Scheduling management system and its process control method

• US 6,313,852 B1
• Filed: 01/05/1999
• Issued: 11/06/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Suganuma, Norihito, Ishizaki, Hiroshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Bayerl, Raymond J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Vu, Kieu D.
• Application Number:
  US09/225,309
• Time in Patent Office: 1,036 Days
• Field of Search: 345/963, 345/339, 345/348, 345/331, 705/8, 705/9
• US Class Current: 715/751
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/963 Calendar or scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/971 Cooperative decision support systems for group of users

Abstract

A simple and easy-to-memorize operation method for a scheduling management system is provided to perform main tasks such as referring to schedules of a selected member or a selected date. A software component indicating a schedule, a member, or a date is moved to any one of components constituting a GUI screen, and when the software component is superposed upon another component, the motion destination component constituting the GUI screen judges the type of the superposed software component to select a process to be performed. Main tasks can be performed by a simple operation method through superposition of software components.

Claims

1. A scheduling management system, comprising:

a scheduling data storage device for storing scheduling data including a date, a time, and a work matter;

a member information storage device for storing member information including a user ID, a user name, a flag indicating whether the member is an individual or a group, and ID information of a hierarchical level the member belongs;

a calendar information storage device for storing calendar information;

a display device for display a GUI screen containing a plurality of components;

an input device for designating an arbitrary position on the GUI screen and entering an operation relative to the designated position on the GUI screen; and

an inter-component communication control unit for, if a movable software component on a certain component constituting the GUI screen is selected with said input device and is moved and superposed upon another component constituting the GUI screen, notifying the motion destination other component of the superposed software component;

wherein the components constituting the GUI screen include;

a calendar component for temporarily storing calendar information acquired from said calendar information storage device in a calendar information storage area of said calendar component, displaying a software component indicating the date in a calendar format on the GUI screen in accordance with the acquired calendar information, and selecting, if another software component is superposed upon the software component by said input device, a process in accordance with a type of the other software component;

a schedule display area component for temporarily storing scheduling data acquired from said scheduling data storage device in a scheduling data storage area of said schedule display area component, graphically displaying a software component indicating the scheduling data in a corresponding area of a schedule screen constituted of a time axis and a member axis, in accordance with the acquired scheduling data, and selecting, if another software component is superposed upon the software component by said input device, a process in accordance with a type of the other software component; and

a member select component for temporarily storing member information acquired from said member information storage device in a member information storage area of said member select component, hierarchically displaying a software component indicating the member on the GUI screen in accordance with the acquired member information, and selecting, if another software component is superposed upon the software component by said input device such as a pointing device, a process in accordance with a type of the other software component;

wherein if the software component indicating the date on said calendar component is superposed upon said schedule display area component by said input device such as a pointing device, said inter-component communication control unit supplies information of the software component from said calendar component to said schedule display area component, and said schedule display are a component judges that the software component is a software component of a type that indicates the date, to thereby select a process of referring to the scheduling data of the designated date;

if the software component indicating the member on said member select component is superposed upon said schedule display area component by said input device such as a pointing device, said inter-component communication control unit supplies information of the software component from said member select component to said schedule display area component, and said schedule display area component judges that the software component is a software component of a type that indicates the member, to thereby select a process of referring to the scheduling data of the member and judge from the information of the software component whether the member is an individual or a group to perform the selected process; and

if the software component indicating the member displayed on the schedule screen on said schedule display area component is superposed upon said member select component by said input device such as a pointing device, said inter-component communication control unit supplies information of the software component from said schedule display area component to said member select component, and said member select component judges that the software component is a software component of a type that indicates the member, to thereby select a process of deleting the scheduling data of the member from the scheduling screen.

2. A scheduling management system, comprising:

a scheduling data storage device for storing scheduling data including a date, a time, and a work matter;

a member information storage device for storing member information including a user ID, a user name, a flag indicating whether the member is an individual or a group, and ID information of a hierarchical level the member belongs;

a calendar information storage device for storing calendar information;

a display device for display a GUI screen containing a plurality of components;

an input device for designating an arbitrary position on the GUI screen and entering an operation relative to the designated position on the GUI screen; and

an inter-component communication control unit for, if a movable software component on a certain component constituting the GUI screen is selected with said input device and is moved and superposed upon another component constituting the GUI screen, notifying the motion destination other component of the superposed software component;

wherein the components constituting the GUI screen include;

a calendar component for temporarily storing calendar information acquired from said calendar information storage device in a calendar information storage area of said calendar component, displaying a software component indicating the date in a calendar format on the GUI screen in accordance with the acquired calendar information, and selecting, if another software component is superposed upon the software component by said input device, a process in accordance with a type of the other software component;

a schedule display area component for temporarily storing scheduling data acquired from said scheduling data storage device in a scheduling data storage area of said schedule display area component, graphically displaying a software component indicating the scheduling data in a corresponding area of a schedule screen constituted of a time axis and a member axis, in accordance with the acquired scheduling data, and selecting, if another software component is superposed upon the software component by said input device, a process in accordance with a type of the other software component; and

a member select component for temporarily storing member information acquired from said member information storage device in a member information storage area of said member select component, hierarchically displaying a software component indicating the member on the GUI screen in accordance with the acquired member information, and selecting, if another software component is superposed upon the software component by said input device such as a pointing device, a process in accordance with a type of the other software component;

wherein if the software component indicating the date on said calendar component is superposed upon said schedule display area component by said input device such as a pointing device, said inter-component communication control unit supplies information of the software component from said calendar component to said schedule display area component, and said schedule display are a component judges that the software component is a software component of a type that indicates the date, to thereby select a process of referring to the scheduling data of the designated date;

if the software component indicating the member on said member select component is superposed upon said schedule display area component by said input device such as a pointing device, said inter-component communication control unit supplies information of the software component from said member select component to said schedule display area component, and said schedule display area component judges that the software component is a software component of a type that indicates the member, to thereby select a process of referring to the scheduling data of the member and judge from the information of the software component whether the member is an individual or a group to perform the selected process; and

if the software component indicating the scheduling data displayed on the schedule screen on said schedule display area component is superposed upon said member select component by said input device such as a pointing device, said inter-component communication control unit supplies information of the software component from said schedule display area component to said member select component, and said member select component judges that the software component is a software component of a type that indicates the scheduling data, to thereby select a process of registering scheduling data having contents same as the scheduling data in the member selected by said member select component.

3. A scheduling management system, comprising:

a scheduling data storage device for storing scheduling data including a date, a time, and a work matter;

a member information storage device for storing member information including a user ID, a user name, a flag indicating whether the member is an individual or a group, and ID information of a hierarchical level the member belongs;

a calendar information storage device for storing calendar information;

a display device for display a GUI screen containing a plurality of components;

an input device for designating an arbitrary position on the GUI screen and entering an operation relative to the designated position on the GUI screen; and

an inter-component communication control unit for, if a movable software component on a certain component constituting the GUI screen is selected with said input device and is moved and superposed upon another component constituting the GUI screen, notifying the motion destination other component of the superposed software component;

wherein the components constituting the GUI screen include;

a calendar component for temporarily storing calendar information acquired from said calendar information storage device in a calendar information storage area of said calendar component, displaying a software component indicating the date in a calendar format on the GUI screen in accordance with the acquired calendar information, and selecting, if another software component is superposed upon the software component by said input device, a process in accordance with a type of the other software component;

a schedule display area component for temporarily storing scheduling data acquired from said scheduling data storage device in a scheduling data storage area of said schedule display area component, graphically displaying a software component indicating the scheduling data in a corresponding area of a schedule screen constituted of a time axis and a member axis, in accordance with the acquired scheduling data, and selecting, if another software component is superposed upon the software component by said input device, a process in accordance with a type of the other software component; and

a visiting site/work matter incorporating component for acquiring visiting site information and work matter information which is part of the scheduling data from a visiting site/work matter information storage device, and selecting, if the software component is superposed upon any one of the components constituting the GUI screen by said input device such as a pointing device, a process in accordance with a type of the software component;

wherein if the software component indicating the date on said calendar component is superposed upon said schedule display area component by said input device such as a pointing device, said inter-component communication control unit supplies information of the software component from said calendar component to said schedule display area component, and said schedule display are a component judges that the software component is a software component of a type that indicates the date, to thereby select a process of referring to the scheduling data of the designated date;

if the software component indicating the visiting site information on said visiting site/work matter incorporating component is superposed upon said schedule display are a component by said input device such as a pointing device, said inter-component communication control unit supplies information of the software component from said visiting site/work matter incorporating component to said schedule display area component, and said schedule display area component judges that the software component is a software component of a type that indicates the visiting site information, to thereby select a process of setting the visiting site information indicated by the software component to a visiting site of the scheduling data to be newly registered;

if the software component indicating the work matter information on said visiting site/work matter incorporating component is superposed upon said schedule display area component by said input device such as a pointing device, said inter-component communication control unit supplies information of the software component from said visiting site/work matter incorporating component to said schedule display area component, and said schedule display component judges that the software component is a software component of a type that indicates the work matter information, to thereby select a process of setting the work matter information indicated by the software component in a work matter of the scheduling data to be newly registered; and

if the software component indicating the scheduling data on said schedule display area component is superposed upon said visiting site/work matter incorporating component by said input device such as a pointing device, said inter-component communication control unit supplies information of the software component from said schedule display area component to said visiting site/work matter incorporating component, and said visiting site/work matter incorporating component judges that the software component is a software component of a type that indicates the scheduling data, to thereby select a process of newly registering the visiting site information and the work matter information owned by the software component.