Hook-up assistant

• US 20050038690A1
• Filed: 08/14/2003
• Published: 02/17/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hayes-Roth Family Trust The Under Agreement Dated September 14 1987 As Amended
• Original Assignee: Hayes-Roth Family Trust The Under Agreement Dated September 14 1987 As Amended
• Inventors: Hayes-Roth, Frederick
• Granted Patent: US 7,552,393 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1093 Calendar-based scheduling for persons or groups
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

A hook-up assistant (HUA) capable of assisting people in hooking up with other people, in various business and social settings, and of achieving decision-making, planning, and commitment activities asynchronously, thereby advantageously off-loading an event requester'"'"'s tedious tasks of communicating with multiple potential participants and resource/service providers for an intended event/activity. The HUA effectively eliminates “phone tag” problems and beyond, by enabling a user to simply “make a wish,” e.g., “make an event happen.” The HUA takes appropriate actions to “make the wish a reality,” i.e., contacting all parties involved, determining mutually agreeable dates, times, arranging necessary devices, resources, and services, securing reservations, purchasing admission tickets, etc., to ensure all parties involved can actually participate in the event at the planned time and place. The HUA can communicate with animate/inanimate entities as well as other HUAs regardless of virtual/physical boundaries such as platforms, protocols, systems, networks, and the like.

Claims

1. In a network environment having a plurality of users each having a network-enabled calendar, the improvement comprising:

a computer-implemented hook-up assistant (HUA) capable of

determining an appropriate time when at least two people will be available to participate in an event or activity;

scheduling said event or activity at said appropriate time on respective calendars of said at least two people; and

initiating said event or activity substantially at said appropriate time.

2. The improvement according to claim 1, wherein

said HUA comprises preferences and constraints of one of said at least two people;

and wherein

said appropriate time is determined consistent with said preferences and constraints.

3. The improvement according to claim 1, wherein

said HUA comprises

privileges to access and alter said respective calendars of said at least two people, and

means for accessing and altering said respective calendars of said at least two people according to said privileges.

4. The improvement according to claim 1, further comprising:

means for activating said HUA in response to a request from one of said at least two people.

5. The improvement according to claim 4, wherein

said means for activating further comprises

means for interacting with said one of said at least two people;

and

means for proposing said event or activity based on inputs obtained during said interaction.

6. The improvement according to claim 4, wherein

said means for activating further comprises

means for interacting with said one of said at least two people to solicit yes or no answers;

and

means for proposing said event or activity based on said answers.

7. The improvement according to claim 1, further comprising:

means for activating said HUA in response to a request referring to a previous event or activity with desired changes thereto.

8. The improvement according to claim 4 or 7, wherein

said request is in a form of spoken or manually entered natural language, in a form of a computer language, or in a form of an electronic signal.

9. The improvement according to claim 1, further comprising:

automatically activating said HUA in response to an incomplete telephone call made by a first of said at least two people to a second of said at least two people.

10. The improvement according to claim 9, wherein

said incomplete telephone call is indicated by a busy signal, an answering machine, a voicemail service, a computerized agent, a human assistant, a receptionist, a secretary, an inanimate entity, or an animate entity other than said second of said at least two people.

11. The improvement according to claim 1, wherein

said HUA comprises means for exchanging data related to said respective calendars essentially regardless of physical and virtual boundaries that include distance, language, platforms, operating systems, and network protocols.

12. The improvement according to claim 11, wherein

said means for exchanging data is capable of encoding a cross-domain structured syntax language including hypertext markup language (HTML), eXtensible HTML (XHTML), eXtensible markup language (XML), XML document type definition (DTD), and XML schema.

13. The improvement according to claim 1, wherein

said HUA comprises means for assuring said at least two people be able to participate in said event or activity at said appropriate time.

14. The improvement according to claim 13, wherein

said means for assuring comprises

means for determining whether said at least two people will have, at said appropriate time, access to suitable communication means that will be available for use in said event or activity;

and

means for reminding said at least two people about said event or activity.

15. The improvement according to claim 14, wherein

said suitable communication means include wired and wireless communication devices, resources, web-based services, cellular phones, telephones, video phones, Internet-enabled phones, Internet-enabled input devices, instant messaging, virtual meeting places, online chat rooms, online games, Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs), MUD Object Oriented sites (MOOs), personal digital assistant (PDA), and World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) compliant multimodal interaction means.

16. The improvement according to claim 1, wherein

said event or activity is a phone conversation, a business meeting, a family gathering, or a social engagement.

17. The improvement according to claim 1, wherein

said HUA comprises means for securing reservations necessary to realize said event or activity for said at least two people.

18. The improvement according to claim 1, wherein

said event or activity requires admission tickets, tokens, or permits;

and wherein

said HUA comprises means for purchasing said admission tickets, tokens, or permits for said at least two people to attend said event or activity.

19. The improvement according to claim 1, wherein

said event or activity requires invitations;

and wherein

said HUA comprises means for obtaining invitations for said at least two people to attend said event or activity.

20. The improvement according to claim 1, wherein

said appropriate time or said event or activity is found infeasible or otherwise undesirable,

said HUA comprises means for proposing at least one alternative.

21. The improvement according to claim 1, wherein

said HUA is capable of proposing changes in prior commitments on said respective calendars when a new request can only be desirably satisfied by impinging on said prior commitments.

22. The improvement according to claim 21, wherein

said HUA is capable of altering said prior commitments in accordance with proper privileges predetermined or obtained in real time.

23. The improvement according to claim 21 or 22, wherein

said HUA is enabled to determine independently how said prior commitments can be altered;

and wherein

said HUA automatically alters said prior commitments on said respective calendars to satisfy said new request and promptly notifies those affected by said alteration.

24. The improvement according to claim 23, wherein

said alteration is selected from the group consisting of rescheduling said prior commitments, replacing said prior commitments with alternatives, and a combination thereof.

25. The improvement according to claim 1, further comprising:

means for activating said HUA, or invoking one or more functions thereof, in response to a triggering mechanism selected from the group consisting of a tone, a button, a key, a sound, a spoken word, a sequence of tones, a sequence of buttons, a sequence of keys, a sequence of sounds, a sequence of spoken words, and a combination thereof.

26. The improvement according to claim 25, wherein

said HUA automatically contacts or automatically schedules to contact a person, an agent of said person, or a HUA of said person to schedule a hook-up event to bring its user and said person together.

27. The improvement according to claim 26, wherein

said contact is realized by phone, text message, voice message, or email.

28. The improvement according to claim 26, wherein

said schedules to contact is effected periodically until a certain criterion is satisfied.

29. The improvement according to claim 1, further comprising:

a computer product for implementing said HUA, the computer product comprising a computer readable medium carrying computer-executable instructions implementing a plurality of functions of said HUA.

30. The improvement according to claim 29, wherein

said computer product is embodied in a phone, a stand-alone network-enabled device, a client, a server, or a combination thereof.

31. The improvement according to claim 29, wherein

said computer product is implemented as part of an instant messaging system.

32. In a distributed network environment having a plurality of users each of which may or may not be assisted by an agent, the improvement comprising:

a computer-implemented hook-up assistant (HUA) capable of

receiving and accepting a plurality of hook-up requests;

scheduling a plurality of events to effect and fulfill each of said plurality of hook-up requests, wherein said scheduling include, for a desired event,

determining an appropriate time for all parties involved to attend said desired event; and

tentatively committing said all parties involved by indicating said desired event at said appropriate time on calendars of said all parties involved.

33. The improvement according to claim 32, wherein

each of said plurality of hook-up requests is specified in terms of a series of people or groups with whom interactions are separately desired.

34. The improvement according to claim 32, wherein

the sequence of said interactions correlates with the order of said series.

35. The improvement according to claim 32, wherein

said HUA comprises means for enabling a requesting user to minimize resources, including time and expenses, associated with participating in all scheduled events on said user'"'"'s calendar.

36. The improvement according to claim 32, wherein

said HUA comprises

means for maintaining a federated calendar;

means for accessing and retrieving calendar data from a plurality of sources in said distributed network environment; and

means for processing said calendar data to generate integrated views of said federated calendar.

37. The improvement according to claim 36, wherein

said HUA further comprises

means for storing privileges, constraints, and preferences, wherein

said accessing and retrieving calendar data is effected in accordance with said privileges, constraints, and preferences.

38. The improvement according to claim 36, wherein

said federated calendar contains

information about devices, resources, services, and at least one of said plurality of users.

39. The improvement according to claim 32, wherein

said HUA is capable of

updating said calendars of said all parties involved, thereby committing said all parties involved to attend said desired event at said appropriate time.

40. The improvement according to claim 32, wherein

said HUA comprises means for exchanging calendar information across physical and virtual boundaries that include distance, language, platforms, operating systems, and network protocols.

41. The improvement according to claim 40, wherein

said HUA further comprises means for encoding said calendar information written in a cross-domain structured syntax language including hypertext markup language (HTML), eXtensible HTML (XHTML), eXtensible markup language (XML), XML document type definition (DTD), and XML schema.

42. The improvement according to claim 32, wherein

said HUA is capable of proposing at least one alternative when said appropriate time or said desired event is found infeasible, inapplicable, or otherwise undesirable.

43. The improvement according to claim 32, wherein

said HUA is capable of proposing changes in prior commitments on said calendars of said all parties involved when a new request can only be desirably satisfied by impinging on said prior commitments.

44. The improvement according to claim 43, wherein

said HUA is capable of altering said prior commitments in accordance with proper privileges predetermined or obtained in real time.

45. The improvement according to claim 43 or 44, wherein

said HUA is enabled to determine independently how said prior commitments can be altered;

and wherein

said HUA automatically alters said prior commitments on affected calendars to satisfy said new request and promptly notifies those affected by said alteration.

46. The improvement according to claim 45, wherein

said alteration is selected from the group consisting of rescheduling said prior commitments, replacing said prior commitments with alternatives, and a combination thereof.

47. The improvement according to claim 32, further comprising:

a computer product for implementing said HUA, the computer product comprising a computer-readable medium carrying computer-executable instructions implementing a plurality of functions of said HUA.

48. The improvement according to claim 47, wherein

said computer product is embodied in a stand-alone network-enabled device, a client, a server, or a combination thereof.

49. The improvement according to claim 47, wherein

said computer product is implemented as part of an instant messaging system.