Providing schedulable calendars electronically

• US 8,301,636 B2
• Filed: 12/15/2005
• Issued: 10/30/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Stillion, Cameron D., Bjordahl, Hans J., Tsang, Brian J., Frankel, Glenn L.
• Primary Examiner(s): SAX, STEVEN PAUL
• Application Number:
  US11/300,727
• Publication Number:
  US 20070143684A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,511 Days
• Field of Search: 715/963, 715/771, 715/772, 715/773, 715/744, 715/745, 715/747, 715821-823, 715748-749, 715/854, 715/759
• US Class Current: 707/748
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed for providing schedulable calendars electronically. The disclosed systems and methods may include receiving schedulability data. The schedulability data may comprise data indicating a user'"'"'s desire to send a schedulable calendar. Furthermore, the disclosed systems and methods may include marking calendar data as schedulable based on the schedulability data and transmitting the calendar data. In addition, the disclosed systems and methods may include receiving calendar data. Also, the disclosed systems and methods may include determining that the calendar data is marked as schedulable and sending a meeting request in response to determining that the calendar data is marked as schedulable.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing schedulable calendar information, the method comprising:

determining at a server computer a first extension property value set by a calendar owner that indicates the calendar is not schedulable by a first recipient;

determining at the server computer a second extension property value set by the calendar owner that indicates the calendar is schedulable by a second recipient;

in response to determining that the calendar is not schedulable by the first recipient, the server computer transmitting data in a markup language representation to the first recipient, the data indicating that the calendar is not schedulable; and

in response to determining that the calendar is schedulable by the second recipient, the server computer;

receiving control data from the calendar owner, the control data including;

working hours that correspond to the calendar owner

and data that indicates the filtered calendar data is restricted to within a time period that corresponds to the user'"'"'s working hours; and

a level of detail for displaying appointment data selected from a plurality of pre-defined detail levels, wherein the plurality of pre-defined detail levels comprises;

an availability only level providing first calendar information regarding whether the calendar owner is busy for a particular time span; and

a limited level providing second calendar information that includes greater detail than the first calendar information;

a full details level providing third calendar information that includes greater detail than the second calendar information;

filtering the calendar data based on the control data to create filtered calendar; and

transmitting the filtered calendar data and the second extension property value to the second recipient, the filtered calendar data and the second extension property value represented in the markup language representation.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the control data further indicates the filtered calendar data is within a first calendar selected from a plurality of calendars.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the control data further indicates the filtered calendar data is within a limited time period.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the filtered calendar data comprises transmitting the filtered calendar data in a first format and in a second format.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the calendar is a first calendar selected from a plurality of calendars and the method further comprises:

determining that the first calendar is not schedulable by evaluating the first calendar extension property value based on the first recipient; and

determining that a second calendar is schedulable by evaluating a third calendar extension property value based on the second recipient.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the level of detail for the first calendar corresponds to an availability only level.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the filtered calendar data comprises a status identifier that corresponds to any one of the following:

free, busy, tentative, or out of office.

5. A computer storage device not consisting of a propagated data signal which stores a set of instructions which when executed performs a method for providing schedulable calendars, the method executed by the set of instructions comprising:

determining whether a calendar is schedulable by evaluating an extension property that annotates calendar data controlled by a calendar owner, the extension property associated with a user;

in response to determining that the calendar is not schedulable by the user, transmitting data in a markup language indicating that the calendar is not schedulable to the user; and

in response to determining that the calendar is schedulable by the user;

receiving control data from the calendar owner, the control data including;

working hours that correspond to the calendar owner

and data that indicates the filtered calendar data is restricted to within a time period that corresponds to the user'"'"'s working hours;

a level of detail selected from a plurality of pre-defined detail levels for displaying appointment data, wherein the plurality of pre-defined detail levels comprises;

an availability only level providing first calendar information regarding whether the calendar owner is busy for a particular time span; and

a limited level providing second calendar information that includes greater detail than the first calendar information;

a full details level providing third calendar information that includes greater detail than the second calendar information; and

a field indicating the privacy of the appointment data;

filtering the calendar data based on the level of detail and the field indicating the privacy of the appointment data to create filtered calendar data; and

transmitting the filtered calendar data and the extension property to the user, the filtered calendar data and the extension property represented in the markup language.

6. The computer storage medium of claim 5, wherein the control data further indicates the filtered calendar data to transmit is from a first calendar selected from a plurality of calendars.

7. The computer storage medium of claim 5, wherein transmitting the filtered calendar data comprises transmitting the filtered calendar data in a first format and in a second format.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the calendar is a first calendar selected from a plurality of calendars and the method further comprises:

determining that the first calendar is schedulable by evaluating a first extension property value associated with the user; and

determining that a second calendar is not schedulable by evaluating a second calendar extension property value associated with the user.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the level of detail for the first calendar corresponds to an availability only level.

13. A computer-implemented method of determining schedulability information comprising:

receiving filtered calendar data from a first computing device, the filtered calendar data including control data indicating a level of a filter for displaying appointment data selected from a set of predefined filters, wherein the set of predefined filters include a plurality of pre-defined detail levels comprises;

an availability only level providing first calendar information regarding whether the calendar owner is busy for a particular time span; and

a limited level providing second calendar information that includes greater detail than the first calendar information;

a full details level providing third calendar information that includes greater detail than the second calendar information;

wherein the control data further includes;

a field indicating a privacy of the appointment data; and

working hours that correspond to the calendar owner

and data that indicates the filtered calendar data is restricted to within a time period that corresponds to the user'"'"'s working hours;

determining that the first calendar is schedulable by evaluating a first calendar extension property that is determined based on a recipient;

determining that a second calendar is not schedulable by evaluating a second calendar extension property that is determined based on the recipient;

in response to determining that the filtered calendar data is marked as schedulable and the filtered calendar data is not private, transmitting the filtered calendar data based on one of the plurality of pre-defined detail levels, the filtered calendar data represented by markup data; and

in response to determining that the filtered calendar data is marked as not schedulable, indicating that the filtered calendar data is not schedulable, the indication represented by markup data.