System and apparatus for managing personal and work-related matters

• US 7,882,433 B2
• Filed: 12/21/2001
• Issued: 02/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Crosswy, William Caldwell, Doragh, Philip H., Callaway, Jeri L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pitaro; Ryan F
• Application Number:
  US10/038,202
• Publication Number:
  US 20030129569A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,329 Days
• Field of Search: 345/963, 345/733, 705/9
• US Class Current: 715/700
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/00 Teaching not covered by other main groups of this subclass teaching or practice apparatus for gun-aiming or gun-laying F41G3/26

Abstract

A family management system provides a family manager with family-related and work-related information. This information may be provided to the family manager in the form of one or more screens depicting calendars, e-mail, and/or other tasks. In particular, family-related and work-related matters may be merged on a single screen so that the family manager can facilitate scheduling better between family-related and work-related matters.

Claims

1. A device for managing a combination of family-related matters and work-related matters, the device comprising:

a processor;

a calendaring program running on the processor, the calendaring program adapted to provide at least one distinct calendar corresponding to only family-related matters, at least one distinct calendar corresponding to only work-related matters, and at least one distinct calendar corresponding to a merger of the family-related matters and the work-related matters, the at least one distinct calendar corresponding to the merger of the family-related matters and the work-related matters adapted to display icons that distinguish between the family-related matters and the work-related matters; and

an input/output stage operably coupled to the processor and adapted to communicate with a remote device to update the at least one distinct calendar corresponding to family-related matters and the at least one distinct calendar corresponding to work-related matters.

2. The device, as set forth in claim 1, comprising at least one of a personal computer, a laptop computer, a handheld computer, a cellular telephone, a personal digital assistant, and a pager.

3. The device, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the input/output stage comprises at least one of an infrared link, a cellular link, a hard-wired link, an intranet link, and an Internet link.

4. The device, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the remote device comprises a host computer.

5. The device, as set forth in claim 4, wherein the host computer comprises a public host computer.

6. The device, as set forth in claim 4, wherein the host computer comprises a private host computer.

7. The device, as set forth in claim 4, wherein the host computer comprises a barrier to separate the work-related matters from the family-related matters.

8. The device, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the remote device comprises at lease one of a personal computer, a laptop computer, a handheld computer, a cellular telephone, a personal digital assistant, and a pager.

9. The device, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the at least one distinct calendar corresponding to family-related matters comprises at least one of a daily family-related calendar, a weekly family-related calendar, and a monthly family-related calendar.

10. The device, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the at least one distinct calendar corresponding to work-related matters comprises at least one of a daily work-related calendar, a weekly work-related calendar, and a monthly work-related calendar.

11. The device, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the at least one distinct calendar corresponding to the merger of family-related matters and work-related matters comprises at least one of a daily merged calendar, a weekly merged calendar, and a monthly merged calendar.

12. The device, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the icons comprise a first icon associated with the family-related matters and a second icon associated with the work-related matters, the first icon being different in appearance than the second icon.

13. The device, as set forth in claim 12, wherein the first icon resembles a house and wherein the second icon resembles an office building.

14. A system for managing a combination of family-related matters and work-related matters, the system comprising:

a first device designated as a hub;

a plurality of second devices;

a host computer adapted to communicate with the first device and with the plurality of second devices; and

a calendaring program running on at least the first device, the calendaring program adapted to provide at least one distinct calendar corresponding to only family-related matters, at least one distinct calendar corresponding to only work-related matters, and at least one distinct calendar corresponding to a merger of the family-related matters and the work-related matters, the calendaring program adapted to update the at least one distinct calendar corresponding to family-related matters and the at least one distinct calendar corresponding to work-related matters in response to communication between the first device and the host computer, the at least one distinct calendar corresponding to the merger of the family-related matters and the work-related matters adapted to display icons that distinguish between family-related matters and work-related matters.

15. The system, as set forth in claim 14, wherein the first device comprises at least one of a personal computer, a laptop computer, a handheld computer, a cellular telephone, a personal digital assistant, and a pager.

16. The system, as set forth in claim 14, wherein each of the plurality of second devices comprises at least one of a personal computer, a laptop computer, a handheld computer, a cellular telephone, a personal digital assistant, and a pager.

17. The system, as set forth in claim 14, wherein the host computer comprises a public host computer.

18. The system, as set forth in claim 14, wherein the host computer comprises a private host computer.

19. The system, as set forth in claim 14, wherein the host computer communicates both the family-related matters and the work-related matters to the first device, and wherein the host computer communicates only one of the family-related matters or the work-related matters to each of the plurality of second devices.

20. The system, as set forth in claim 14, comprising at least one of an infrared link, a cellular link, a hard-wired link, an intranet link, and an Internet link between the host computer and the first device and between the host computer and each of the second devices.

21. The system, as set forth in claim 14, wherein the host computer comprises a barrier to separate the work-related matters from the family-related matters.

22. The system, as set forth in claim 14, wherein the at least one distinct calendar corresponding to family-related matters comprises at least one of a daily family-related calendar, a weekly family-related calendar, and a monthly family-related calendar.

23. The system, as set forth in claim 14, wherein the at least one distinct calendar corresponding to work-related matters comprises at least one of a daily work-related calendar, a weekly work-related calendar, and a monthly work-related calendar.

24. The system, as set forth in claim 14, wherein the at least one distinct calendar corresponding to the merger of family-related matters and work-related matters comprises at least one of a daily merged calendar, a weekly merged calendar, and a monthly merged calendar.

25. The system, as set forth in claim 14, wherein the icons comprise a first icon associated with the family-related matters and a second icon associated with the work-related matters, the first icon being different in appearance than the second icon.

26. The system, as set forth in claim 25, wherein the first icon resembles a house and wherein the second icon resembles an office building.

27. A system for managing a combination of family-related matters and work-related matters, the system comprising:

a family/work device;

a plurality of work devices;

a private host computer communicatively coupled to the family/work device and to the plurality of work devices, the private host computer maintaining work-related matters;

a plurality of family devices;

a public host computer communicatively coupled to the family/work device and to the plurality of family devices, the public host computer maintaining family-related matters; and

a calendaring program running on at least the family/work device, the calendaring program adapted to provide at least one distinct calendar corresponding to only family-related matters and at least one distinct calendar corresponding to only work-related matters, the calendaring program adapted to update the at least one distinct calendar corresponding to family-related matters and the at least one distinct calendar corresponding to work-related matters in response to communication between the family/work device and the host computers.

28. The system, as set forth in claim 27, wherein the family/work device comprises at least one of a personal computer, a laptop computer, a handheld computer, a cellular telephone, a personal digital assistant, and a pager.

29. The system, as set forth in claim 27, wherein each of the plurality of work devices and each of the plurality of family devices comprise at least one of a personal computer, a laptop computer, a handheld computer, a cellular telephone, a personal digital assistant, and a pager.

30. The system, as set forth in claim 27, comprising at least one of an infrared link, a cellular link, a hard-wired link, an intranet link, and an Internet link between the private host computer and the family/work device, between the private host computer and each of the work devices, between the public host computer and the family/work device, and between the public host computer and each of the family devices.

31. The system, as set forth in claim 27, wherein the at least one distinct calendar corresponding to family-related matters comprises at least one of a daily family-related calendar, a weekly family-related calendar, and a monthly family-related calendar.

32. The system, as set forth in claim 27, wherein the at least one distinct calendar corresponding to work-related matters comprises at least one of a daily work-related calendar, a weekly work-related calendar, and a monthly work-related calendar.

33. The system, as set forth in claim 27, wherein the calendaring program is adapted to provide at least one distinct calendar corresponding to a merger of the family-related matters and the work-related matters.

34. The system, as set forth in claim 33, wherein the at least one distinct calendar corresponding to the merger of family-related matters and work-related matters comprises at least one of a daily merged calendar, a weekly merged calendar, and a monthly merged calendar.

35. The system, as set forth in claim 27, wherein the calendaring program is adapted to display icons that distinguish between the family-related matters and the work-related matters.

36. The system, as set forth in claim 35, wherein the icons comprise a first icon associated with the family-related matters and a second icon associated with the work-related matters, the first icon being different in appearance than the second icon.

37. The system, as set forth in claim 36, wherein the first icon resembles a house and wherein the second icon resembles an office building.