TECHNIQUES FOR VISUAL INTEGRATION OF MEETING SPACE IN CALENDAR SYSTEMS

• US 20140343978A1
• Filed: 07/31/2014
• Published: 11/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Micro Focus Software, Inc. (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Novell Incorporated (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Bisht, Jitender
• Granted Patent: US 9,436,934 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits

Abstract

Techniques for visual integration of meeting spaces within a calendar system are presented. A meeting room can be viewed via a map and selected for scheduling a meeting. The map depicts the location of the meeting room within a facility of an enterprise. A meeting scheduler visually sees the meeting room within the map and can select the meeting room and acquire details about the meeting room.

Claims

1. (canceled)

2. A machine-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, via an email, a meeting request for a time slot and at a meeting room; and

viewing, via the email, a map that was generated with the meeting request and generated by a calendar application, wherein the map visually depicts a physical location for the meeting room within an enterprise.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein viewing further includes providing text directions from a location of an attendee that is a recipient of the email to a meeting room location.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein viewing further includes providing the map as an attachment to the email or a link that when activated presents the map within a World-Wide Web (WWW) browser.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein viewing further includes providing the map as an interactive map that the recipient of the email can interact with to gather additional information for the meeting room.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein providing further includes presenting physical dimensions and seating capacity for the meeting room when an attendee that receives the email clicks the map on a location that designates the meeting room.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein providing further includes presenting resources available within the meeting room when an attendee that receives the email clicks the map on a location that designates the meeting room.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein providing further includes permitting an attendee to identify a present location for the attendee within the map and in response thereto the interactive map draws a path from the present location to a meeting room location that represents a position of the meeting room.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein permitting further includes providing the interactive map within the email.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein permitting further includes providing the interactive map within a browser when selected within the email.

11. The method of claim 2, wherein receiving further includes obtaining the email as a result of an invitation being sent for a meeting at the meeting room

12. A method, comprising:

obtaining an email having a request or a meeting at a meeting room, the email having an embedded interactive map; and

activating the interactive map when selected within the email to provide details relevant to an attendee of the meeting and the meeting room.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein obtaining further includes providing the interactive map as a blueprint for a particular building wherein the meeting room is located.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein obtaining further includes providing the interactive map as a blueprint for a campus of buildings, wherein one of the buildings of the campus is where the meeting room is located.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein activating further includes permitting the interactive map to be interacted with from within the email.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein activating further includes activating the interactive map within a browser external to the email.

15. The method of claim 15, wherein obtaining further includes providing the interactive map as a linked map to other maps that include streets and roadways between the buildings of the campus.

18. A system, comprising,

an email server processing an email system;

and

an email client of the email system,

wherein the email client is adapted and configured to;

i) execute on a processor, ii) receive an invitation to a meeting at a designated meeting room within an email, and ii) provide an interactive map relevant to an attendee of the meeting and the meeting room within the email.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the interactive map is configured and adapted to be responsive to selections from a recipient of the email to present information for navigating from an attendee location to a meeting room location.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the interactive map is configured and adapted to be responsive to selections from a recipient of the email to present information for navigating from a building location for a building where the recipient is located to a different building location for the building where the meeting room is located.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the interactive map is configured and adapted to be responsive to selections from a recipient of the email to present information relevant to resources available within the meeting room for the meeting.