of the task, generate an estimated time of completion, and delegate aspects of the task to other users. However, in some examples where tasks may be complex or large, a smart coaching task management application may assist a user to better understand task complexity, suggest decomposing large tasks into smaller more management tasks, and provide prioritization suggestions for tasks in order to maximize productivity and realization of goals.
In accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure, a smart coach is provided that may suggest daily agendas that account for both immediate high-priority tasks as well as incremental progress on longer-term projects, while taking into account other contexts and constraints that can impact the user's ability to act on the tasks. Moreover, such a smart coach may infer users' feelings about a collection of tasks from direct feedback (e.g., likes/dislikes) and also from observations of their behavior (for example repeatedly ignoring a task, or prioritizing other low priority tasks when there exists a bigger, higher priority task that is scheduled). In some examples, the smart coach may actively solicit feedback during the prioritization process, aiming to understand task importance and a user's likelihood to procrastinate. Thus, the smart coach may adapt coaching styles based on user progress and/or user preferences and further provide a user with an aggregate view of their productivity and progress towards productivity and task optimization goals.
In some aspects, the smart coach may deliver metrics to assist a user in measuring their productivity/progress relative to other users and further provide timely notifications to help users stay on task, or complete tasks relevant to a time or location. More specifically, the smart coach may utilize a task list to solicit user input on the task importance, task difficulty/complexity, and emotional valence with regard to the task (does the user feel good or bad about having to do the task). Thus, given enough user input, possibly across many users, the smart coach system may learn to accurately predict the responses provided in the user feedback. The smart coach system may collect additional input from users to refine/break down tasks that are difficult or have negative emotional valence, yielding smaller subtasks that users can grapple with. In addition the system may proactively prompt the user to delete tasks that are not important, have lingered on the to-do list for a long time, and/or have low probability of ever being completed. The system may generate an agenda for the day or other time-span of interest to assist the user in optimizing task completion by maximizing productivity, promoting an overall positive emotional disposition to the task list, and ensuring long-term achievement of the more difficult goals for example. The system may subsequently follow up with the user to determine which tasks were accomplished, re-assess the user's emotional disposition towards their open and completed tasks, add any new tasks, and update the agenda. The system may collaborate with the user to identify incentives for completing a task (explicit rewards like grabbing a treat on a dreaded shopping trip) and/or pre-visualizing successful completion of the task
The user devices 120A-C/124A-C may be specific to one or more users. For example, a first user may utilize user devices 120A-C while a second user may utilize user devices 124A-C. As illustrated in
The smart coach 104 may receive one or more of the tasks/events 112A/112B/112C and determine or otherwise generate an agenda specific to a user, group of users, and/or user device based on one or more optimization parameters. For example, the smart coach 104 may receive a plurality of tasks/events 112A/112B/112C specific to one or more users; the smart coach 104 may then process the plurality of tasks/events 112A/112B/112C to generate an agenda and/or task status specific to each user, a plurality of users, and/or a user device. The agenda and/or task status 116A/116B may include an order of tasks to be completed and/or specific periods of time, such as time slots or time-spans, for each of the tasks. In some examples, the smart coach 104 may process the one or more tasks/events 112A/112B/112C based on additional task/event information provided by a user. For example, a user may provide additional information about a task which may include, but is not limited to, task difficulty, a task importance, an estimated amount of time needed to perform the task, and/or a user's emotional valence towards a task (that is, does the user feel good or bad about having to do the task). In some instances, the smart coach may solicit information from one or more users to determine the additional information about the task. In some examples, the smart coach 104 may predict such additional information. In some instances, the additional information may be specific to one or more of the user devices 120A-C/124A-C with which the user is currently interacting with or predicted to interact with.
Utilizing the one or more task/events 112A/112B/112C, the smart coach 104 may generate an agenda/status 116A/116B to be provided to the user. The agenda/status 116A/116B may be specific to a period of time and/or a time-span of interest and may be tailored to maximize productivity, promote an overall positive emotional disposition for a list of tasks (for example, attempt to ensure a user remains or is happy while completing one or more tasks), and ensure long-term achievement of one or more difficult goals or tasks. In some examples, the smart coach 104 may collect additional input from users to refine/break down tasks that are difficult or have a negative emotional valence, yielding smaller subtasks that users can grapple with; accordingly, the agenda/status 116A/116B may include such smaller tasks. As previously mentioned, an agenda of tasks may be provided that is specific to a user device 120A-C/124A-C. For example, a task, such as responding to a short email, that has been shown to be, indicated to be, or otherwise includes a task that can be performed on a mobile device such, as a smartphone, may be scheduled or otherwise associated with a period of time in which the user is away from a desktop device, such as when a user is traveling from one destination to another. In some instances, the agenda provided by the smart coach 104 may be revised and/or updated based on one or more factors, such as but not limited to a user's location, a user's device, a time of day, and/or a perceived or indicated emotional disposition of a user.
In accordance with some examples of the present disclosure, the smart coach 104 may provide a status of each task, and/or subtask, to a user. For example, a status, such as not-completed, completed, percent completed, etc. may be provided to the user as part of an agenda or task list item. The user may be responsible for updating the status, such as whether the task is completed and/or a percentage of the task completed; in some examples, the smart coach may determine or otherwise receive a determination as to how much of a task has been completed. The smart coach 104 may subsequently follow up with the user to determine which tasks were accomplished, re-assess the user's emotional disposition towards their open and completed tasks, add any new tasks, and update the agenda. Moreover, the smart coach 104 may collaborate with the user to identify incentives for completing a task, such as explicit rewards like grabbing a treat on a dreaded shopping trip and/or pre-visualizing successful completion of the task. In some examples, the smart coach 104 may proactively prompt the user to delete tasks that are not important, have lingered on a to-do list for a long time, and/or have a low probability of ever being completed.
The task decomposition module 216 may receive the task/event information 112 from the task acquisition module 212 and/or the storage 236 and determine whether the task, and in some instances an event, may be decomposed into one or more subtasks or one or more sub-events. Accordingly, the task decomposition module 216 may understand task complexity and suggest decomposing large tasks or large events into more manageable subtasks or sub-events and further provide prioritization suggestions for tasks/events in order to maximize productivity and realization of goals. The task decomposition module 216 may determine that a task can be decomposed into one or more subtasks and/or that an event can be decomposed into one or more sub-events based on one or more task/event template matching techniques, one or machine learning techniques, and combinations thereof. In some instances, the task decomposition module 216 may utilize user feedback provided in the task/event detail information 208 to determine wither the task or event is decomposable. Accordingly, the user feedback module 220 may solicit information from a user. As previously discussed, the solicited information may include, but is not limited to, task/event difficulty, task/event importance, an estimated amount of time needed to perform the task/event, and/or a user's emotional valence towards a task/event (that is, does the user feel good or bad about having to do the task/event). The user feedback module 220 may also solicit, from a user, a completion status of a task or event and further provide encouraging feedback to the user once a task or event has been completed or the user has reached certain level of completion of the task or event. For example, the completion status may correspond to a percent complete, a completeness of one or more subtasks, and/or an amount of time spent completing the task.
The task optimizer module 224 may determine, from the acquired tasks, the subtasks resulting from task decomposition, the information obtained by the user feedback module 220, and/or task/event detail information 208, an optimized order of tasks for completion. The smart coach 104 may utilize one or more machine learning techniques and provide such optimization based on but not limited to, task/event dependencies (for example, one task may depend on the completion of another task), a user optimization goal (for example, providing an order of tasks that achieves a highest amount of user happiness), an efficiency goal (for example, providing an order of tasks/events where the tasks/events having a large degree of mental difficulty are spaced apart from one another may optimize an efficiency; alternatively, providing an order of tasks/events where the tasks/events having a large degree of mental difficulty are close to one another may optimize an efficiency), task/event priorities (for example, tasks having a higher priority may be completed before tasks having lower priorities), and combinations thereof. The task scheduler 228 may receive an order of tasks/events from the task optimizer 224 and schedule such tasks in accordance with the order provided by the task optimizer 224. Moreover, the task scheduler 228 may take into account breaks in the day, such as but not limited to work schedules, lunch breaks, productivity breaks, and other events/tasks that may exist in a user's task list or calendar. The agenda generator 232 may generate an agenda for the user, based on scheduled tasks from the task scheduler 228; the agenda generated from the agenda generator 232 may be provided to the user in accordance with a desired task/event list view, such as a day at a time, a week at a time, a Gantt chart, etc. In some instances, the agenda provided by the smart coach 104 may include status information for each task; such information may include but is not limited to a completion amount for each task and an estimated completion goal for the specific task and day. The smart coach 104 may provide the generated agenda to a user device 120A-C/124A-C as an agenda/status 116. The agenda/status 116 may include header information 244 uniquely identifying the task/event and agenda information 240. The agenda information 240 may include information generated by the agenda generator 232. In some instances, the agenda detail information 240 may also include information of the task/event detail information 208.
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At 928, an order of the one or more tasks may be optimized for efficiency, happiness, importance, etc. As previously described, an optimized order of tasks may be determined from the acquired tasks, the subtasks resulting from task decomposition, the information obtained from the user feedback, and/or task/event detail information. Accordingly, the smart coach 902 may provide such optimization based on but not limited to, task/event dependencies (for example, one task may depend on the completion of another task), a user optimization goal (for example, providing an order of tasks that achieves a highest amount of user happiness), an efficiency goal (for example, providing an order of tasks/events where the tasks/events having a large degree of mental difficulty are spaced apart from one another may optimize an efficiency; alternatively, providing an order of tasks/events where the tasks/events having a large degree of mental difficulty are close to one another may optimize an efficiency), task/event priorities (for example, tasks having a higher priority may be completed before tasks having lower priorities), and combinations thereof.
At 932, a schedule and/or agenda including the tasks/subtasks that have been optimized may be generated at 932. As previously described, the schedule and/or agenda may correspond to a view of the one or more tasks at a graphical user interface of a device which the user is using. The schedule and/or agenda may be provided to the user at 948. Alternatively, or in addition, task status associated with one or more tasks may be received at 936, where the task status may correspond to an amount of the task that has been completed. At 940, feedback regarding the status of the task and/or subtasks may be generated and provided to a user at 944. As previously described for example, the feedback may include an indication as to a status of each task/subtask and/or task baseline information indicating how far along or approximately how much of the task should be complete. The tasks, in an optimized and/or decomposed order for instance, may then be stored back at the device and/or repository at 904.
The task scheduler 228 may receive an order of tasks/events from the task optimizer 224 and schedule such tasks in accordance with the order provided by the task optimizer 224. Moreover, the task scheduler 228 may take into account breaks in the day, such as but not limited to work schedules, lunch breaks, productivity breaks, and other events/tasks that may exist in a user's task list or calendar. The agenda generator 232 may generate an agenda for the user, based on scheduled tasks from the task scheduler 228; the agenda generated from the agenda generator 232 may be provided to the user in accordance with a desired task/event list view, such as a day at a time, a week at a time, a Gantt chart, etc. In some instances, the agenda provided by the smart coach 104 may include status information for each task; such information may include but is not limited to a completion amount for each task and an estimated completion goal for the specific task and day. The smart coach 104 may provide the generated agenda to a user device 120A-C/124A-C as an agenda/status 116. The agenda/status 116 may include header information 244 uniquely identifying the task/event and agenda information 240. The agenda information 240 may include information generated by the agenda generator 232. In some instances, the agenda detail information 240 may also include information of the task/event detail information 208.
The method 1000 starts at 1004 and proceeds to 1008 where task information associated with one or more tasks is received. The task information may include information specific to the task, such as but not limited to a user associated with the task, a task type, a task name, a task importance or priority level, a task completion status, a user valence associated with the task, task difficulty information, relationship information between one or more tasks and other task (such as whether a task is a subtask of another task), and an estimated amount of time to complete the task. The method 1000 may then proceed to 1012 where one or more tasks may be decomposed into one or more subtasks. In some instances, the smart coach performs the decomposition; in other instances, third party applications and/or task handling procedures may determine that the task can be decomposed into one or more subtasks. The method 1000 may then proceed to 1016 where an order of the tasks and/or subtasks may be determined. In some instances, a task optimizer module may determine, from the acquired tasks, the subtasks resulting from task decomposition, user feedback, and/or other task related information, an optimized order of tasks for completion. For example, such optimization may be based on but not limited to, task/event dependencies (for example, one task may depend on the completion of another task), a user optimization goal (for example, providing an order of tasks that achieves a highest amount of user happiness), an efficiency goal (for example, providing an order of tasks/events where the tasks/events having a large degree of mental difficulty are spaced apart from one another may optimize an efficiency; alternatively, providing an order of tasks/events where the tasks/events having a large degree of mental difficulty are close to one another may optimize an efficiency), task/event priorities (for example, tasks having a higher priority may be completed before tasks having lower priorities), and combinations thereof. The method 1000 may then proceed to 1020 where the order of tasks may be provided to a user. In some instances, the order of tasks may be provided as a calendar view as depicted with respect to
The method 1100 starts at 1104 and proceeds to 1108 where user feedback associated with a task/subtask may be received. Such user feedback may be provided by a user and may include additional information describing one or more aspects of the task/subtask. For example, the feedback may include but is not limited to task/event difficulty, task/event importance, an estimated amount of time needed to perform the task/event, and/or a user's emotional valence towards a task/event. As previously described, an order of tasks and/or a determination as to which task should be presented when to the user may be determined at 1112, where such determination may correspond to an optimization of the tasks/subtasks in a manner previously described. The method 1100 may proceed to 1120, where one or more tasks/subtasks may be provided to the user.
The one or more tasks/subtasks may be provided to a display of a device associated with the user. For example, a graphical user interface displayed at a display device may display the one or more tasks. As previously described, the tasks/subtasks may be displayed in an agenda view and/or a calendar view. At 1124, a selection of one or more of the tasks/subtasks may be received at the device associated with the user. For example, a user may select a task A 516 displayed in
As stated above, a number of program modules and data files may be stored in the system memory 1304. While executing on the processing unit 1302, the program modules 1306 (e.g., one or more applications 1320) may perform processes including, but not limited to, the aspects, as described herein. Other program modules that may be used in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure may include electronic mail and contacts applications, word processing applications, spreadsheet applications, database applications, slide presentation applications, drawing or computer-aided application programs, etc.
Furthermore, aspects of the disclosure may be practiced in an electrical circuit comprising discrete electronic elements, packaged or integrated electronic chips containing logic gates, a circuit utilizing a microprocessor, or on a single chip containing electronic elements or microprocessors. For example, aspects of the disclosure may be practiced via a system-on-a-chip (SOC) where each or many of the components illustrated in
The computing device 1300 may also have one or more input device(s) 1312 such as a keyboard, a mouse, a pen, a sound or voice input device, a touch or swipe input device, etc. The output device(s) 1314 such as a display, speakers, a printer, etc. may also be included. The aforementioned devices are examples and others may be used. The computing device 1300 may include one or more communication connections 1316A allowing communications with other computing devices 1350. Examples of suitable communication connections 1316A include, but are not limited to, radio frequency (RF) transmitter, receiver, and/or transceiver circuitry; universal serial bus (USB), parallel, network interface card, and/or serial ports.
The term computer readable media as used herein may include computer storage media. Computer storage media may include volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information, such as computer readable instructions, data structures, or program modules. The system memory 1304, the removable storage device 1309, and the non-removable storage device 1310 are all computer storage media examples (e.g., memory storage). Computer storage media may include RAM, ROM, electrically erasable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other article of manufacture which can be used to store information and which can be accessed by the computing device 1300. Any such computer storage media may be part of the computing device 1300. Computer storage media does not include a carrier wave or other propagated or modulated data signal.
Communication media may be embodied by computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal, such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, and includes any information delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” may describe a signal that has one or more characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media may include wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, radio frequency (RF), infrared, and other wireless media.
One or more application programs 1466 may be loaded into the memory 1462 and run on or in association with the operating system 1464. Examples of the application programs include phone dialer programs, one or more components of the smart coach systems, e-mail programs, personal information management (PIM) programs, word processing programs, spreadsheet programs, Internet browser programs, messaging programs, and so forth. The system 1402 also includes a non-volatile storage area 1468 within the memory 1462. The non-volatile storage area 1468 may be used to store persistent information that should not be lost if the system 1402 is powered down. The application programs 1466 may use and store information in the non-volatile storage area 1468, such as e-mail or other messages used by an e-mail application, title content, and the like. A synchronization application (not shown) also resides on the system 1402 and is programmed to interact with a corresponding synchronization application resident on a host computer to keep the information stored in the non-volatile storage area 1468 synchronized with corresponding information stored at the host computer. As should be appreciated, other applications may be loaded into the memory 1462 and run on the mobile computing device 1400 described herein (e.g., search engine, extractor module, relevancy ranking module, answer scoring module, etc.).
The system 1402 has a power supply 1470, which may be implemented as one or more batteries. The power supply 1470 might further include an external power source, such as an AC adapter or a powered docking cradle that supplements or recharges the batteries.
The system 1402 may also include a radio interface layer 1472 that performs the function of transmitting and receiving radio frequency communications. The radio interface layer 1472 facilitates wireless connectivity between the system 1402 and the “outside world,” via a communications carrier or service provider. Transmissions to and from the radio interface layer 1472 are conducted under control of the operating system 1464. In other words, communications received by the radio interface layer 1472 may be disseminated to the application programs 1466 via the operating system 1464, and vice versa.
The visual indicator 1420 may be used to provide visual notifications, and/or an audio interface 1474 may be used for producing audible notifications via the audio transducer 1425. In the illustrated configuration, the visual indicator 1420 is a light emitting diode (LED) and the audio transducer 1425 is a speaker. These devices may be directly coupled to the power supply 1470 so that when activated, they remain on for a duration dictated by the notification mechanism even though the processor 1460 and other components might shut down for conserving battery power. The LED may be programmed to remain on indefinitely until the user takes action to indicate the powered-on status of the device. The audio interface 1474 is used to provide audible signals to and receive audible signals from the user. For example, in addition to being coupled to the audio transducer 1425, the audio interface 1474 may also be coupled to a microphone to receive audible input, such as to facilitate a telephone conversation. In accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, the microphone may also serve as an audio sensor to facilitate control of notifications, as will be described below. The system 1402 may further include a video interface 1476 that enables an operation of an on-board camera 1430 to record still images, video stream, and the like.
A mobile computing device 1400 implementing the system 1402 may have additional features or functionality. For example, the mobile computing device 1400 may also include additional data storage devices (removable and/or non-removable) such as, magnetic disks, optical disks, or tape. Such additional storage is illustrated in
Data/information generated or captured by the mobile computing device 1400 and stored via the system 1402 may be stored locally on the mobile computing device 1400, as described above, or the data may be stored on any number of storage media that may be accessed by the device via the radio interface layer 1472 or via a wired connection between the mobile computing device 1400 and a separate computing device associated with the mobile computing device 1400, for example, a server computer in a distributed computing network, such as the Internet. As should be appreciated such data/information may be accessed via the mobile computing device 1400 via the radio interface layer 1472 or via a distributed computing network. Similarly, such data/information may be readily transferred between computing devices for storage and use according to well-known data/information transfer and storage means, including electronic mail and collaborative data/information sharing systems.
The above specification, examples and data provide a complete description of the manufacture and use of the composition of the invention. Since many aspects of the invention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, the invention resides in the claims hereinafter appended.
The phrases “at least one,” “one or more,” “or,” and “and/or” are open-ended expressions that are both conjunctive and disjunctive in operation. For example, each of the expressions “at least one of A, B and C,” “at least one of A, B, or C,” “one or more of A, B, and C,” “one or more of A, B, or C,” “A, B, and/or C,” and “A, B, or C” means A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, or A, B and C together.
The term “a” or “an” entity refers to one or more of that entity. As such, the terms “a” (or “an”), “one or more,” and “at least one” can be used interchangeably herein. It is also to be noted that the terms “comprising,” “including,” and “having” can be used interchangeably.
The term “automatic” and variations thereof, as used herein, refers to any process or operation, which is typically continuous or semi-continuous, done without material human input when the process or operation is performed. However, a process or operation can be automatic, even though performance of the process or operation uses material or immaterial human input, if the input is received before performance of the process or operation. Human input is deemed to be material if such input influences how the process or operation will be performed. Human input that consents to the performance of the process or operation is not deemed to be “material.”
The exemplary systems and methods of this disclosure have been described in relation to computing devices. However, to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present disclosure, the preceding description omits a number of known structures and devices. This omission is not to be construed as a limitation of the scope of the claimed disclosure. Specific details are set forth to provide an understanding of the present disclosure. It should, however, be appreciated that the present disclosure may be practiced in a variety of ways beyond the specific detail set forth herein.
Furthermore, while the exemplary aspects illustrated herein show the various components of the system collocated, certain components of the system can be located remotely, at distant portions of a distributed network, such as a LAN and/or the Internet, or within a dedicated system. Thus, it should be appreciated, that the components of the system can be combined into one or more devices, such as a server, communication device, or collocated on a particular node of a distributed network, such as an analog and/or digital telecommunications network, a packet-switched network, or a circuit-switched network. It will be appreciated from the preceding description, and for reasons of computational efficiency, that the components of the system can be arranged at any location within a distributed network of components without affecting the operation of the system.
Furthermore, it should be appreciated that the various links connecting the elements can be wired or wireless links, or any combination thereof, or any other known or later developed element(s) that is capable of supplying and/or communicating data to and from the connected elements. These wired or wireless links can also be secure links and may be capable of communicating encrypted information. Transmission media used as links, for example, can be any suitable carrier for electrical signals, including coaxial cables, copper wire, and fiber optics, and may take the form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during radio-wave and infrared data communications.
Any of the steps, functions, and operations discussed herein can be performed continuously and automatically.
While the flowcharts have been discussed and illustrated in relation to a particular sequence of events, it should be appreciated that changes, additions, and omissions to this sequence can occur without materially affecting the operation of the disclosed configurations and aspects.
A number of variations and modifications of the disclosure can be used. It would be possible to provide for some features of the disclosure without providing others.
In yet another configurations, the systems and methods of this disclosure can be implemented in conjunction with a special purpose computer, a programmed microprocessor or microcontroller and peripheral integrated circuit element(s), an ASIC or other integrated circuit, a digital signal processor, a hard-wired electronic or logic circuit such as discrete element circuit, a programmable logic device or gate array such as PLD, PLA, FPGA, PAL, special purpose computer, any comparable means, or the like. In general, any device(s) or means capable of implementing the methodology illustrated herein can be used to implement the various aspects of this disclosure. Exemplary hardware that can be used for the present disclosure includes computers, handheld devices, telephones (e.g., cellular, Internet enabled, digital, analog, hybrids, and others), and other hardware known in the art. Some of these devices include processors (e.g., a single or multiple microprocessors), memory, nonvolatile storage, input devices, and output devices. Furthermore, alternative software implementations including, but not limited to, distributed processing or component/object distributed processing, parallel processing, or virtual machine processing can also be constructed to implement the methods described herein.
In yet another configuration, the disclosed methods may be readily implemented in conjunction with software using object or object-oriented software development environments that provide portable source code that can be used on a variety of computer or workstation platforms. Alternatively, the disclosed system may be implemented partially or fully in hardware using standard logic circuits or VLSI design. Whether software or hardware is used to implement the systems in accordance with this disclosure is dependent on the speed and/or efficiency requirements of the system, the particular function, and the particular software or hardware systems or microprocessor or microcomputer systems being utilized.
In yet another configuration, the disclosed methods may be partially implemented in software that can be stored on a storage medium, executed on programmed general-purpose computer with the cooperation of a controller and memory, a special purpose computer, a microprocessor, or the like. In these instances, the systems and methods of this disclosure can be implemented as a program embedded on a personal computer such as an applet, JAVA® or CGI script, as a resource residing on a server or computer workstation, as a routine embedded in a dedicated measurement system, system component, or the like. The system can also be implemented by physically incorporating the system and/or method into a software and/or hardware system.
Although the present disclosure describes components and functions that may be implemented with particular standards and protocols, the disclosure is not limited to such standards and protocols. Other similar standards and protocols not mentioned herein are in existence and are considered to be included in the present disclosure. Moreover, the standards and protocols mentioned herein and other similar standards and protocols not mentioned herein are periodically superseded by faster or more effective equivalents having essentially the same functions. Such replacement standards and protocols having the same functions are considered equivalents included in the present disclosure.
The present disclosure, in various configurations and aspects, includes components, methods, processes, systems and/or apparatus substantially as depicted and described herein, including various combinations, sub combinations, and subsets thereof. Those of skill in the art will understand how to make and use the systems and methods disclosed herein after understanding the present disclosure. The present disclosure, in various configurations and aspects, includes providing devices and processes in the absence of items not depicted and/or described herein or in various configurations or aspects hereof, including in the absence of such items as may have been used in previous devices or processes, e.g., for improving performance, achieving ease, and/or reducing cost of implementation.
In accordance with at least one example, a system is provided. The system may include at least one processor, and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the system to perform a set of operations. The set of operations may include receiving a plurality of tasks associated with one or more goals, receiving task related information associated with at least one optimization criterion, optimizing an ordering of the plurality of tasks with respect to the at least one optimization criterion and generating an optimized ordering of tasks, and generating a user interface and displaying, in a task execution order, one or more of the plurality of tasks in accordance with the optimized ordering of tasks. At least one aspect of the above system includes receiving a first task of the plurality of tasks, decomposing the first task into a plurality of subtasks, optimizing, with respect to the at least one optimization criterion, an ordering of the plurality of tasks together with the plurality of subtasks, and generating the optimized ordering of tasks including the plurality of subtasks. At least one aspect of the above system includes receiving, at the user interface, a selection of the first task, in response to receiving the selection of the first task, causing the plurality of subtasks to be displayed, receiving a selection of a first subtask of the plurality of subtasks, and displaying task related information associated with the first subtask. At least one aspect of the above system includes displaying at least one graphical element at the user interface, the at least one graphical element indicating at least one of a task status and/or an amount of task completion. At least one aspect of the above system includes retrieving information corresponding to an emotional valence for a first task of the plurality of tasks, and optimizing an ordering of the plurality of tasks based at least upon the emotional valence for the first task of the plurality of tasks. At least one aspect of the above system includes where the plurality of tasks correspond to tasks for a plurality of users, and where the task related information associated with the least one optimization criterion is based on an optimization criterion for a task associated with another user. At least one aspect of the above example includes where the at least one optimization criterion is based on at least one of a user optimization goal, an efficiency goal, and a task priority level. At least one aspect of the above example includes where the at least one optimization criterion is stored in a user profile and the at least one optimization criterion is personalized for the at least one user.
In accordance with at least one example, a method for optimizing an ordering of tasks and subtasks is provided. The method may include receiving a plurality of tasks associated with one or more goals, decomposing a first task of the plurality of tasks into a plurality of subtasks, receiving task related information for each of the plurality of tasks and the plurality of subtasks, the task related information being associated with at least one optimization criterion, optimizing an ordering of the plurality of tasks and subtasks with respect to the at least one optimization criterion, and generating a user interface and displaying, in a task execution order, one or more of the plurality of tasks and subtasks in accordance with the optimized ordering of the plurality of tasks and subtasks. At least one aspect of the above method includes where the one or more of the plurality of tasks and subtasks are displayed as a scheduled ordering of tasks and subtasks in a calendar view, wherein each of the one or more of the plurality of tasks and subtasks are associated with a timeslot. At least one aspect of the above method includes optimizing an ordering of the plurality of tasks and subtasks with respect to the at least one optimization criterion and one or more events displayed in the calendar view. At least one aspect of the above method includes optimizing an ordering of the plurality of tasks and subtasks with respect to the at least one optimization criterion and one or more of a user device, a resource available to the user, a location of the user, and/or a current time. At least one aspect of the above method includes receiving task related information for each of the plurality of tasks and the plurality of subtasks for tasks and subtasks associated with a plurality of users, and optimizing the ordering of the plurality of tasks and subtasks associated with the plurality of users with respect to the at least one optimization criterion. At least one aspect of the above method includes reassigning at least one subtask from a first user to a second user. At least one aspect of the above method includes where the at least one optimization criterion is based on at least one of a user optimization goal, an efficiency goal, and a task priority level.
In accordance with at least one example, a method for optimizing an ordering of tasks is provided. The method may include receiving a plurality of tasks associated with one or more goals, receiving task related information associated with at least one optimization criterion, optimizing an ordering of the plurality of tasks with respect to the at least one optimization criterion and generating an optimized ordering of tasks, and generating a user interface and displaying, in a task execution order, one or more of the plurality of tasks in accordance with the optimized ordering of tasks. At least one aspect of the above method includes receiving a first task of the plurality of tasks, decomposing the first task into a plurality of subtasks, optimizing, with respect to the at least one optimization criterion, an ordering of the plurality of tasks together with the plurality of subtasks, and generating the optimized ordering of tasks including the plurality of subtasks. At least one aspect of the above method includes receiving, at the user interface, a selection of the first task, in response to receiving the selection of the first task, causing the plurality of subtasks to be displayed, receiving a selection of a first subtask of the plurality of subtasks, and displaying task related information associated with the first subtask. At least one aspect of the above method includes where the at least one optimization criterion is provided by a user and is based on at least one of a user optimization goal, an efficiency goal, and a task priority level. At least one aspect of the above method includes where the task related information associated with the at least one optimization criterion is received at the user interface.
Aspects of the present disclosure, for example, are described above with reference to block diagrams and/or operational illustrations of methods, systems, and computer program products according to aspects of the disclosure. The functions/acts noted in the blocks may occur out of the order as shown in any flowchart. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved.
The description and illustration of one or more aspects provided in this application are not intended to limit or restrict the scope of the disclosure as claimed in any way. The aspects, examples, and details provided in this application are considered sufficient to convey possession and enable others to make and use the best mode of claimed disclosure. The claimed disclosure should not be construed as being limited to any aspect, example, or detail provided in this application. Regardless of whether shown and described in combination or separately, the various features (both structural and methodological) are intended to be selectively included or omitted to produce an configuration with a particular set of features. Having been provided with the description and illustration of the present application, one skilled in the art may envision variations, modifications, and alternate aspects falling within the spirit of the broader aspects of the general inventive concept embodied in this application that do not depart from the broader scope of the claimed disclosure.
