System and Method for Automatically Scheduling Appointments

• US 20100293029A1
• Filed: 05/13/2009
• Published: 11/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hugh Olliphant
• Original Assignee: Bits To Atoms Inc.
• Inventors: Olliphant, Hugh
• Granted Patent: US 8,150,718 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.19
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06314 Calendaring for a resource
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1093 Calendar-based scheduling for persons or groups
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1095 Meeting or appointment

Abstract

The system and method for automatically scheduling appointments includes receiving, at the appointment server system, appointment preference information from a client system associated with a user, wherein the appointment preference information includes contact details for one or more contacts of the user. In response to receiving the appointment preference information from the user, the appointment server system automatically, without human intervention, schedules a first proposed appointment based at least in part on the appointment preference information, wherein the first proposed appointment includes a first location, a first plurality of participants including the user and a first contact of the one or more contacts, and a first date that was not selected by any of the first plurality of participants. The appointment server sends an electronic message to the first plurality of participants including an invitation to the first proposed appointment.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for appointment scheduling, comprising:

at an appointment server system including a processor and memory;

receiving appointment preference information from a client system associated with a user, wherein the appointment preference information includes contact details for one or more contacts of the user;

in response to receiving the appointment preference information from the user;

automatically, without human intervention, scheduling a first proposed appointment based at least in part on the appointment preference information, wherein the first proposed appointment includes a first location, a first plurality of participants including the user and a first contact of the one or more contacts, and a first date that was not selected by any of the first plurality of participants; and

sending an electronic message to the first plurality of participants including an invitation to the first proposed appointment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein scheduling a first proposed appointment based at least in part on the appointment preference information includes searching a database to determine previously defined appointment preference information including appointment preference information associated with the user and, appointment preference information associated with the contact.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first date includes a time of day.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to receiving the appointment preference information from the user;

automatically, without human intervention, scheduling a second proposed appointment based on the appointment preference information, wherein the second proposed appointment includes a second location, a second plurality of participants including the user and a second contact of the one or more contacts, and a second time that was not selected by any of the second plurality of participants, wherein the second proposed appointment is not a recurrence of the first proposed appointment and

sending an electronic message to the second plurality of participants, including an invitation to the second proposed appointment.

5. The method of claim 4, including:

in response to receiving the appointment preference information from the user;

automatically, without human intervention, scheduling a plurality of proposed appointments based on the appointment preference information, wherein each respective proposed appointment in the plurality of proposed appointments includes a respective location, a respective plurality of participants including the user and a second contact of the one or more contacts, and a respective time that was not selected by any of the respective plurality of participants, wherein each proposed appointment is not a recurrence of any of the plurality of proposed appointments; and

for each proposed appointment, sending an electronic message to the respective plurality of participants, including an invitation to the second proposed appointment.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a reply from at least a subset of the first plurality of participants; and

in response to receiving the replies;

when replies indicating an acceptance of the first proposed appointment have been received from a predefined number of the participants, sending electronic messages to the plurality of participants including a confirmation of the first proposed appointment.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising sending a message to a restaurant reservation service and receiving a response confirming the reservation.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a reply from at least a subset of the first plurality of participants; and

in response to receiving the replies;

when replies indicating a rejection of the first proposed appointment have been received from a predefined number of the participants, sending electronic messages to the plurality of participants including a cancellation of the first proposed appointment.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a reply from at least a subset of the first plurality of participants; and

in response to receiving the replies;

when replies indicating an acceptance of the first proposed appointment have not been received from a predefined threshold of the participants before a predefined time period has elapsed, sending electronic messages to the one or more of the first plurality of participants including a cancellation of the first proposed appointment.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to the receiving appointment preference information from the user, sending an electronic message to the user including a placeholder calendar entry indicative of the appointment preference information provided by the user.

11. The method of claim 4, wherein the first plurality of participants includes at least one participant that is not included in the second plurality of participants.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein appointment preference information includes information that was collected from third party websites.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein appointment preference information includes one or more of:

an availability of the user including a plurality of times when the user is available for an appointment, a user location, a user rating of one or more of the participants, travel preferences of one or more of the participants, appointment location preferences of one or more of the participants, dietary restrictions/preferences of one or more of the participants.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

preparing for display to the user an invitation to the first proposed appointment; and

preparing for display to a contact of the user an invitation to the first proposed appointment.

15. The method of claim 1, including:

receiving a reply from a participant; and

in response to receiving the reply, updating the appointment preference information for the user.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the electronic message sent to a first participant of the plurality of participants includes an indication of a first travel time of the first participant to the first location; and

the electronic message sent to a second participant of the plurality of participants includes an indication of a second travel time of the second participant to the first location.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the indication of the travel time of a respective participant of the plurality of participants to the first location includes a calendar appointment with a start time that is the first time adjusted by a travel time of the participant to the first location.

18. The method of claim 1, including, prior to automatically scheduling the first proposed appointment:

receiving, at a first appointment server system, from a mobile device, location information indicative of the location of the user and;

storing appointment preference information indicative of the likely location of a user.

19. An appointment server system, comprising:

one or more processors;

memory; and

one or more programs stored in the memory, the one or more programs comprising instructions to;

receive, at the appointment server system, appointment preference information from a client system associated with a user, wherein the appointment preference information includes contact details for one or more contacts of the user;

responsive to receiving the appointment preference information from the user by;

automatically, without human intervention, schedule a first proposed appointment based at least in part on the appointment preference information, wherein the first proposed appointment includes a first location, a first plurality of participants including the user and a first contact of the one or more contacts, and a first date that was not selected by any of the first plurality of participants; and

send an electronic message to the first plurality of participants including an invitation to the first proposed appointment.

20. A computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured for execution by one or more processors of an appointment server system, the one or more programs comprising instructions to:

receive, at the appointment server system, appointment preference information from a client system associated with a user, wherein the appointment preference information includes contact details for one or more contacts of the user;

responsive to receiving the appointment preference information from the user by;

automatically, without human intervention, schedule a first proposed appointment based at least in part on the appointment preference information, wherein the first proposed appointment includes a first location, a first plurality of participants including the user and a first contact of the one or more contacts, and a first date that was not selected by any of the first plurality of participants; and

send an electronic message to the first plurality of participants including an invitation to the first proposed appointment.