Calendaring techniques and interfaces

• US 20080306963A1
• Filed: 10/17/2007
• Published: 12/11/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Dutta, Lala, Arthur, Bruce, Adler, Scott Joseph, Shepherd, Matthew Elliott, Dimaggio, Matthew
• Granted Patent: US 8,037,021 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting

Abstract

The calendaring techniques and interfaces described herein provide access to calendar data stored in a server hosted calendar store to applications. The calendar data includes calendar events and tasks. In one aspect, an application program interface (API) retrieves an occurrence from a series of reoccurring calendar data upon request from an application. In another aspect, the API sends calendar data provided by the application to a server program that manages a calendar store for storage and queries the server program to retrieve calendar data requested by the application from the calendar store. In yet another aspect, the API sends notifications that the calendar store has changed to interested applications.

Claims

1. A machine readable storage medium containing executable program instructions that cause a data processing system to perform operations comprising:

receiving a request from an application to retrieve an occurrence from a series of reoccurring calendar data;

finding the occurrence in accordance with criteria specified by the application by sending a query to a server program that manages a calendar store; and

returning the occurrence to the application.

2. The machine readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein finding further comprises:

expanding the series of reoccurring calendar data retrieved by the server program.

3. The machine readable storage medium of claim 1 further comprising:

queuing the query if the server program is not active.

4. The machine readable storage medium of claim 3 further comprising:

launching the server program if a query is queued.

5. The machine readable storage medium of claim 1 further comprising:

adding the application to a notification list when the application is initialized;

removing the application from the notification list when the application quits; and

sending a notification to each application on the notification list when the calendar store changes.

6. A machine readable storage medium containing executable program instructions that cause a data processing system to perform operations comprising:

receiving a request from an application;

if the request is a store request,

sending calendar data provided by the application to a server program that manages a calendar store; and

sending a notification to other applications when the calendar store changes; and

if the request is a retrieve request,

sending a query to the server program; and

returning retrieved calendar data to the application.

7. The machine readable storage medium of claim 6 further comprising:

queuing the query if the server program is not active.

8. The machine readable storage medium of claim 7 further comprising:

launching the server program if a query is queued.

9. The machine readable storage medium of claim 6 further comprising:

adding the application to a notification list when the application is initialized; and

removing the application from the notification list when the application quits.

10. A method of execution by a computer, the method comprising:

receiving a request from an application to retrieve an occurrence from a series of reoccurring calendar data;

finding the occurrence in accordance with criteria specified by the application by sending a query to a server program that manages a calendar store; and

returning the occurrence to the application.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein finding further comprises:

expanding the series of reoccurring calendar data retrieved by the server program.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

queuing the query if the server program is not active.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

launching the server program if a query is queued.

14. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

adding the application to a notification list when the application is initialized;

removing the application from the notification list when the application quits; and

sending a notification to each application on the notification list when the calendar store changes.

15. A method of execution by a computer, the method comprising:

receiving a request from an application;

if the request is a store request,

sending calendar data provided by the application to a server program that manages a calendar store; and

sending a notification to other applications when the calendar store changes; and

if the request is a retrieve request,

sending a query to the server program; and

returning retrieved calendar data to the application.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

queuing the query if the server program is not active.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

launching the server program if a query is queued.

18. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

adding the application to a notification list when the application is initialized; and

removing the application from the notification list when the application quits.

19. A system comprising:

means for managing a calendar store; and

means for interfacing between the calendar store and an application, wherein the means for interfacing sends a query to the means for managing to retrieve calendar data to find an occurrence from a series of reoccurring calendar data requested by the application, sends calendar data provided by the application to the means for managing to store the calendar data in the calendar store, and maintains a notification list of applications to be notified when the calendar store changes.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the means for interfacing further queues the query if the means for managing is not active, and launches the means for managing.