VISUALIZATION OF CALENDAR SEARCH ENTRIES

• US 20080133524A1
• Filed: 11/30/2006
• Published: 06/05/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Ryan, Corinne M., Muller, Michael, Lu, Fang, Dong, Weichuan
• Granted Patent: US 9,390,092 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/435 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/438 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system and computer program product for the visualization of calendar search results. A calendar search results visualization method can include obtaining search results for a search against a data store of calendar events, selecting a sorting attribute for the search results such as a user attribute or event type attribute, counting how often the sorting attribute can be found in an event among the search results, and sorting the search results according to the count. The method also can include rendering the sorted search results in a visualization user interface organized in tabular format of events by date, in which each event is represented in the visualization user interface by an iconic representation that can vary in size according to a number of participants to a corresponding event or according to a completion status for tasks assigned during a corresponding event.

Claims

1. A calendar search results visualization method comprising:

obtaining search results for a search against a data store of calendar events;

selecting a sorting attribute for the search results;

counting how often the sorting attribute can be found in an event among the search results; and

,

sorting the search results according to the count.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining search results for a search against a data store of calendar events, comprises:

composing a search query against the data store of calendar events;

filtering the search query to exclude particular ones of the calendar events; and

,

receiving the search results produced by the search query.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting a sorting attribute for the search results;

comprises selecting one of a user attribute and an event type attribute for sorting the search results.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein sorting the search results according to the count, comprises sorting the search results according to a weight computed from the count.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising rendering the sorted search results in a visualization user interface organized in tabular format of events by date, each event represented in the visualization user interface by an iconic representation.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising varying a size of the iconic representation according to a number of participants to a corresponding event.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising varying a color of at least a portion the iconic representation according to a completion status for tasks assigned during a corresponding event.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting an additional sorting attribute for the search results;

adding to the count how often the additional sorting attribute can be found in an event among the search results.

9. A calendaring and scheduling (C&

S) data processing system comprising;

a data store of calendar events for the C&

S system;

a search engine configured for searching the data store according to specified search terms to produce search results; and

,

search results visualization logic comprising program code enabled to select a sorting attribute for the search results, count how often the sorting attribute can be found in an event among the search results, and sort the search results according to the count.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising a search results visualization user interface comprising a key of selectable sorting attributes.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the user interface comprises a tabular format of events by date, each of the events having an iconic representation.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the selectable sorting attributes comprise attributes selected from the group consisting of users and event types.

13. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium embodying computer usable program code for calendar search results visualization, the computer program product comprising:

computer usable program code for obtaining search results for a search against a data store of calendar events;

computer usable program code for selecting a sorting attribute for the search results;

computer usable program code for counting how often the sorting attribute can be found in an event among the search results; and

,

computer usable program code for sorting the search results according to the count.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the computer usable program code for obtaining search results for a search against a data store of calendar events, comprises:

computer usable program code for composing a search query against the data store of calendar events;

computer usable program code for filtering the search query to exclude particular ones of the calendar events; and

,

computer usable program code for receiving the search results produced by the search query.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the computer usable program code for selecting a sorting attribute for the search results;

comprises computer usable program code for selecting one of a user attribute and an event type for sorting the search results.

16. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the computer usable program code for sorting the search results according to the count, comprises computer usable program code for sorting the search results according to a weight computed from the count.

17. The computer program product of claim 13, further comprising computer usable program code for rendering the sorted search results in a visualization user interface organized in tabular format of events by date, each event represented in the visualization user interface by an iconic representation.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, further comprising computer usable program code for varying a size of the iconic representation according to a number of participants to a corresponding event.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, further comprising computer usable program code for varying a color of at least a portion the iconic representation according to a completion status for tasks assigned during a corresponding event.

20. The computer program product of claim 13, further comprising:

computer usable program code for selecting an additional sorting attribute for the search results;

computer usable program code for adding to the count how often the additional sorting attribute can be found in an event among the search results.