Selection of Items Based on Relative Importance

• US 20070198314A1
• Filed: 02/17/2006
• Published: 08/23/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: GREIB, Doreen, KNAPP, John, ANDREW, Suzan, NASCIMBENI, Melinda, HAUGEN, Todd
• Granted Patent: US 7,809,599 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.19
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06316 Sequencing of tasks or work
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• 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: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/963 Calendar or scheduling

Abstract

Methods and systems for prioritizing items and displaying those items in a single view of a personal information management (PIM) application are disclosed. PIM software can prioritize items for display in the single view based on a comparison of the date of creation of the item versus the amount of time remaining to complete the item. PIM software may also take into account a priority level of the item. As an item has less time remaining as compared to the date of creation, the likelihood the item will be included in the single display increases. Any item whose due date is ‘today’ may be included in the single view. Items without due dates might not ever appear in the single view. Users can thus get a quick overview of items that need to be taken care of that day, without being inundated with items that can wait until another day.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for selecting a plurality of heterogeneous items for display in a common list in an information management application, said method comprising:

determining a relevance for each of a plurality of items based on a present date, wherein said determining comprises comparing a creation date and due date for each of the plurality of items to the present date;

selecting a subset of the plurality of items for output in a single list on a display based on the determining step.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said determining step further comprises, for each item, adjusting the relevance when the each item has a predetermined priority level.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the relevance comprises a percentage of time remaining for each item from the creation date to the due date based on the present date.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising the step of displaying the subset of the plurality of items on the display in chunky time.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of items has a corresponding priority level, and wherein the method further comprises elevating the priority level as the due date approaches.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of items displayed in the single list comprises at least one task, at least one list, and at least one calendar event.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of items comprises items corresponding to a plurality of users.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising displaying with the single list daily weather information corresponding to the present date.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein a first item is dependent on specified weather, and wherein the method further comprises displaying an alert when the daily weather information indicates weather contrary to the specified weather.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising displaying an RSS feed with the single list.

11. One or more computer readable media storing data comprising:

a database of a plurality of items, each item having a corresponding creation date and due date;

computer executable instructions for performing a method for selecting a subset of the plurality of items for display in a single list immediate view provided by an information manager software application, said method comprising steps of;

a) determining a relevance of each item by analyzing the creation date and the due date of each item with respect to a present date;

b) selecting a subset of the plurality of items based on the analyzing step; and

c) displaying the selected subset of the plurality of items in the single list immediate view on a video display device.

12. The computer readable media of claim 11, wherein said determining step further comprises, for each item, adjusting the relevance when the each item has a predetermined priority level.

13. The computer readable media of claim 11, wherein the relevance comprises a percentage of time remaining for each item from the creation date to the due date based on the present date.

14. The computer readable media of claim 11, wherein said method further comprises the step of displaying the subset of the plurality of items on the video display device in chunky time.

15. The computer readable media of claim 11, wherein said method further comprises displaying in the single list immediate view an item without a due date when the subset of the plurality of items does not fill up the single list immediate view.

16. The computer readable media of claim 11, wherein the plurality of items displayed in the single list comprise at least one task, at least one list, and at least one calendar event.

17. The computer readable media of claim 11, wherein the plurality of items comprise items corresponding to a plurality of users.

18. The computer readable media of claim 11, wherein the selecting step comprises selecting all items having a due date equal to the present date.

19. A computer-implemented method for selecting a plurality of heterogeneous items for display in a common list in an information management application, said method comprising:

determining a relevance for each of a plurality of items based on a present date, wherein said determining comprises comparing a creation date and due date for each of the plurality of items to the present date to determine a subset of the items having a least percentage of time remaining from the creation date to the due date;

displaying the subset of the plurality of items in a single list on a display based on the determining step;

receiving an electronic communication from a member of a group to which a user of the information management application belongs; and

displaying in the single list, information corresponding to the received electronic communication based on the sender of the electronic communication belonging to the group.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the displaying steps comprise displaying the single list in chunky time.