Auto-calendaring

• US 10,007,897 B2
• Filed: 05/20/2013
• Issued: 06/26/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Possing, Denis L., Giacobbe, Gail, Kim, Jane T., Auer, Nathaniel E. B., Danhope, Stefanie J., Reyes, Lorrissa J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bhatia, Ajay M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Olshannikov, Alex
• Application Number:
  US13/898,461
• Publication Number:
  US 20140344745A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,863 Days
• Field of Search: 715722, 715721, 715748, 715749, 715750, 715751, 715768, 715231, 715963, 707721, 707748, 707749, 707750, 707751, 707768
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1095 Meeting or appointment
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/7243 with interactive means for internal management of messages

Abstract

The description relates to auto-calendaring. One example can obtain content relating to a calendarable event. The example can also communicate the content to an auto-calendaring service. The example can also receive a response from the auto-calendaring service. The response can indicate that the calendarable event has been added to a calendar or can request further information about the calendarable event.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a

processor; and

storage having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

obtain text from a data item, the text relating to an upcoming event;

process the text to identify an ambiguous location term that refers to an intended public establishment where the upcoming event will occur;

submit at least the ambiguous location term over a network to a search engine;

receive, from the search engine over the network, a first search result referencing a first name of a first public establishment that includes the ambiguous location term, the first public establishment being associated with a first type of activity;

receive, from the search engine over the network, a second search result referencing a second name of a second public establishment that includes the ambiguous location term, the second public establishment being associated with a second type of activity;

access a user event profile associated with a user, the user event profile identifying interests of the user;

determine that the intended public establishment referred to by the ambiguous location term is the first public establishment when the user event profile indicates a particular interest in the first type of activity and not the second type of activity; and

add the upcoming event to a calendar associated with the user with an indication that the upcoming event will occur at the first public establishment.

2. The system of claim 1, embodied on a single device.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the single device comprises a mobile device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the first public establishment is a sports bar, the second public establishment is a zoo, the ambiguous location term is “

zoo,” and

the user event profile does not indicate an interest in animals.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the instructions,

when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

submit, to the search engine, information from the user event profile indicating that the user has an interest in sports;

receive, from the search engine further search results indicating that a particular game is being shown at the sports bar at a particular time; and

use the search results obtained from the search engine to confirm the upcoming event involves the particular game being shown at the sports bar at the particular time.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the data item is a picture that includes the ambiguous location term.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

perform optical character recognition on the picture to extract the ambiguous location term.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

obtain location metadata from the picture to determine a location where the picture was taken; and

submit the location metadata to the search engine together with the ambiguous location term extracted from the picture via the optical character recognition.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

determine a confidence that the user will attend the upcoming event; and

add the upcoming event to the calendar associated with the user responsive to a determination that the confidence exceeds a threshold.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions,

when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

submit, to the search engine, information from the user event profile indicating that the user has the particular interest in the first type of activity;

receive, from the search engine, further search results indicating that the upcoming event, relating to the first type of activity, is scheduled to occur at the first public establishment at a particular time, the search engine providing the further search results in response to receiving the information from the user event profile indicating that the user has the particular interest in the first type of activity; and

use the further search results obtained from the search engine to confirm that the upcoming event is scheduled to occur at the first public establishment at the particular time.

11. The system of claim 1, provided as a web-based cloud service located remotely from a user device of the user, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

send the calendar from the web-based cloud service over a network to a user device associated with the user, the calendar being sent with the upcoming event added to the calendar.

12. A device, comprising:

a processor; and

storage having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

obtain a message sent from a message sender to a recipient, the message relating to an upcoming event and including an ambiguous location term;

submit at least the ambiguous location term over a network to a search engine;

receive, over the network from the search engine, a first search result referencing a first name of a first public establishment that includes the ambiguous location term, the first public establishment being associated with a first type of activity;

receive, from the search engine over the network, a second search result referencing a second name of a second public establishment that includes the ambiguous location term the second public establishment being associated with a second type of activity;

determine that the ambiguous location term refers to the first public establishment when predetermined interests of the recipient indicate a particular interest in the first type of activity and not the second type of activity;

automatically schedule the upcoming event for the recipient of the message at the first public establishment.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

automatically schedule the upcoming event by populating a calendar of the recipient with the upcoming event.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the instructions, when

executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

include the message sender and the first public establishment as event details of the upcoming event on the calendar of the recipient.

15. The device of claim 12, wherein the message is an email.

16. The device of claim 12, wherein the instructions, when

executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

obtain the predetermined interests from a user profile of the recipient.

17. The device of claim 12, embodied as a mobile computer of the recipient.

18. The device of claim 12, embodied as a server computer located remotely from the recipient.

19. A method comprising:

obtaining an electronic message sent from a message sender to a recipient, the electronic message relating to an upcoming event and including an ambiguous location term;

submitting at least the ambiguous location term over a network to a search engine;

receiving, over the network from the search engine a first search result referencing a first name of a first public establishment that includes the ambiguous location term, the first public establishment being associated with a first type of activity;

receiving, over the network from the search engine, a second search result referencing a second name of a second public establishment that includes the ambiguous location term, the second public establishment being associated with a second type of activity;

identifying a recipient-preferred activity in which the recipient likes to participate;

determining that the ambiguous location term refers to the first public establishment when the recipient-preferred activity matches the first type of activity and not the second type of activity; and

automatically scheduling the upcoming event at the first public establishment on an electronic calendar of the recipient of the electronic message.

20. The method of claim 19, the electronic message comprising an email.

21. The method of claim 19, the electronic message comprising a text message other than an email.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

obtaining the recipient-preferred activity from a profile of the recipient.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the first type of activity and the second type of activity are recreational activities.