Location and time sensitive wireless calendaring

• US 20070055561A1
• Filed: 11/03/2006
• Published: 03/08/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Perrella, Ronald, Menon, Jai, Zhou, Gaiye
• Granted Patent: US 7,813,950 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063116 Schedule adjustment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06314 Calendaring for a resource
• 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 10/1095 Meeting or appointment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A computer-implemented method provides location-sensitive and time-sensitive calendaring to a wireless device, such as a cell phone, pager, PDA, etc. A user'"'"'s calendar is maintained with a number of appointments, start times and end times for the appointments, meeting place and a list of attendees for the appointments. When the present time reading is within a predetermined minimum of a meeting start time of an appointment of a calendar of a user, the location of the user is determined based on the location of the wireless device. The location of the meeting place is also determined. Using historical data (of the user or others), the estimated time of arrival of the user at the meeting place is determined. If the estimated time of arrival is after the meeting start time, then a late message may be sent to the user and/or to the other meeting attendees.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing location-sensitive and time-sensitive calendaring to a wireless device, the method comprising:

determining that a time reading is within a predetermined minimum of a meeting start time of an appointment of a calendar of a user, wherein the appointment comprises a meeting start time, a meeting place and a plurality of meeting attendees and wherein the time reading is the present time;

determining the location of the user based on the location of the wireless device;

determining the location of the meeting place;

determining an estimated time of arrival of the user at the meeting place based on a velocity of the user;

if the estimated time of arrival is after the meeting start time, then sending a late message to the plurality of meeting attendees via a wireless network; and

providing a notification to the user as to when to proceed to the meeting place in order to be on time based on the estimated time of arrival.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the location of the meeting place is determined based on a stored list of meeting location coordinates.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the estimated time of arrival further comprises determining the estimated time of arrival using historical data, wherein the historical data comprises a database comprising a plurality of time stamps and location coordinates of the wireless device.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining the estimated time of arrival comprises:

finding the location of the user in the database;

finding the location of the meeting place in the database;

determining the difference between the time stamp corresponding to the location of the user and the time stamp corresponding to the location of the meeting place; and

adding the difference to the time reading to generate the estimated time of arrival.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein sending a late message to the plurality of meeting attendees comprises sending the late message to a plurality of wireless devices associated with the plurality of meeting attendees.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the location of the user based on the location of the wireless device comprises using at least one of the following to determine the location of the wireless device:

a global positioning system (GPS) receiver in the wireless device;

a cellular tower triangulation method; and

an E.911 location information method in the wireless device.

7. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium having control logic stored therein for causing a computer to provide location-sensitive and time-sensitive calendaring, the control logic comprising computer-readable program code for causing the computer to:

determine an approaching calendar event wherein the approaching calendar event comprises a start time, a location, and at least one calendar event attendee;

determine the location of the approaching calendar event;

determine a location of the at least one calendar event attendee; and

estimate commute time required for the at least one calendar event attendee to travel from the location of the at least one calendar event attendee to the location of the approaching calendar event based on a velocity of the calendar event attendee.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, further comprising computer-readable program code for causing the computer to provide a notification as to when the at least one calendar event attendee should proceed to the location of the calendar event in order to be on time based on a difference between the location of the approaching calendar event and the location of the at least one calendar event attendee.

9. The computer program product of claim 7, further comprising computer-readable program code for causing the computer to estimate the commute time required based on a mode of transportation for the at least one calendar event attendee.

10. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the computer-readable program code for causing the computer to determine the location of the at least one calendar event attendee comprises computer-readable program code for causing the computer to determine a location for each of a plurality of calendar event attendees.

11. A system for providing location-sensitive calendar information to a wireless device, the system comprising:

a wireless device in communication with a server via a wireless network wherein the wireless device stores a plurality of meeting attendees in association with an appointment, the appointment comprising a meeting time and a meeting location; and

a calendaring program running on the server, wherein the server;

determines a present time and a present location of the wireless device of a user, whereby the server compares the present time and the present location to the meeting time and the meeting location in a calendar file associated with the user to determine an estimated time of arrival;

sends a late message to the wireless device and to a plurality of wireless devices associated with the plurality of meeting attendees if the estimated time of arrival is after the meeting time; and

provides a notification as to when at least one meeting attendee should proceed to the meeting place in order to be on time based on the distance between the location of the at least one meeting attendee and the location of the meeting place.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the server is further operative to send a location of each of the plurality of meeting attendees to the wireless device of the user.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the estimated time of arrival and location are displayed to the user in a short messaging service (SMS) message.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the server is further operative to provide a notification to each wireless device associated with each of the plurality of meeting attendees as to when each of the plurality of meeting attendees should proceed to the meeting place in order to be on time based on the location of each of the plurality of meeting attendees with respect to the location of the meeting location.