Calendaring Tool Having Visual Clues to Address Conflicting Meeting Invitations

• US 20120226514A1
• Filed: 03/01/2011
• Published: 09/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Patel, Kanisha, Ullmann, Cristi N., Yedavilli, Aruna, Romonosky, Audrey D., Romonosky, Ronald, Villarreal, Julissa
• Application Number:
  US13/037,855
• Publication Number:
  US 20120226514A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.19
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting

Abstract

Methods and systems of distinguishing conflicting appointments from one another may involve determining, for each of a plurality of conflicting appointments, a corresponding visual differentiator based on appointment detail information. The plurality of conflicting appointments and corresponding visual differentiators may be displayed in a calendar view, wherein the appointment detail information is excluded from the calendar view.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method comprising:

providing appointment detail information associated with each of a plurality of appointments, the appointment detail information including at least one of,

a work item associated with a user;

an attendance requirement of the user;

an acceptance by the user;

a delegation to the user; and

a predefined keyword match;

conducting evaluations of each appointment to determine whether a conflict exists between the plurality of appointments, each determined appointment conflict being based at least in part on the appointment detail information associated with a respective one of the plurality of appointments;

generating visual differentiators for each appointment conflict based at least in part on the evaluations;

displaying the visual differentiators for each appointment conflict in a calendar view; and

excluding the appointment detail information from the calendar view.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the visual differentiators distinguish conflicting appointments from one another on at least one of a color basis, a font basis and a border basis.

3. A computer implemented method comprising:

determining, for each of a plurality of conflicting appointments, a corresponding visual differentiator based on appointment detail information;

displaying the plurality of conflicting appointments and corresponding visual differentiators in a calendar view; and

excluding the appointment detail information from the calendar view.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining one or more of the visual differentiators includes:

conducting an evaluation as to whether appointment detail information associated with a conflicting appointment indicates that the conflicting appointment involves a work item associated with a user; and

generating the visual differentiator based at least in part on the evaluation.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein determining one or more of the visual differentiators includes:

conducting an evaluation as to whether appointment detail information associated with a conflicting appointment indicates that the conflicting appointment requires a user'"'"'s attendance; and

generating the visual differentiator based at least in part on the evaluation.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein determining one or more of the visual differentiators includes:

conducting an evaluation as to whether appointment detail information associated with a conflicting appointment indicates that the conflicting appointment has been accepted by a user; and

generating the visual differentiator based at least in part on the evaluation.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein determining one or more of the visual differentiators includes:

conducting an evaluation as to whether appointment detail information associated with a conflicting appointment indicates that the conflicting appointment was delegated to a user; and

generating the visual differentiator based at least in part on the evaluation.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the evaluation includes an evaluation as to whether the conflicting appointment was delegated by a manager of the user.

9. The method of claim 3, wherein determining one or more of the visual differentiators includes:

conducting an evaluation as to whether appointment detail information associated with a conflicting appointment indicates that the appointment was initiated by a user; and

generating the visual differentiator based at least in part on the evaluation.

10. The method of claim 3, wherein determining one or more of the visual differentiators includes:

conducting an evaluation as to whether appointment detail information associated with a conflicting appointment indicates that the conflicting appointment matches a predefined keyword; and

generating the visual differentiator based at least in part on the evaluation.

11. The method of claim 3, wherein the visual differentiators distinguish the plurality of conflicting appointments from one another on at least one of a color basis, a font basis, an icon basis and a border basis.

12. A computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium; and

computer usable code stored on the computer readable storage medium, where, if executed by a processor, the computer usable code causes a computer to;

determine, for each of a plurality of conflicting appointments, a corresponding visual differentiator based on appointment detail information;

display the plurality of conflicting appointments and corresponding visual differentiators in a calendar view; and

exclude the appointment detail information from the calendar view.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the computer usable code, if executed, causes a computer to:

conduct an evaluation as to whether appointment detail information associated with a conflicting appointment indicates that the conflicting appointment involves a work item associated with a user; and

generate a visual differentiator based at least in part on the comparison.

14. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the computer usable code, if executed, causes a computer to:

conduct an evaluation as to whether appointment detail information associated with a conflicting appointment indicates that the conflicting appointment requires a user'"'"'s attendance; and

generate a visual differentiator based at least in part on the evaluation.

15. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the computer usable code, if executed, causes a computer to:

conduct an evaluation as to whether appointment detail information associated with a conflicting appointment indicates that the conflicting appointment has been accepted by a user; and

generate a visual differentiator based at least in part on the evaluation.

16. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the computer usable code, if executed, causes a computer to:

conduct an evaluation as to whether appointment detail information associated with a conflicting appointment indicates that the conflicting appointment was delegated to a user; and

generate a visual differentiator based at least in part on the evaluation.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the evaluation is to include an evaluation as to whether the conflicting appointment was delegated by a manager of the user.

18. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the computer usable code, if executed, causes a computer to:

conduct an evaluation as to whether appointment detail information associated with a conflicting appointment indicates that the appointment was initiated by a user; and

generating a visual differentiator based at least in part on the evaluation.

19. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the computer usable code, if executed, causes a computer to:

conduct an evaluation as to whether appointment detail information associated with a conflicting appointment indicates that the conflicting appointment matches a predefined keyword; and

generate a visual differentiator based at least in part on the evaluation.

20. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the visual differentiators are to distinguish the plurality of conflicting appointments from one another on at least one of a color basis, a font basis, an icon basis and a border basis.