Method, apparatus, and system for distributed meeting scheduling based on autonomous multi-agent

• US 7,108,173 B1
• Filed: 09/30/2000
• Issued: 09/19/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Wang, Zhihui, Liu, Danjun
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Ahshik
• Assistant Examiner(s): Trail, Allyson N
• Application Number:
  US10/148,027
• Time in Patent Office: 2,180 Days
• Field of Search: 235/377, 235/380, 235/383, 705/5, 705/6, 705/8, 705/9, 700/99, 700/100, 340/572.1, 707/5, 707/104.1, 345/753, 345/963, 709/202, 709/219
• US Class Current: 235/377
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/025 Coordination of plural reservations, e.g. plural trip segments, transportation combined with accommodation
• 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

Abstract

According to one aspect of the invention, a method is provided in which a scheduling agent is assigned to each user in a system. Each scheduling agent is responsible for coordinating meeting activities for its associated user. Each user in the system is allowed to specify preferences for meeting scheduling based upon his corresponding calendar. In response to a meeting request initiated by one of the users, the scheduling agent for the meeting initiator and the scheduling agents for the attendees negotiate with each other to schedule the requested meeting at a most suitable time that is accepted by all attendees through their associated scheduling agents, based upon a set of scheduling criteria including the meeting timing information and the attendees preferences for meeting scheduling.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

assigning a scheduling agent to each user in a system, each scheduling agent being responsible for coordinating meeting activities for the scheduling agent'"'"'s associated user;

allowing each user in the system to specify preferences for meeting scheduling based upon his corresponding calendar; and

in response to a meeting request initiated by one of the users, allowing the scheduling agent for the meeting initiator and the scheduling agents for the attendees to negotiate with each other to schedule the requested meeting at a most suitable time that is accepted by all attendees through their associated scheduling agents, based upon a set of scheduling criteria including the meeting timing information and the attendees'"'"' preferences for meeting scheduling;

wherein allowing the scheduling agents to negotiate includes the scheduling agent for the meeting initiator providing suggestions for meeting scheduling to the scheduling agents for the attendees and the scheduling agents for the attendees informing the scheduling agent for the meeting initiator which of the suggestions are acceptable to the attendees.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the meeting timing information includes a set of possible start times for the meeting and an expected duration for the meeting.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein each scheduling agent is assigned a network address.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the addresses for the scheduling agents are maintained by a facilitator.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein one scheduling agent gets the address for another agent from the facilitator.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein allowing the scheduling agents to negotiate further comprises:

determining, based upon the meeting timing information and the attendee'"'"'s preferences for meeting scheduling, a list of meeting suggestions each being assigned a relative score, a meeting suggestion with a higher score being considered more preferable with respect to a meeting suggestion with a lower score; and

obtaining a consensus from all attendees with respect to a specific meeting suggestion starting with the meeting suggestion having the highest score until a consensus from all attendees is obtained or until all meeting suggestions have been exhausted.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

sending a meeting notice to the meeting initiator and attendees if a consensus can be obtained from all attendees for at least one meeting suggestion.

8. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

notifying the meeting initiator of a failure to schedule the requested meeting if a consensus cannot be obtained for any meeting suggestion.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein determining the list of meeting suggestions comprises:

preparing a list of candidate suggestions based upon the meeting timing information, each candidate suggestion comprising a possible start time and the expected duration for the meeting;

sending the list of candidate suggestions to the attendees'"'"' scheduling agents; and

forming the list of meeting suggestions based upon feedback received from the attendees'"'"' scheduling agents, the feedback including individual scores given to each candidate suggestion by the corresponding scheduling agents based upon the attendees'"'"' preferences.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein forming the list comprises:

removing from the list of candidate suggestions those candidate suggestions that are not feasible based upon the feedback received to form a list of optional suggestions, each optional suggestion being assigned a corresponding global score based upon the individual scores given by the attendees'"'"' scheduling agents; and

sorting the list of optional suggestions in a specified order based upon the global score of each optional suggestion to form a list of reserving suggestions.

11. The method of claim 10 obtaining the consensus comprises:

performing a meeting scheduling negotiation process to determine whether a particular reserving suggestion is acceptable to all meeting attendees, starting with the reserving suggestion having the highest global score, comprising;

checking with the attendees'"'"' scheduling agents in a specified order to determine whether the particular reserving suggestion is acceptable to the attendees;

if the particular reserving suggestion is acceptable to all attendees, scheduling the requested meeting according to the particular reserving suggestion; and

if the current reserving suggestion is not acceptable to any attendee, discarding the particular reserving suggestion in process and continuing the meeting scheduling negotiation process with the next reserving suggestion.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein checking with the attendees'"'"' scheduling agents comprises:

sending the particular reserving suggestion to an attendee'"'"'s scheduling agent in the specified order starting with the scheduling agent that is listed first in the specified order;

getting feedback from the corresponding scheduling agent; and

if the corresponding scheduling agent indicates that the particular reserving suggestion is acceptable, sending the particular reserving suggestion to the next attendee'"'"'s scheduling agent in the specified order.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the particular reserving suggestion is not sent to the remaining attendee scheduling agents if the particular reserving suggestion is declined by the corresponding scheduling agent.

14. A meeting scheduling agent comprising:

logic to manage a user'"'"'s calendar including available time slots for meetings, the logic to manage the user'"'"'s calendar including logic to allow the user to express the user'"'"'s preferences for available time slots in the user'"'"'s calendar; and

logic to manage meeting scheduling activities for the user, comprising;

logic to perform a meeting scheduling negotiation process with scheduling agents for meeting attendees by providing a meeting request initiated by the user to the scheduling agents for the meeting attendees, the meeting request including suggestions for possible meeting times;

logic to determine the most suitable time for the meeting that is accepted by the scheduling agents for the meeting attendees based upon a set of criteria including the meeting timing information and the attendee'"'"'s preferences for meeting times.

15. The meeting scheduling agent of claim 14 wherein the meeting timing information comprises information indicating at least one possible start time for the meeting and an anticipated duration for the meeting.

16. The meeting scheduling agent of claim 15 wherein logic to determine comprises:

logic to determine, based upon the meeting timing information and the attendee'"'"'s preferences for meeting times, a list of meeting suggestions each having a relative score, a meeting suggestion with a higher score being considered more preferable relative to a meeting suggestion with a lower score; and

logic to obtain a consensus from all the attendees with respect to a specific meeting suggestion starting with the meeting suggestion that has the highest score until a consensus is obtained or all meeting suggestions have been exhausted.

17. The meeting scheduling agent of claim 16 wherein logic to construct the list of meeting suggestions comprises:

logic to prepare a list of candidate suggestions based upon the meeting timing information, each candidate suggestion comprising a possible start time and the anticipated duration for the meeting;

logic to communicate the list of candidate suggestions to the attendee'"'"'s scheduling agents; and

logic to form the list of meeting suggestions based upon feedback received from the attendees'"'"' scheduling agents, the feedback including individual scores given to each candidate suggestion by the corresponding scheduling agents based upon the corresponding attendees'"'"' preferences.

18. The meeting scheduling agent of claim 17 wherein the logic to form the list of meeting suggestions comprising:

logic to remove the candidate suggestions that are not feasible from the list of candidate suggestions to form a list of optional suggestions, each optional suggestion being assigned a global score based upon the individual scores given by the attendees'"'"' scheduling agents; and

logic to sort the list of optional suggestions in a specified order based upon the global score of each optional suggestion to form a list of reserving suggestions.

19. The meeting scheduling agent of claim 18 wherein the logic to perform the meeting scheduling negotiation process further comprises:

logic to determine whether a current reserving suggestion is acceptable to all meeting attendees starting with the reserving suggestion that has the highest global score, comprising;

logic to check with the attendees'"'"' agents in a specified order to determine whether the current reserving suggestion is acceptable to the attendees;

if the current reserving suggestion is acceptable to all attendees, scheduling the requested meeting according to the current reserving suggestion; and

if the current reserving suggestion is not acceptable to any attendee, discarding the current reserving suggestion and continuing the meeting scheduling negotiation process with the next reserving suggestion.

20. The meeting scheduling agent of claim 18 wherein logic to check comprises:

logic to send the current reserving suggestion to the attendees'"'"' agents in a sequential manner according to the specified order and to wait for the acceptance of the reserving suggestion from the current agent before sending the current reserving suggestion to the next agent in the specified order.

21. The meeting scheduling agent of claim 20 wherein the current reserving suggestion is not sent to the remaining attendee agents if the current reserving suggestion is declined by the current attendee agent.

22. A system comprising:

a plurality of scheduling agents each being associated with a corresponding user, each scheduling agent to coordinate meeting activities for the associated user and comprising;

logic to manage a user'"'"'s calendar including available time slots for meetings, the logic to manage the user'"'"'s calendar including logic to allow user to express the user'"'"'s preferences for available time slots in the user'"'"'s calendar; and

logic to manage meeting scheduling activities for the user, comprising;

logic to perform a meeting scheduling negotiation process with scheduling agents for meeting attendees by providing a meeting request initiated by the user to the scheduling agents for the meeting attendees, the meeting request including suggestions for possible meeting times;

logic to determine, in response to a meeting request initiated by the user, the most suitable time for the meeting that is accepted by the scheduling agents for the meeting attendees based upon a set of criteria including the meeting timing information and the attendee'"'"'s preferences for meeting times.

23. The system of claims 22 wherein the meeting timing information comprises information indicating at least one possible start time for the meeting and an anticipated duration for the meeting.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein logic to determine comprises:

logic to determine, based upon the meeting timing information and the attendee'"'"'s preferences for meeting times, a list of meeting suggestions each having a relative score, a meeting suggestion with a higher score being considered more preferable relative to a meeting suggestion with a lower score; and

logic to obtain a consensus from all attendees with respect to a specific meeting suggestion starting with the meeting suggestion that has the highest score until a consensus is obtained or all meeting suggestions have been exhausted.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein logic to determine the list of meeting suggestions comprises:

logic to prepare a list of candidate suggestions based upon the meeting timing information, each candidate suggestion comprising a possible start time and the anticipated duration for the meeting;

logic to communicate the list of candidate suggestions to the attendee'"'"'s scheduling agents; and

logic to form the list of meeting suggestions based upon feedback received from the attendee'"'"'s scheduling agents, the feedback including individual scores given to each candidate suggestion by the corresponding scheduling agents based upon the corresponding attendees'"'"' preferences.

26. The system of claim 22 further comprising:

a facilitator to maintain network addresses for the scheduling agents, the scheduling agents to get the network addresses for other scheduling agents from the facilitator.

27. A machine-readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

assigning a scheduling agent to each user in a system, each respective scheduling agent being responsible for coordinating meeting activities for the corresponding user;

allowing each user in the system to specify preferences for meeting times based upon his corresponding calendar; and

in response to a meeting request initiated by one of the users, allowing the scheduling agents for the attendees and the scheduling agent for the meeting initiator to negotiate with each other schedule the requested meeting at a most suitable time that is accepted by all attendees through their corresponding scheduling agents, based upon a set of scheduling criteria including the meeting timing information and the attendees'"'"' preferences for meeting times;

wherein allowing the scheduling agents to negotiate includes the scheduling agent for the meeting initiator providing suggestions for meeting scheduling to the scheduling agents for the attendees and the scheduling agents for the attendees informing the scheduling agent for the meeting initiator which of the suggestions are acceptable to the attendees.

28. The machine-readable medium of claim 27 wherein the meeting timing information includes a set of possible start times for the meeting and an expected duration for the meeting.

29. The machine-readable medium of claim 28 wherein allowing the scheduling agents to negotiate further comprises:

determining, based upon the meeting timing information and the attendee'"'"'s preferences for meeting times, a list of meeting suggestions each being assigned a relative score, a meeting suggestion with a higher score being considered more preferable with respect to a meeting suggestion with a lower score; and

obtaining a consensus from all attendees with respect to a specific meeting suggestion starting with the meeting suggestion having the highest score until a consensus from all attendees is obtained or until all meeting suggestions have been exhausted.

30. The machine-readable medium of claim 29 wherein determining the list of meeting suggestions comprises:

preparing a list of candidate suggestions based upon the meeting timing information, each candidate suggestion comprising a possible start time and the expected duration for the meeting;

sending the list of candidate suggestions to the attendees'"'"' scheduling agents;

forming the list of meeting suggestions based upon feedback received from the attendees'"'"' scheduling agents, the feedback including individual scores given to each candidate suggestions by the corresponding scheduling agents based upon the attendees'"'"' preferences;

removing from the list of candidate suggestions those candidate suggestions that are not feasible based upon the feedback received to form a list of optional suggestions, each optional suggestion being assigned a corresponding global score based upon the individual scores given by the attendees'"'"' scheduling agents; and

sorting the list of optional suggestions in a specified order based upon the global score of each optional suggestion to form a list of reserving suggestions.