Communicating appointment and/or mapping information among a calendar application and a navigation application

• US 7,941,753 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2006
• Issued: 05/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AOL Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Coughlin, Stephen J., Meisels, Adrienne C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hailu; Tadeese
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hope; Darrin
• Application Number:
  US11/618,069
• Publication Number:
  US 20080086455A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,593 Days
• Field of Search: 715/751, 715/963, 707/3, 701200-202, 701208-210
• US Class Current: 715/751
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/343 Calculating itineraries, i.e. routes leading from a starting point to a series of categorical destinations using a global route restraint, round trips, touristic trips travelling salesman problem G06Q10/04; optimisation of routes G06Q10/047
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting

Abstract

According to one general aspect, a method for providing directions to an appointment location appearing in a calendar application includes identifying an appointment in a calendar application, determining a geographic location of the appointment, identifying another geographic location associated with a user of the calendar application, generating directions between the geographic location of the appointment and the geographic location of the other location, and providing the directions generated to the user.

Claims

1. A method for providing directions to an appointment location appearing in a calendar application, the method comprising:

rendering a transferring control as a tool within an interface associated with a calendar application, the transferring control structured and arranged to communicate appointment information from the calendar application to the navigation application;

enabling a user to activate the transferring control;

enabling, at a first time, the user to identify a first appointment within the calendaring application, the first appointment having a designated appointment time;

receiving, at the first time, a transferring instruction from the transferring control indicating that the user has selected to transfer the first appointment to the navigation application;

activating, at a second time, a navigation application on a user device, the navigation application being configured in a first mode with a destination that is not related to the first appointment time;

accessing, at the second time and within the navigation application, information related to the first appointment;

comparing the second time to the designated appointment time for the first appointment using the location of the user device;

determining, based on comparing the second time to the designated appointment time for the first appointment, that a scheduling conflict exists, the scheduling conflict indicating that insufficient time remains for the user to travel to the first appointment;

determining that use of an alternative scheduling arrangement alleviates the scheduling conflict through the use of route mapping that switches the first appointment with a second appointment;

prompting, within the navigation application, the user with an alert message identifying the scheduling conflict and an indication that the alternative scheduling arrangement alleviates the scheduling conflict;

receiving, in response to prompting the user with the alert message, a response message from the user;

routing the response message to the calendaring application from the navigation application;

accessing the alternative scheduling arrangement; and

updating the calendaring application to reflect user instructions from the response message using the alternative scheduling arrangement.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein rendering the transferring control includes rendering the transferring control within the interface associated with the calendar application, the transferring control structured and arranged to export the appointment information from the calendar application to the navigation application.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein transferring includes exporting the identifier to the navigation application, wherein the identifier includes a description of the appointment and the location associated therewith.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein rendering the transferring control includes rendering the transferring control within the interface associated with the navigation application, the transferring control structured and arranged to import the appointment information from the calendar application to the navigation application.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein enabling the user to activate the transferring control further includes:

enabling the user to access the navigation application;

enabling the user to identify the calendar application to the navigation application; and

enabling the user to select the transferring control within the interface associated with the navigation application.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein transferring includes importing the identifier to the navigation application, wherein the identifier includes a description of the appointment and the location associated therewith.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein importing further includes:

accessing, via the navigation application, the user-identified calendar application;

accessing, within the calendar application, the identifier of the appointment; and

pulling the identifier into the navigation application.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising displaying a notification window before an appointment time, the notification window structured and arranged to remind the user about the appointment and wherein rendering the transferring control includes rendering the transferring control within the notification window, such that selection of the transferring control results in transfer of the appointment description and the location associated with the appointment to the navigation application.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein displaying the notification window includes displaying the notification window in a specified time in advance of the appointment time.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein displaying the notification window in the specified time in advance of the appointment time further includes:

identifying a travel time to the appointment location from the starting location; and

displaying the notification window at a specified time that precedes the appointment time by at least the travel time to the appointment location.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein transferring includes transferring the identifier to the navigation application in a specified time in advance of an appointment time, wherein the identifier includes a description of the appointment and the location associated therewith.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein generating the directions includes generating a travel route from a first location to the location associated with the appointment.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein generating the directions includes:

determining an efficient route for multiple appointments having an arbitrary order;

arranging the order of the multiple appointments based on the efficient route; and

generating directions through locations associated with the multiple appointments based on the arranged order of the multiple appointments.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein updating the calendaring application to reflect user instructions from the response message includes adjusting a schedule for an existing activity to end sooner.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein updating the calendaring application to reflect user instructions from the response message includes rescheduling the first appointment.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein updating the calendaring application to reflect user instructions from the response message includes canceling the first appointment.