IDENTIFYING CORRUPTED DATA ON CALENDARS WITH CLIENT INTENT

• US 20110161286A1
• Filed: 12/28/2009
• Published: 06/30/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: da Fonseca Mendes, Roberto Ribeiro, Feliberti, Vanessa C., Nizar, Shaheeda P.
• Granted Patent: US 8,392,365 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/610
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting

Abstract

Identification of corrupted event data may be provided. Calendar events, such as appointments and meetings, may be created and copied to a plurality of attendee calendars. Changes to the event may be logged and, if the change results from a user interaction with a user interface, a user intent identifier may be associated with the log entry. Other changes that do not result from direct user interaction may not be associated with the user intent identifier. Event corruption detection may identify out-of-sync properties between two calendar events associated with the same meeting and, if the out-of-sync property is not associated with the user intent identifier, the properties may be updated to match each other.

Claims

1. A method for identifying corrupted event data, the method comprising:

determining whether a property of a first event differs from a corresponding property of at least one second event;

in response to determining that the property of the first event differs from the corresponding property of the at least one second event, determining whether the property of the first event was intentionally changed by a user; and

in response to determining that the corresponding property of the at least one second event was not intentionally changed by the user, updating the corresponding property of the at least one second event to match the property of the first event.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first event is associated with an attendee of the event.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one second event is associated with an organizer of the event.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising periodically comparing the first event to each of a plurality of copies of the event for determining whether the property of a first event differs from the corresponding property of each of the plurality of copies of the event.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a change to the first event;

logging the change to the first event to a changelog;

determining whether the change to the first event is associated with a user interaction; and

in response to determining that the change to the first event is associated with the user interaction, associating a user-intent metadata identifier with the logged change in the changelog.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining whether the change to the first event is associated with the user interaction comprises determining whether the change to the first event resulted from a user interface interaction.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein determining whether the change to the first event is associated with the user interaction comprises determining whether the change to the first event resulted from a synchronization operation between a calendar application associated with the first event and a second application, wherein the synchronization operation does not comprise the user interaction.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the property of the first event was intentionally changed by a user comprises determining whether a changelog comprises a user-intent identifier associated with the change to the first event.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the changelog comprises a plurality of records associated with changes to the first event.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the changelog comprises a plurality of records associated with changes to the first event and the at least one second event.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the difference between the property of the first event the corresponding property of the at least one second event is likely to cause an attendee associated with the first event to miss the event; and

in response to determining that the difference between the property of the first event the corresponding property of the at least one second event is not likely to cause an attendee associated with the first event to miss the event, leaving the property of the first event out-of-sync with the corresponding property of the at least one second event.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein determining whether the difference between the property of the first event the corresponding property of the at least one second event is likely to cause an attendee associated with the first event to miss the event comprises determining whether the property comprises at least one of the following:

a start time, a duration, and a location.

13. A computer-readable medium which stores a set of instructions which when executed performs a method for identifying corrupted event data, the method executed by the set of instructions comprising:

creating an event associated with at least one organizer and a plurality of attendees, wherein a copy of the event is associated with each of the plurality of attendees;

receiving a change to at least one copy of the event;

creating an entry associated with the change in a changelog;

determining whether the change to the at least one copy of the event is in response to an interaction with a user interface; and

in response to determining that the change to the at least one copy of the event is in response to the interaction with the user interface, associating a user intent identifier with the entry in the changelog.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the changelog is associated with the at least one copy of the event.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the changelog comprises a plurality of entries associated with each of the copies of the event.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the user interface is associated with a calendar application.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, further comprising:

periodically comparing each of the copies of the event to a master copy of the event to determine whether at least one property of at least one of the copies of the event differs from a corresponding property of the master copy of the event;

in response to determining that the at least one property of the at least one of the copies of the event differs from the corresponding property of the master copy of the event, determining whether the difference of the at least one property and the corresponding property is associated with the entry in the changelog; and

in response to determining that the difference of the at least one property and the corresponding property is not associated with the entry in the changelog, updating the at least one property to match the corresponding property.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising:

in response to determining that the difference of the at least one property and the corresponding property is associated with the entry in the changelog, determining whether the entry in the changelog is associated with the user intent identifier; and

in response to determining that the entry in the changelog is not associated with the user intent identifier, updating the at least one property to match the corresponding property.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, further comprising:

in response to determining that the entry in the changelog is associated with the user intent identifier, leaving the at least one property out-of-sync with the corresponding property.

20. A system for providing calendar repair using a standard message, the system comprising:

a memory storage; and

a processing unit coupled to the memory storage, wherein the processing unit is operative to;

create a master event on a calendar associated with an organizer of the event;

create a plurality of copies of the event on a plurality of calendars, wherein each of the plurality of calendars is associated with at least one attendee of the event;

receive a change to a property of at least one of the plurality of copies of the event;

log the change to the at least one of the plurality of copies of the event to a changelog associated with the master event;

determine whether the change to the at least one of the plurality of copies of the event resulted from a user interface interaction;

in response to determining that the change to the at least one of the plurality of copies of the event resulted from the user interface interaction, associated a user-intent metadata identifier with the logged change in the changelog;

in response to determining that the change to the at least one of the plurality of copies of the event did not result from the user interface interaction, determine whether the change to the property of the at least one of the plurality of copies of the event will impact the attendance of the at least one attendee associated with the at least one of the plurality of copies of the event; and

in response to determining that the change to the property of the at least one of the plurality of copies of the event will impact the attendance of the at least one attendee associated with the at least one of the plurality of copies of the event, update the property of the at least one of the plurality of copies of the event to match a corresponding property of the master event.