Instant meeting preparation architecture

• US 20050222890A1
• Filed: 04/01/2004
• Published: 10/06/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Cheng, Lili, Farnham, Shelly D., Portnoy, William L.
• Granted Patent: US 7,530,021 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 10/1095 Meeting or appointment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

Architecture that facilitates generation of an event report that is an aggregation of public and private data related to a specific task. Information about the event is automatically compiled, including the recipients, URLs, shares, attachments, and documents, as well as location maps and social relationships. The report can be a one-page document that summarizes topics of a meeting or event, the attendees, how the attendees relate, their motivations, and what the attendees may be looking for from the meeting. The report can be formatted to structure event information in a certain way such as according to a company organizational chart, such that an attendee that is higher up on the org chart will be presented on the report higher than someone who is lower on the org chart. Moreover, attendees can be grouped according to functions, or social groupings or project groups, for example.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates the generation of an event document, comprising:

an access component that accesses a plurality of disparate data sources for event information related to an event; and

a consolidation component that consolidates the event information into the event document.

2. The system of claim 1, the data sources are at least one of public and private.

3. The system of claim 1, the event document is a meeting preparation report.

4. The system of claim 1, the data sources include at least one of e-mail, a shared data source, a user profile, a document relevant to the event, and an e-mail attachment.

5. The system of claim 1, the event information includes an image of a user scheduled to attend the event.

6. The system of claim 1, the event document is a single page document.

7. The system of claim 1, the report is formatted to present the event information in a predetermined way.

8. The system of claim 1, the report is presented to the user via a browser.

9. The system of claim 1, the report is formatted to present the event information according to a company organizational chart.

10. The system of claim 1, the report is generated through an e-mail application.

11. A computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions for carrying out the system of claim 1.

12. A computer that employs the system of claim 1.

13. The system of claim 1, further comprising a classifier that automates a feature by making an inference based on one or more data associated with the event.

14. A system that facilitates the generation of an event document, comprising:

an access component that accesses at least one of a public data source and a private data source for event information related to an event;

an event component that detects a trigger; and

a consolidation component that compiles and consolidates the event information into a meeting document based on the occurrence of a trigger.

15. The system of claim 14, the meeting document is prepared for the event.

16. The system of claim 14, the trigger is a manual option selected to cause generation of the meeting report.

17. The system of claim 14, the public and private data sources include data related to at least one of e-mail, a shared public data source, a user profile, a user image, a document relevant to the event, and an e-mail attachment.

18. The system of claim 14, the meeting document is presented to the user via a browser in HTML.

19. The system of claim 14, the meeting document is generated in a personalized format for a given user.

20. The system of claim 14, a portion of the event information is derived by searching the contents of at least one of e-mail and a document associated with a meeting attendee.

21. The system of claim 14, the event information includes a user profile that is grouped according to a corporate entity.

22. The system of claim 14, the event information includes at least one of a link to an e-mail related to the event, a distribution list, and a point-to-point connection.

23. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method of generating a meeting preparation document, comprising:

receiving a request to generate the meeting preparation document;

accessing at least one of a public data source and a private data source to retrieve relevant meeting information;

arranging the relevant meeting information into a personalized format of a user; and

generating the meeting preparation document according to the personalized format.

24. The method of claim 23, the public and private data sources include at least one of e-mail, an image, a shared data source, a user profile, a document relevant to the event, and an e-mail attachment.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising limiting the meeting preparation document to a single page document.

26. The method of claim 23, further comprising presenting the meeting preparation document via a browser in an SGML format.

27. The method of claim 23, further comprising activating generation of the meeting preparation document through an e-mail application.

28. The method of claim 23, further comprising generating the meeting preparation document in response to a trigger.

29. The method of claim 23, the trigger occurs in association with at least one of a manual selection initiated by the user, a time, and a change detected in the meeting preparation document.

30. The method of claim 23, further comprising limiting the meeting information that is presented to attendees other than the user.

31. A system that facilitates the generation of a meeting preparation document, comprising:

means for receiving a request to generate the meeting preparation document;

means for accessing at least one of a public data source and a private data source to retrieve relevant meeting information;

means for arranging the relevant meeting information into a personalized format of a user; and

means for generating the meeting preparation document according to the personalized format.

32. The system of claim 31, the means for accessing includes accessing means that accesses at least one of e-mail, an image, a shared data source, a user profile, a document relevant to the event, and an e-mail attachment.

33. The system of claim 31, further comprising means for limiting the meeting preparation document to a single page document.

34. The system of claim 31, further comprising means for presenting the meeting preparation document via a browser in an SGML format.

35. The system of claim 31, further comprising means for activating generation of the meeting preparation document through an e-mail application.

36. The system of claim 31, further comprising means for automatically generating the meeting preparation document in response to a trigger.