INTERFACE WITH SCHEDULING INFORMATION DURING DEFINED PERIOD

• US 20090171988A1
• Filed: 12/28/2007
• Published: 07/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Kikin-Gil, Erez
• Granted Patent: US 8,005,855 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/963 Calendar or scheduling

Abstract

Providing a user with scheduling information for a defined period of time. Calendar data which is indicative of the user'"'"'s availability during the defined period of time is obtained based on an electronic calendar associated with the user. Event data which is indicative of event scheduled during the defined period of time is retrieved. The obtained calendar data and the retrieved event data are graphically displayed as a function of the defined period of time so that one of the event data and the calendar data is overlaid on the other of the event data and the calendar data.

Claims

1. A method of providing a user with scheduling information during a defined period of time, said method comprising:

obtaining calendar data based on an electronic calendar associated with the user, said calendar data indicative of the user'"'"'s availability during the defined period of time;

graphically displaying the obtained calendar data along an axis representing the defined period of time;

retrieving event data based on event criteria provided by the user, said event data indicative of events scheduled during the defined period of time; and

graphically displaying the retrieved event data along an axis representing the defined period of time, said axis being the same axis along which the obtained calendar data is graphically displayed.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said graphically displaying the retrieved event data includes graphically displaying the retrieved event data along an axis representing the defined period of time, said axis being the same axis along which the obtained calendar data is graphically displayed, said retrieved event data being overlaid on the graphically displayed calendar data.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said graphically displaying the retrieved event data includes graphically displaying the retrieved event data along an axis representing the defined period of time, said axis being the same axis along which the obtained calendar data is graphically displayed, said retrieved event data being overlaid on the graphically displayed calendar data.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said defined period of time is a user-defined period of time.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

defining event data categories for categorizing the events indicated by the event data;

associating a visual characteristic with each of the defined event data categories; and

determining, for each of the events, an event data category defined to include said each event;

and wherein said graphically displaying the retrieved event data includes graphically displaying the event data on an axis representing the defined period of time, said axis being the same axis on which the obtained calendar is graphically displayed and wherein each event included in the event data is indicated by the visual characteristic associated with the determined event category for said each event.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein said defining includes defining by the user event categories for categorizing the events indicated by the event data.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein said associating includes associating a visual characterization with each of the defined event data categories, said visual characterization being selected by the user.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said graphically displaying the obtained calendar data includes displaying a graph illustrating an amount of time a user is unavailable as a function of the predefined time period, said graph having a plurality of axes, said plurality of axes including a first axis representing the defined period of time as a function of a first unit of time, said plurality of axes including a second axis representing the first unit of time as a function of a second unit of time, said first unit of time being greater than said second unit of time.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein said graphically displaying the retrieved event data includes displaying a graph illustrating a duration of time for retrieved events as a function of the predefined time period, said graph having a plurality of axes, said plurality of axes including a first axis representing the defined period of time as a function of a first unit of time, said plurality of axes including a second axis representing the first unit of time as a function of a second unit of time, said first unit of time being greater than said second unit of time.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein said graphically displaying the obtained calendar data includes displaying a graph illustrating a number of calendar events a user is scheduled to attend as a function of the predefined time period, said graph having a plurality of axes, said plurality of axes including a first axis representing the defined period of time as a function of a unit of time, said plurality of axes including a second axis representing a number of events.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein said graphically displaying the retrieved event data includes displaying a graph illustrating a number of retrieved as a function of the predefined time period, said graph having a plurality of axes, said plurality of axes including a first axis representing the defined period of time as a function of a unit of time, said plurality of axes including a second axis representing a number of events.

12. A system of providing a user with scheduling information during a defined period of time, said system comprising:

a receiving component for receiving a request from a user, said request including event criteria;

a retrieving component for retrieving calendar data based on an electronic calendar associated with the user and for retrieving event data based on the event criteria received from the user, said calendar data indicative of the user'"'"'s availability during the defined period of time, said event data indicative of events scheduled during the defined period of time; and

a displaying component for creating a graphical display of the retrieved calendar data as a function of time for the defined period of time and for creating a graphical display of the retrieved event data as a function of time for the defined period of time, said displaying component displaying the created event data graphical display simultaneously with the created calendar data graphical display so that one of the created event data graphical display and the created calendar data graphical display is overlaid on the other of the created event data graphical display and the created calendar data graphical display.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein said retrieving component includes a retrieving component for retrieving calendar data based on an electronic calendar associated with the user and for retrieving at a particular time frequency event data based on the event criteria received from the user, said calendar data indicative of the user'"'"'s availability during the defined period of time, said event data indicative of events scheduled during the defined period of time;

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the retrieving component includes a feed reader for subscribing to event data.

15. The system of claim 12 wherein said receiving component includes a receiving component for receiving a request from a user, said request including event criteria and a selected scheduling option, said selected scheduling option requesting one or more of the following:

adding an event to the electronic calendar associated with the user, booking attendance at the event, and generating a communication having event data for the event.

16. The system of claim 12 further comprising a categorizing component for determining a category for each event of the retrieved events according to a user-defined category and wherein said displaying component includes a displaying component for creating a graphical display of the retrieved calendar data as a function of time for the defined period of time and for creating a graphical display of the retrieved event data as a function of time for the defined period of time, said displaying component displaying each event of the retrieved event data with a visual characteristic associated with the determined category of each said event, said displaying component displaying the created event data graphical display overlaid on the created calendar data graphical display.

17. The system of claim 12 further comprising a calendar displaying component for displaying a calendar detail for a particular calendar in response to a user selecting the particular calendar from the graphical display of the retrieved calendar data, wherein said calendar detail is included in the retrieved calendar data.

18. The system of claim 12 further comprising an event displaying component for displaying an event detail for a particular event in response to a user selecting the particular event from the graphical display of the retrieved event data, wherein said event detail is included in the retrieved event data.

19. A computer readable storage medium having a data structure stored thereon for providing a user with scheduling information during a defined period of time, said data structure comprising:

a first data field for storing calendar data, said calendar data indicative of the user'"'"'s availability during the defined period of time;

a second data field for storing event criteria defined by the user; and

a third data field for storing event data retrieved as a function of the stored event criteria, said event data indicative of events scheduled during the defined period of time,

wherein the calendar data in the field and event data in the third data field are each configured to be graphically displayed to the user as a function of time for the defined period of time and wherein the event data in the third data field is configured to be simultaneously displayed with the calendar data in the first data field so that one of the event data and the calendar data is overlaid on the other of the event data and the calendar data.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 19 further comprising a fourth field for storing a reminder data, said reminder data specifying an event for which the user has requested a reminder, wherein the reminder data is configured to be communicated to the user on a particular date.