Method and apparatus to transmit a calendar event in target calendaring system format

• US 20070079260A1
• Filed: 10/04/2005
• Published: 04/05/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Polozoff, Alexandre, Hamilton, Rick, Boss, Gregory, Bhogal, Kulvir
• Application Number:
  US11/242,658
• Publication Number:
  US 20070079260A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/700
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting

Abstract

An agent may receive an event from a source calendaring system, wherein the event specifies a person, perhaps including a uniform resource locator, having disparate calendaring system. The disparate calendaring system may use a native event format for coordinating events. The agent may lookup a template to convert the event to a native event. The agent may transmit a message with attributes such as a unique identifier to the disparate calendaring system. If the disparate calendaring system acknowledges the event with a success, the agent may log the occurrence of a success. Agent may transmit additional messages having native events to additional disparate systems.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for propagating an event from a source computer to a target calendaring system comprising:

receiving an event from the source computer, wherein the event has an attribute;

getting at least one entry in a target calendaring system table, the entry having a target template;

formatting the event into a native event using the target template for the target calendaring system in response to obtaining the event;

appending a source attribute to the native event;

appending a unique identifier to the native event;

responsive to appending the source attribute to the native event, sending the native event to the target calendaring system to form a sent event; and

logging the sent event.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein the entry has a person attribute and sending further comprises:

parsing the person attribute to find a target calendaring system reference; and

transmitting the native event based on the target calendaring system reference.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 2 wherein the one person attribute comprises a uniform resource locator.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 3 further comprising:

prompting a user for a calendar type associated with the person attribute, wherein prompting occurs after receiving the event;

receiving a user input specifying the calendar type to associate with the person attribute.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 4 wherein the prompting comprises:

displaying a dialog box having a caption for an industry standard calendar.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein sending the native event to the target calendaring system to form a sent event is responsive to appending the unique identifier to the native event wherein logging further comprises:

receiving the unique identifier and a success bit from the target calendaring system; and

toggling the success field in a log based on the unique identifier.

7. A computer implemented method for propagating an event from a source calendaring system to a target calendaring system, the source calendaring system and the target calendaring system under control of a user, comprising:

receiving an event from the source calendaring system, the event having at least one attribute;

getting at least one entry in a target calendaring system table, the entry having at least one of a filter criterion and a target template;

determining whether the at least one attribute satisfies the filter criterion;

formatting the event into a native event according to the target template based on determining that the at least one attribute satisfies the filter criterion;

appending a source attribute to the native event;

appending a unique identifier to the native event;

sending the native event to the target calendaring system; and

logging a bit to a log, wherein the bit is associated with the sending of the native event.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 7 further comprising:

receiving a bit and the unique identifier from the target calendaring system.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 8 further comprising:

toggling the bit in the log.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 7 further comprising:

receiving a conflict signal.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 10 further comprising:

in response to receiving the conflict signal, showing a conflict message to the user.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 11 further comprising:

receiving a user confirmation.

13. The computer implemented method of claim 12 further comprising:

in response to receiving the user confirmation, resending the native event to the target calendaring system.

14. A data processing system comprising:

a bus;

a storage device connected to the bus, wherein computer usable code is located in the storage device;

a communication unit connected to the bus;

a processing unit connected to the bus, wherein the processing unit executes the computer usable code to;

receive an event from the source calendaring system, the event having at least one attribute;

get at least one entry in a target calendaring system table, the entry having at least one of a filter criterion and a target template;

determine whether the at least one attribute satisfies the filter criterion;

format the event into a native event according to the target template based on a determination that the at least one attribute satisfies the filter criterion;

append a source attribute to the native event;

append a unique identifier to the native event;

send the native event to the target calendaring system; and

log a bit to a log, wherein the bit is associated with the sending of the native event.

15. The data processing system of claim 14 wherein the processing unit further executes the computer usable code to:

receive a bit and the unique identifier from the target calendaring system.

16. The data processing system of claim 15 wherein the processing unit further executes the computer usable code to:

toggle the bit in the log.

17. The data processing system of claim 14 wherein the processing unit further executes the computer usable code to:

receive a conflict signal.

18. The data processing system of claim 17 wherein the processing unit further executes the computer usable code to:

show a conflict message to the user.

19. The data processing system of claim 18 wherein the processing unit further executes the computer usable code to:

receive a user confirmation.

20. The data processing system of claim 19 wherein the processing unit further executes the computer usable code to:

resend the native event to the target calendaring system in response to receiving the user confirmation.