SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SCHEDULE NOTIFICATION

• US 20080255919A1
• Filed: 04/10/2008
• Published: 10/16/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/10/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Schedule Notification Acquisition LLC
• Original Assignee: Schedule Notification Acquisition LLC
• Inventors: Gorder, Douglas P.
• Application Number:
  US12/100,559
• Publication Number:
  US 20080255919A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for receiving schedule information and providing notifications to participants of the schedule and scheduled jobs or tasks. Employees may define preferences for the content, mode, and timing of notifications. Notifications may be sent via text message, including SMS and IM text messages, and also via email, telephone call, pager, and fax. Employees may be enabled to respond to text message notifications either confirming or rejecting scheduled jobs or tasks. Attendance of employees at scheduled jobs or tasks may also be tracked by receiving text messages or GPS information from the employees'"'"' cell phones. System and methods are also provided for sequentially notifying other employees, in order of employee priority, of opportunities to cover for employees who are unable to fill assigned jobs or tasks.

Claims

1. A method for notifying employees of their work schedules, the method comprising:

accessing one or more schedule notification preferences for each employee, the schedule notification preferences comprising at least one of the group consisting of timing preferences, mode preferences, and content preferences;

receiving a work schedule for each employee from a centralized schedule creation system; and

sending to a cell phone of each employee a text message notification of a respective work schedule in accordance with at least one specified schedule notification preference.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one timing preference comprises a preference for one or more times of day at which the employee prefers to receive text message notifications.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one timing preference comprises a preference for one or more days of the week in which the employee prefers to receive text message notifications.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one timing preference comprises a preference for receiving text message notifications at one or more of the following times:

immediately after a schedule is available, when a schedule period begins, a specified period of time in advance of a scheduled job or task, and at a specified time within a given time period.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one timing preference comprises a preference to have notifications repeatedly sent at an employee-chosen interval until receipt is acknowledged.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one mode preference comprises a preference for a Short Message Service (SMS) notification.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one mode preference comprise a preference for an Instant Message (IM) notification.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one mode preference comprises a preference for receiving a supplementary notification via one or more of the following modes of communication:

email, voice mail, voice telephone call, pager, and fax.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one content preference comprise a preference for whether to include one or more of the following details pertaining to a job or task within a text message notification:

date, start time, stop time, estimated duration, location, on-site contact person, supervisor, rate of pay, category of pay, description, and instructions for responding to the text message notification to confirm or decline the job or task.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving from an employee a response to a notification via a text message, wherein the response indicates whether the employee accepts a scheduled job or task.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

upon receiving communication that a first employee does not accept a scheduled job or task, sequentially sending a notification to a group of other employees until a second employee sends a response indicating that the second employee accepts the scheduled job or task.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein sequentially sending a notification to the group of other employees occurs in order of employee priority.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving from an employee a text message upon the employee arriving at a scheduled job or task to confirm the employee'"'"'s attendance at the scheduled job or task.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving from the employee'"'"'s cell phone Global Positioning System (GPS) information confirming the employee'"'"'s presence at a location of a scheduled job or task.

15. An employee scheduling and notification system comprising:

a notification interface to enable an employee to define one or more schedule notification preferences, wherein the schedule notification preferences comprising at least one of the group consisting of timing preferences, mode preferences, and content preferences; and

a schedule notification system in communication with the notification interface, the schedule notification system comprising;

a computer readable storage medium to store employee preferences and schedule information;

a processor to send text message notification of a work schedule, wherein the processor processes schedule information for one or more scheduled jobs or tasks, including the employees scheduled to participate in the one or more scheduled jobs or tasks, and schedule notification preferences from each employee, and wherein the timing, mode, and content of the text message notification are based on at least one specified schedule notification preference;

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising a network interface to connect the scheduling and notification system with a communication network to enable the system to send text messages.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the notification interface comprises a web application accessible from a personal computer.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the notification interface comprises an application on a cell phone.

19. A system comprising:

a preferences module to receive and store schedule notification preferences relating to timing, mode, and content of notifications;

a schedule module to receive and store schedule information for one or more scheduled jobs or tasks and employees scheduled to participate in the one or more scheduled jobs or tasks; and

a processor to generate and send a text message notification of a scheduled job or task to an employee scheduled to participate in the scheduled job or task, wherein the timing, mode, and content of the notification is based on at last one specified schedule notification preference.

20. A method for notifying a group of employees of schedule information, the method comprising:

receiving schedule information for one or more scheduled jobs or tasks, wherein the schedule information includes employees scheduled to participate in each of the one or more scheduled jobs or tasks;

enabling an employee to define schedule notification preferences that specify at least one of mode, content, and timing of notifications sent to the employee; and

sending a text message notification relating to scheduled jobs or tasks to be sent to the employee'"'"'s cell phone, the text message notification comprising schedule information relating to scheduled jobs or tasks for which the employee is scheduled to participate, wherein the notification is sent in accordance with at least one specified schedule notification preference.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein a supervisor can override at least one of the schedule notification preferences for generating and sending SMS text notifications of schedule information.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein a scheduled job or task comprises a location, date, and start time.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein a scheduled job or task further comprises at least one of an end time and duration.

24. A method of coordinating schedule changes via text message communication, the method comprising:

receiving a communication from a first employee indicating a conflict with a scheduled job or task;

sending notification to a group of other employees, sequentially and in order of employee priority, of an opportunity to participate in the scheduled job or task, wherein notifications are sent to each employee until a response is received from a second employee indicating acceptance of the scheduled job or task; and

scheduling the second employee in place of the first employee.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

sending notifications of the schedule change to the first employee and the second employee according to schedule notification preferences relating to timing, mode and content.

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising sending a notification of the schedule change to a supervisor.