Control and visibility for digital calendar sharing

• US 8,122,362 B2
• Filed: 07/20/2007
• Issued: 02/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Brush, Alice Jane Bernheim, Con, Aaron W. H., Fisher, Danyel, Morrissey, Shawn Lee, Sullivan, Andrew, Gregg, Ryan Edward, Grimes, Andrea Elaina
• Primary Examiner(s): Sax, Steven
• Assistant Examiner(s): Johnson, Grant D
• Application Number:
  US11/781,006
• Publication Number:
  US 20090024952A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,677 Days
• Field of Search: 705/8, 705/9, 715/733, 715/741, 715/744, 715/747, 715/751, 715/961, 715/963
• US Class Current: 715/751
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting

Abstract

A digital calendar sharing control and visibility system and method for providing a user with control and visibility of digital calendar sharing. The system and method enhance and improve the sharing capabilities of current digital calendar applications. The system and method include a time-based (or expiration) sharing feature that gives a user control over the expiration date of the calendar sharing. The user can expire the sharing after a certain duration or date. The user also can specify a date range or a time range that a person can view in the user'"'"'s digital calendar. A sharing audits and history feature allows a user to view who has looked at their calendar and what calendar information has been viewed. A private notes section allows a user to enter information that will not be seen by another person, even if that person has sharing permission to view the user'"'"'s calendar.

Claims

1. A method for providing control and visibility of digital calendar sharing, comprising:

determining that the digital calendar of a user will be shared with at least one other person;

opening a digital calendar application containing the user'"'"'s digital calendar and enabling sharing of the digital calendar with the other person or persons;

displaying to the user a history of other users who have recently viewed the user'"'"'s digital calendar and what information in the user'"'"'s digital calendar has been viewed by the other users, the information further comprising which weeks were viewed and which appointments of the user were opened;

automatically reminding and recommending to the user, based on the history, that the user either grant more access to one of the other users to allow the other user to view more of the user'"'"'s digital calendar or that the user remove permission for the other user to access the user'"'"'s digital calendar;

setting parameters of the digital calendar sharing in the digital calendar application such that the user determines an amount of control and visibility available to the other user, wherein setting parameters includes setting expiration parameters for sharing of the digital calendar; and

automatically providing a private notes section for every calendar entry in the digital calendar such that data can be stored in the private notes section that is only viewable by the user and can never be viewed by or shared with others.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising expiring the sharing of the digital calendar after a certain duration of time.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising expiring the sharing of the digital calendar at a certain future date.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising allowing the user to set the expiration parameters at the time, wherein the expiration parameters can be edited by the user at any of the following times:

(a) when a sharing relationship with the other person or persons is established;

(b) when the sharing relationship with the other person or persons is renewed;

(c) at any time after the sharing relationship is established.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying an identification of who has viewed the user'"'"'s digital calendar.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising automatically sending an e-mail to the user at specified intervals that contains a summary of who has been viewing the digital calendar, when they viewed the digital calendar, and what information in the digital calendar that was viewed.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising displaying to the user, each time the user opens the digital calendar, a summary of who has been viewing the digital calendar and when they viewed the digital calendar.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising providing a user interface in the digital calendar that displays to the user a summary of who has been viewing the digital calendar, when they viewed the digital calendar, and what information of the digital calendar that they viewed.

9. A digital calendar sharing user interface displayed on a display device of a computing device for sharing a digital calendar of a user with another person, comprising:

a time-limited sharing user interface having a sharing expiration area that displays a current monthly calendar such that the user can set any future date on the calendar in which the digital calendar sharing with the person will expire;

a sharing audit user interface having a “

Recently Viewed”

area that displays to the user a history of other users who have recently viewed the user'"'"'s digital calendar and what information in the user'"'"'s digital calendar has been viewed by the other users and automatically reminds and recommends to the user, based on the history, that the user either grant more access to one of the other users to allow the other user to view more of the user'"'"'s digital calendar or that the user remove permission for the other user to access the user'"'"'s digital calendar, the information further comprising which weeks were viewed and which appointments of the user were opened;

a private notes user interface having an “

Always Private”

area automatically provided for every calendar entry in the digital calendar without the user having to perform an action to create the area that allows the user to store text and other data such that the text and other data can only be viewed by the user and can never be viewed by or shared with others.

10. The user interface of claim 9, wherein the time-limited sharing user interface further comprises a “

Date Range”

area that allows the user to limit a portion of the digital calendar sharing to a specific date range.

11. The user interface of claim 10, wherein the time-limited sharing user interface further comprises a “

Time Range”

area that allows the user to limit a portion of the digital calendar sharing to a specific time range on certain days.

12. The user interface of claim 11, wherein the time-limited sharing user interface further comprises a “

Sharing Limitations”

area that allows the user to specify restrictions and limitations on the digital calendar sharing with the person.

13. The user interface of claim 9, wherein the time-limited sharing user interface further comprises a history of what information in the digital calendar has been viewed by the other person.

14. The user interface of claim 9, wherein the “

Recently Viewed”

area further comprises a chronological listing of the names of persons who have recently viewed the user'"'"'s digital calendar such that a font of the names of the persons who viewed the user'"'"'s digital calendar more recently are brighter than a font of the names of the persons who viewed the user'"'"'s digital calendar a longer time ago.

15. A computer-readable storage medium, which does not consist of a modulated data signal, having stored thereon computer-executable instructions executable by a processor for providing control and visibility for digital calendar sharing, comprising:

entering a name of a person to whom a user wants to grant access to view the user'"'"'s digital calendar;

specifying a period of time for which the person can have access to the user'"'"'s digital calendar such that the digital calendar sharing expires at the end of the period of time;

displaying to the user a history of other users who have recently viewed the user'"'"'s digital calendar and what information in the user'"'"'s digital calendar has been viewed by the other users, the information further comprising which weeks were viewed and which appointments of the user were opened;

automatically reminding and recommending to the user, based on the history, that the user either grant more access to one of the other users to allow the other user to view more of the user'"'"'s digital calendar or that the user remove permission for the other user to access the user'"'"'s digital calendar; and

automatically providing the user with a private notes section for every calendar entry in the digital calendar without the user having to perform an action to create the section where data can be stored that is only viewable by the user and can never be viewed by or shared with others.