Method and Apparatus for Dynamically Granting or Denying Access to an Electronic Calendar

• US 20090019050A1
• Filed: 07/12/2007
• Published: 01/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Nelson, Michael Leonard, Baron, Joseph G., Battaglia, Frank, Tonkin, Andrew Geoffrey, Heyman, Jerrold Martin
• Granted Patent: US 8,010,656 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes

Abstract

A calendar system includes a calendar requester client and a calendar owner client that couple to a calendar server via one or more networks therebetween. In one embodiment, when the calendar server denies a particular calendar requester access to the calendar owner'"'"'s calendar, the calendar server transmits a denial notice to the calendar owner and allows the calendar owner to dynamically add the particular calendar requester to a list of approved requesters on the calendar server.

Claims

1. A method of accessing a calendar, comprising:

transmitting to a calendar server, by a calendar requester client, a first request for access to a calendar of a calendar owner that is stored on the calendar server;

transmitting to the calendar requester client, by the calendar server, a first denial notice that the first request for access is denied or a grant notice that the first request for access is granted; and

transmitting to a calendar owner client, by the calendar server, a second denial notice if the second transmitting step transmits the first denial notice to the calendar requester client, the second denial notice including a second request for access to the calendar of the calendar owner.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the grant notice comprises a grant access window showing the calendar owner'"'"'s calendar.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by the calendar owner client, the second request for access to the calendar of the calendar owner.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising selecting, by the calendar owner client, one of granting access to the calendar owner'"'"'s calendar for an unlimited period of time, granting access to the calendar owner'"'"'s calendar for a limited period of time, and denying access to the calendar owner'"'"'s calendar.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising transmitting, by the calendar server, calendar information of the calendar owner dynamically in response to the calendar owner granting access to the calendar owner'"'"'s calendar for an unlimited period of time or granting access to the calendar owner'"'"'s calendar for a limited period of time.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising accessing, by the calendar server, a full access list in the calendar server to determine if a requester name associated with the calendar requester client is included in the full access list.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising accessing, by the calendar server, a limited access list in the calendar server to determine if a requester name associated with the calendar requester client is included in the limited access list, the limited access list including requester names that are permitted access to the calendar owner'"'"'s calendar for a predetermined period of time.

8. A calendar system comprising:

a calendar owner client associated with a calendar owner;

a calendar server, coupled to the calendar owner client, that stores a calendar of the calendar owner;

a calendar requester client, coupled to the calendar server, the calendar requester client being configured to transmit a first request for access to the calendar of the calendar owner that is stored on the calendar server;

the calendar server being configured to transmit to the calendar requester client a first denial notice that the first request for access is denied or a grant notice that the first request for access is granted, the calendar server being further configured to transmit to the calendar owner client a second denial notice if the calendar server transmits the first denial notice to the calendar requester client, the second denial notice including a second request for access to the calendar of the calendar owner.

9. The calendar system of claim 8, wherein the grant notice includes a grant access window showing calendar information of the calendar owner.

10. The calendar system of claim 8, wherein the calendar owner client is configured to receive the second request for access to the calendar of the calendar owner.

11. The calendar system of claim 10, wherein the calendar owner client is configured to allow the calendar owner to select one of granting access to the calendar owner'"'"'s calendar for an unlimited period of time, granting access to the calendar owner'"'"'s calendar for a limited period of time, and denying access to the calendar owner'"'"'s calendar.

12. The calendar system of claim 11, wherein the calendar server is configured to transmit calendar information of the calendar owner dynamically in response to the calendar owner granting access to the calendar owner'"'"'s calendar for an unlimited period of time or granting access to the calendar owner'"'"'s calendar for a limited period of time.

13. The calendar system of claim 8, wherein the calendar server includes a full access list of requester names that are approved by the calendar owner for full access to the calendar owner'"'"'s calendar.

14. The calendar system of claim 8, wherein the calendar server includes a limited access list of requester names that are approved by the calendar owner for limited access to the calendar owner'"'"'s calendar for a predetermined period of time.

15. A computer program product stored on a computer operable medium for controlling access to a calendar of a calendar owner, the computer program product comprising:

instructions for transmitting to a calendar server, by a calendar requester client, a first request for access to a calendar of a calendar owner that is stored on the calendar server;

instructions for transmitting to a calendar requester client, by the calendar server, a first denial notice that the first request for access is denied or a grant notice that the first request for access is granted; and

instructions for transmitting to the calendar owner client, by the calendar server, a second denial notice in response to the calendar server transmitting the first denial notice to the calendar requester client, the second denial notice including a second request for access to the calendar of the calendar owner.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the grant notice comprises a grant access window showing the calendar owner'"'"'s calendar.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising instructions for receiving, by the calendar owner client, the second request for access to the calendar of the calendar owner.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, further comprising instructions for selecting, by the calendar owner client, one of granting access to the calendar owner'"'"'s calendar for an unlimited period of time, granting access to the calendar owner'"'"'s calendar for a limited period of time, and denying access to the calendar owner'"'"'s calendar.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, further comprising instructions for transmitting, by the calendar server, calendar information of the calendar owner dynamically in response to the calendar owner granting access to the calendar owner'"'"'s calendar for an unlimited period of time or granting access to the calendar owner'"'"'s calendar for a limited period of time.

20. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising instructions for accessing, by the calendar server, a full access list in the calendar server to determine if a requester name associated with the calendar requester client is included in the full access list.

21. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising instructions for accessing, by the calendar server, a limited access list in the calendar server to determine if a requester name associated with the calendar requester client is included in the limited access list, the limited access list including requester names that are permitted access to the calendar owner'"'"'s calendar for a predetermined period of time.