Calendar system

• US 8,126,922 B2
• Filed: 08/07/2009
• Issued: 02/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Creighton University
• Original Assignee: Crieghton University
• Inventors: Holzapfel, Damien, Zimmerman, Stuart, Martin, Tadd
• Primary Examiner(s): Fleurantin, Jean B
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hershley, Mark
• Application Number:
  US12/537,923
• Publication Number:
  US 20100268741A1
• Time in Patent Office: 935 Days
• Field of Search: 707/781, 707/783, 707/784, 707/785
• US Class Current: 707/785
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting

Abstract

A calendar system displays event data via an electronic calendar form that is accessible over a network by a user of a client computer. The system stores event data for multiple events and selectively displays event data based on whether a calendar access request is received from a guest user or an authenticated user. The system displays event data via a default calendar to guest users and displays event data via a customized calendar to authenticated users. The default calendar displays event data for related events based on a contextual relationship that is derived by examining event data for each the multiple events to determine a position separation and/or a frequency of a user supplied keyword in the event data. The customized calendar displays events based on contextual relationships and based on the viewing history of the user and other input data from user.

Claims

1. A system for displaying a calendar in response to a calendar access request from a client computer, the system comprising:

at least one processor;

a data store storing event data for a plurality of events;

a calendar application encoded on and executable by the at least one processor to;

receive the calendar access request comprising input data entered by a user of the client computer;

designate the calendar access request as an authorized access request if the input data includes valid authentication data; and

designate the calendar access request as a guest access request if the input data does not include the valid authentication data;

select one of a default calendar form and a customized calendar form for display, wherein;

the default calendar form is selected for display when the calendar access request is designated as the guest access request; and

the customized calendar form is selected for display when the calendar access request is designated as the authorized access request;

retrieve event data from the data store; and

populate the default calendar form with the event data for a first at least two of the plurality of events based on;

an identified contextual relationship between event data for the first at least two of the plurality of events; and

a position separation between a keyword included in each of the first at least two of the plurality of events, wherein the keyword is included in the input data;

retrieve a user input data set comprising user preference data from the data store;

retrieve the event data for the plurality of events from the data store; and

populate the customized calendar form with the event data for a second at least two of the plurality of events based on;

an identified contextual relationship between the event data for the second at least two of the plurality of events;

a position separation between the keyword included in each of the second at least two of the plurality of events;

a viewing history of the user; and

the user preference data; and

generate for display the selected one of;

the default calendar form with the event data for the first at least two of the plurality of events; and

the customized calendar form with the event data for the second at least two of the plurality of events.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the event data comprises at least one of an event name, an event description, an event image, and an event date and time.

3. The system of claim 1

the calendar application executable by the at least one processor is further configured to:

determine if the input data includes a selected date; and

populate the default calendar form with the event data for the selected date when the input data includes the selected date; and

populate the default calendar form with the event data for a current date when the input data does not include the selected date.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the default calendar form comprises a default event listing, the default event listing identifying events occurring on the selected date or the current date.

5. The system of claim 3 wherein a calendar application executable by the at least one processor is further configured to:

populate the customized calendar form with the event data for the selected date when the input data includes the selected date; and

populate the customized calendar form with the event data for a current date when the input data does not include the selected date.

6. The system of claim 3 wherein a calendar application executable by the at least one processor executes a first algorithm to:

calculate a frequency score for the at least one keyword included in each of the first at least two of the plurality of events; and

populate the default calendar form with event data for the first at least two of the plurality of events when the frequency score is at least equal to a threshold frequency score retrieved from the data store.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein:

the data store further comprises a weighting factor; and

a calendar application executable by the at least one processor executes the first algorithm to;

determine a first proximity score based on the position separation between a first keyword of the at least one keyword included in each of the first at least two of the plurality of events;

determine a second proximity score based on the position separation between a second keyword of the at least one keyword included in each of the first at least two of the plurality of events;

calculate an average of the first and second proximity scores to determine an overall proximity score;

multiply the overall proximity score by the weighting factor to determine a weighted proximity score;

subtract the weighted proximity score from the frequency score to determine a final similarity score; and

populate the default calendar form with the event data for the first at least two of the plurality of events when the final similarity score is at least equal to a threshold final similarity score.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein:

the data store further comprises the viewing history of the user, the viewing history comprises previous events viewed by the user, a period of time during which the previous events were viewed, a number of times the previous events were viewed by the user, and different number of times the previous events were viewed by other users;

a calendar application executable by the at least one processor executes the first algorithm to

calculate a second frequency score for the first and second keywords included in each of the second at least two of the plurality of events;

determine another first proximity score based on the position separation between a first keyword included in each of the second at least two of the plurality of events;

determine another second proximity score based on the position separation between a second keyword included in each of the second at least two of the plurality of events;

calculate the average of the other first and second proximity scores to determine an overall proximity score;

multiply the overall proximity score by the weighting factor to determine a weighted proximity score; and

subtract the weighted proximity score form the frequency score to determine a second final similarity score; and

a calendar application executable by the at least one processor executes a second algorithm to;

calculate a suggested event score based the viewing history; and

populate the customized calendar form with event data for the second at least two of the plurality of events based on the second final similarity score, the suggested events score, and the user preference data.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein:

the data store further comprises a calendar settings data set comprising customized calendar data defined by an administrative user; and

the customized calendar form comprises;

a customized calendar list that identifies available customized calendars for a plurality of event types based on the customized calendar data; and

a customized listing of events, the customized listing of events corresponding to one or more of customized calendars selected from the customized calendar list by the user.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the customized calendar forms displays an event detail form and a listing of relating items in response to a selected one of the customized listing of events, and wherein:

the event detail form comprises detailed information about the selected one of the customized events; and

the listing of related items comprises suggested invents based on contextual, historical, and user defined preferences.

11. A method for displaying a calendar in response to a calendar access request from a client computer, the method comprising:

storing event data for a plurality of events in a data store;

receiving a calendar access request at a processor, wherein the calendar access request comprises input data entered by a user, wherein input data includes authentication data and at least one keyword;

designate the calendar access request as an authorized access request at the processor if the input data includes valid authentication data;

designate the calendar access request as a guest access request at the processor if the input data does not include the valid authentication data;

selecting, at the processor, one of a default calendar and a customized calendar to display, wherein the default calendar form is selected to display when the calendar access request is designated as the guest access request, and wherein the customized calendar form is selected to display when the calendar access request is designated as the authorized access request;

retrieving event data from the data store and populating the default calendar form, when the default calendar form is selected, with the event data for a first at least two of the plurality of events based on an identified contextual relationship between event data for the first at least two of the plurality of events and a position separation between at least one keyword included in each of the first at least two of the plurality of events, wherein the at least one keyword is included in the input data;

retrieving a user input data set comprising user preference and the event data from the data store and populating the customized calendar form, when the customized calendar form is selected, with the event data for a second at least two of the plurality of events based on an identified contextual relationship between event data for the second at least two of the plurality of events, a position separation between the at least one keyword included in each of the second at least two of the plurality of events; and

generate for display the selected one of;

the default calendar form with the event data for the first at least two of the plurality of events; and

the customized calendar form with the event data for the second at least two of the plurality of events.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the event data comprises an event name, an event description, an event image, and an event date and time.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

determining if the input data includes a selected date at the processor;

retrieving the event data from the data store for the selected date when the input data includes the selected date; and

retrieving the event data from the data store for a current date when the input data does not include the selected date.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the default calendar form generated for display comprises a default event listing, the default event listing identifies events occurring on the selected date or the current date.

15. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

populating the customized calendar form with the event data for the selected date when the input data includes the selected date; and

populating the customized calendar form with the event data for the current date when the input data does not include the selected date.

16. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

executing a first algorithm at the processor to;

calculate a frequency score for the at least one keyword included in each of the first at least two of the plurality of events; and

populate the default calendar form with event data for the first at least two of the plurality of events when the frequency score is at least equal to a threshold frequency score retrieved from the data store.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

retrieving a weighting factor from the data store; and

executing the first algorithm at the processor to;

determine a first proximity score based on the position separation between a first keyword of the at least one keyword included in each of the first at least two of the plurality of events;

determine a second proximity score based on the position separation between a second keyword of the at least one keyword included in each of the first at least two of the plurality of events;

calculate an average of the first and second proximity scores to determine an overall proximity score;

multiply the overall proximity score by the weighting factor to determine a weighted proximity score;

subtract the weighted proximity score from the frequency score to determine a final similarity score; and

populate the default calendar form with the event data for the first at least two of the plurality of events when the final similarity score is at least equal to a threshold final similarity score.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

retrieving the viewing history of the user from the data store, the viewing history comprises previous events viewed by the user, a period of time during which the previous events were viewed, a number of times the previous events were viewed by the user, and different number of times the previous events were viewed by other users;

executing the first algorithm at the processor to;

calculate a second frequency score for the first and second keywords included in each of the second at least two of the plurality of events;

determine another first proximity score based on the position separation between the first keyword included in each of the second at least two of the plurality of events;

determine another second proximity score based on the position separation between the second keyword included in each of the second at least two of the plurality of events;

calculate the average of the other first and second proximity scores to determine an overall proximity score;

multiply the overall proximity score by the weighting factor to determine a weighted proximity score; and

subtract the weighted proximity score form the frequency score to determine a second final similarity score; and

executing the second algorithm at the processor to;

calculate a suggested event score based the viewing history; and

populate the customized calendar form with event data for the second at least two of the plurality of events based on the second final similarity score, the suggested events score, and the user preference data.

19. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

retrieving a calendar settings data set from the data store, the calendar settings data set comprising customized calendar data defined by an administrative user; and

displaying the customized calendar form comprising;

a customized calendar list that identifies available customized calendars for a plurality of event types based on the customized calendar data; and

a customized listing of events, the customized listing of events corresponding to one or more of customized calendars selected from the customized calendar list by the user.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

displaying the customized calendar comprising an event detail form and a listing of relating items in response to a selected one of the customized listing of events, and wherein;

the event detail form comprises detailed information about the selected one of the customized events; and

the listing of related items comprises suggested invents based on contextual, historical, and user defined preferences.