Event scheduling with optimization

• US 20030204474A1
• Filed: 04/25/2002
• Published: 10/30/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ServiceNow Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Pickover, Clifford A., Grey, William, Moskowitz, Paul Andrew, Shi, Dailun, Capek, Peter George
• Granted Patent: US 7,343,312 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/64
• 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: G06Q 20/382 insuring higher security of transaction

Abstract

The present invention is a method for scheduling an event or meeting consisting of a plurality of persons which is determined by optimizing one or more variables. In the preferred embodiment, one or more requests for a meeting are pooled. A selected variable is optimized and an event is scheduled on the optimized variable. As additional meeting requests are pooled which conflict with the initial optimized event, the selected variable is again optimized and the event is dynamically rescheduled based on the optimized variable.

Claims

1. A method of event scheduling comprising:

receiving at least one request for scheduling a calendar meeting;

receiving at least two meeting constraints;

using optimization means to schedule said calendar meeting to satisfy said at least two constraints.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein using said optimization means comprises using at least one of integer programming, linear programming, deterministic optimization, priority-based search heuristics, greedy algorithms, randomized algorithms, local search methods, meta-heuristics, tabu search, evolutionary algorithms, genetic algorithms, simulated annealing, agent-based algorithms, portfolio optimization, simulation, stochastic optimization, forecasting analysis.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said meeting constraints comprise at least one of participants of said meeting, desired meeting location or locations, topics, or time of the meeting, weather conditions and forecasts, traffic conditions and forecasts, availability of audio/visual equipment, cost of the meeting.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising meeting at least one objective.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein said objective comprises at least one of maximizing the number of attendees, minimizing travel time, minimizing wait time, maximizing contiguous meeting time, choosing a preferred meeting location, minimizing the variance from a preferred meeting time, maximizing the attendance of the people who are desirable or optional for the event, scheduling the event as close as possible to a target date, maximizing the availability of audio/visual equipment, minimizing the likelihood of inclement weather.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising notifying at least one entity.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein said entity comprises at least one of a meeting participant, a calendar, a third party providing services to facilitate the meeting.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said constraints comprise at least one of meeting duration, earliest date, latest date, mandatory attendees, participant availability, preferred time, or preferred location.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the desired meeting request includes variable constraints whereby the meeting must occur by a specified time, last for a determined duration, or must occur before a specified event.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein said constraints comprise a requirement to schedule a recurring meeting.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the scheduling optimization is performed immediately upon entry of the scheduling request.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the scheduling requests are batched and periodically processed together.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein a meeting constraint includes an indicator that the scheduling request is not negotiable.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the scheduling optimization includes allowing for travel time of a participant of said meeting, between a previously or next scheduled location and the selected meeting place of said participant of said meeting.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein scheduling optimization is provided for scheduling public meetings with no specific list of committed or required attendees, but where a list of likely attendees provides a list of calendars whose previously scheduled events are to be avoided in scheduling a meeting.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the scheduling optimization takes into account public meetings for which some or all of the attendees may have a likely interest in attending even though no specific commitment to attend them exists.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein subsequent meetings for at least one participant of said meeting are not rescheduled within a defined number of hours before they are scheduled to begin.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the elapsed time between the placing of a request and the assignment of a meeting time or place is specified in the scheduling request.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein one of the time and the date by which meeting schedule must be assigned is specified in the request.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein reservations may be made for meeting location rooms such that the room is reserved for use by a particular person or persons until a determined number of hours before the scheduled meeting time, at which point it becomes available for assignment to anyone.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein the description of the desired meeting includes at least one of the most desirable location, required equipment for room, preferred time, or preferred date.

22. The method of claim 1 wherein the scheduling request is for two or more meetings at different locations to be scheduled via telephone or video conference with appropriate room reservations and time zone information.

23. The method of claim 1 wherein the submission of a request is made via e-mail, instant message or other means to each participant of said meeting prior to the attempt to schedule.

24. The method of claim 1 wherein the meeting is entered on calendar when it has been scheduled for each participant of said meeting.

25. The method of claim 1 wherein the meetings to be scheduled in a particular batch have a priority order chosen by one of assigned priority, highest title or management level of an attendee, number of attendees, presence or absence of an agenda, or high priority meetings are scheduled in preference to low priority meetings.

26. The method of claim 1 wherein the attendees have weighting factors so that the system can determine who is most important in the scheduling optimization process.

27. The method of claim 1 wherein the meeting locations have weighting factors so that the system can determine which locations are most important in the scheduling optimization process.

28. The method of claims 26 and 27 wherein the weighting factors are stored in templates.

29. The method of claim 1 wherein meeting times and places are optimized by auction.

30. The method of claim 1 wherein scheduling a meeting and then not using the meeting room incurs a penalty, if the meeting is canceled and the room reservation “

hold”

is removed.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein the penalty is one of monetary payment or diminished use of services.

32. The method of claim 1 wherein the meeting is one of a physical meeting or virtual meeting.

33. The method of claim 1 wherein the participants for said meeting are one of humans, electronic agents, or groups of people.

34. The method of claim 1 wherein the participants for said meeting who have authorized automatic entry into their calendars are scheduled automatically, but electronic invitations are sent to other attendees.

35. The method of claim 1 wherein the participants for said meeting whose calendars are readable are scheduled automatically or sent invitations, while others are either sent requests for information about availability, or are sent a tentative invitation.

36. The method of claim 1 wherein said meeting constraints are probabilistic

37. An automated method of event scheduling comprising:

a computing system receiving at least one request for scheduling a calendar meeting;

said computing system receiving at least two meeting constraints;

said computing system using an automated optimization means to schedule said calendar meeting to satisfy said at least two constraints.

38. A system for event scheduling comprising:

a computing system having means for receiving at least one request for scheduling a calendar meeting;

said computing system having means for receiving at least two meeting constraints;

said computing system having an automated optimization means to schedule said calendar meeting to satisfy said at least two constraints.