On-Line Appointment System
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
- receiving, by an appointment service, appointment availability information from a server device associated with a business, the appointment availability information indicating services offered by the business, available appointment dates for the services, and available appointment times on the available appointment dates for the services;
receiving data indicative of selections from a user device through the appointment service to schedule an appointment for a selected one of the services, the selections indicating the selected one of the services and a selected one of the available appointment dates for the appointment;
exposing, by the appointment service, a webpage configured to include a calendar having at least the selected one of the available appointment dates;
determining the available appointment times on the selected one of the available appointment dates for the selected one of the services;
configuring, by the appointment service, the webpage to display the available appointment times on the selected one of the available appointment dates, the calendar and the available appointment times formatted to be concurrently displayed in separate, non-overlapping regions of the webpage;
receiving data indicative of a selected one of the available appointment times from the user device through the webpage; and
scheduling the appointment at the selected one of the available appointment times.
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Abstract
Improved approaches for providing on-line appointments over a network are disclosed. The network is, for example, a global computer network such as the Internet. According to one aspect, users are able to schedule appointments over the network by on-line means. The users are typically individuals or service providers. Service providers are often those businesses that offer appointments to schedule their services.
95 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
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receiving, by an appointment service, appointment availability information from a server device associated with a business, the appointment availability information indicating services offered by the business, available appointment dates for the services, and available appointment times on the available appointment dates for the services; receiving data indicative of selections from a user device through the appointment service to schedule an appointment for a selected one of the services, the selections indicating the selected one of the services and a selected one of the available appointment dates for the appointment; exposing, by the appointment service, a webpage configured to include a calendar having at least the selected one of the available appointment dates; determining the available appointment times on the selected one of the available appointment dates for the selected one of the services; configuring, by the appointment service, the webpage to display the available appointment times on the selected one of the available appointment dates, the calendar and the available appointment times formatted to be concurrently displayed in separate, non-overlapping regions of the webpage; receiving data indicative of a selected one of the available appointment times from the user device through the webpage; and scheduling the appointment at the selected one of the available appointment times. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. One or more computer-readable storage media comprising instructions that, in response to execution by an appointment server device, cause the appointment server device to perform acts comprising:
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receive appointment availability information from at least one server device associated with a business through an appointment service managed by the appointment server device, the appointment availability information indicating services offered by the business, available appointment dates for the services, and available appointment times on the available appointment dates for the services; generate a list of the services offered by the business to be made available to a user device through the appointment service; receive data indicative of selections from the user device via the appointment service, the selections indicating a selected one of the services and a selected one of the available appointment dates for an appointment to be scheduled; and send markup language data to the user device, the markup language data sufficient to enable rendering by the user device of a webpage that is configured to include a view of a calendar that indicates at least the selected one of the available appointment dates and a numerical list of the available appointment times on the selected one of the available appointment dates. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. One or more computer-readable storage media comprising instructions that, in response to execution by an appointment server device, cause the appointment server device to implement an online appointment system configured to:
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receive appointment availability information from a plurality of server devices associated with a plurality of businesses, the appointment availability information identifying services offered by the plurality of businesses and available appointment times for the services; receive data from a user device indicative of a selected business from the plurality of businesses and indicative of a request to schedule an appointment for one or more services offered by the selected business at a selected one of the available appointment times; and request scheduling of the appointment at the selected one of the available appointment times. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification