Calendar repair assistant

• US 8,375,081 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2009
• Issued: 02/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Feliberti, Vanessa C., Ghyara, Firdosh R., Hakami, Sina, Leibmann, Matthias, Tischhauser, Paul David, Don, Cliff M., Da Fonseca Mendes, Roberto Ribeiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Follansbee, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Daftuar, Saket K
• Application Number:
  US12/647,934
• Publication Number:
  US 20110161453A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,142 Days
• Field of Search: 707/104.1, 707/201, 707/102, 707/10, 707/9, 707/204, 707/E17.005, 707/E17, 707/203, 705/1, 705/9, 705/8, 715/203, 715/733, 715/753, 715/963, 715/201, 715/234, 715/255, 715/501, 715/511, 715/200, 715/205, 715/209, 715/210, 715/229, 368/52, 368/10, 368/46, 368/41, 368/42, 368/43, 709/203, 709/223, 709/228, 709/227, 709/217, 709/219, 370/412
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/20 of structured data, e.g. relational data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/23 Updating
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/235 Update request formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2358 Change logging, detection, and notification replication G06F16/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2379 Updates performed during online database operations; commit processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/25 Integrating or interfacing systems involving database management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/275 Synchronous replication
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1093 Calendar-based scheduling for persons or groups
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1095 Meeting or appointment

Abstract

Calendar repair may be provided. Calendar events, such as appointments and meetings, may be created and copied to a plurality of attendee calendars. A first copy of the event may be compared to a second copy of the event, and an event property of the second event may be updated to match a corresponding event property of the first event.

Claims

1. A method for providing calendar repair, the method comprising:

creating an event associated with a plurality of attendees, wherein the event comprises a plurality of event properties, wherein the plurality of event properties comprises an event time, an event date, an event location, an event response status, an event duration, an event existence, and an event duplicate property;

copying the event to a plurality of calendars, wherein each copy of the event comprises electronically stored data copied to each of the plurality of calendars;

performing a comparison of at least one first copy of the event stored on at least one first calendar of the plurality of calendars to at least one second copy of the event stored on at least one second calendar of the plurality of calendars,

wherein performing the comparison comprises determining whether at least one of the plurality of event properties of the first copy of the event differs from a corresponding event property of the second copy of the event and wherein the comparison of the first copy of the event stored on the at least one first calendar of the plurality of calendars to the second copy of the event stored on the at least one first calendar of the plurality of calendars is performed on a periodic basis of at least once every 24 hours; and

in response to determining that the at least one of the plurality of event properties of the first copy of the event differs from a corresponding event property of the second copy of the event;

updating the corresponding event property of the second copy of the event to match the at least one of the event properties of the first copy of the event,

determining whether the at least one of the plurality of event properties of the first copy of the event that differs from the corresponding event property of the second copy of the event is likely to cause the attendee to miss the meeting, and

in response to determining that the at least one of the plurality of event properties of the first copy of the event that differs from the corresponding event property of the second copy of the event is likely to cause the attendee to miss the meeting, updating the corresponding event property of the second copy of the event to match the at least one of the event properties of the first copy of the event.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of calendars is associated with at least one of the plurality of attendees.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the comparison on the periodic basis comprises performing the comparison during a low activity time of a server on which the at least one first copy of the event is stored.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the low activity time is designated by an administrator.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the low activity time is determined by the server.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the comparison comprises comparing the event on the calendar of at least one attendee to a master copy of the event.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the master copy of the event comprises a copy of the event associated with an organizer of the event.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the master copy comprises a copy of the event stored in a master event calendar of a server.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to determining that the at least one of the plurality of event properties of the first copy of the event that differs from the corresponding event property of the second copy of the event is likely to cause the attendee to miss the meeting, leaving the corresponding event property out-of-sync with the at least one of the plurality of event properties of the first copy of the event.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

logging that the out-of-sync corresponding event property has already been processed; and

ignoring the out-of-sync corresponding event property on at least one next comparison of the at least one first copy of the event to the at least one second copy of the event.

11. A computer-readable storage device which stores a set of instructions which when executed performs a method for providing calendar repair, the method executed by the set of instructions comprising:

creating an event associated with at least one organizer and a plurality of attendees, wherein the event comprises electronically stored data;

copying at least one property associated with the event to a plurality of electronically stored calendars, wherein each of the plurality of electronically stored calendars is associated with at least one of the plurality of attendees;

determining whether the at least one property associated with the event on at least one of the plurality of electronically stored calendars is the same as a corresponding property associated with the event associated with the organizer, wherein the at least one property associated with the event on at least one of the plurality of electronically stored calendars is selected from an event time, an event date, an event location, an event response status, an event duration, an event existence, and an event duplicate property, wherein the determination is made on a periodic basis of at least once every 24 hours; and

in response to determining that the at least one property associated with the event on the at least one of the plurality of electronically stored calendars is not the same as the corresponding property associated with the event associated with the organizer;

updating the at least one property associated with the event on the at least one of the plurality of electronically stored calendars to match the corresponding property associated with the event associated with the organizer,

determining whether the at least one property associated with the event comprises an out-of-sync property that will cause the associated attendee to miss the event, and

in response to determining that the at least one property associated with the event does not comprise the out-of-sync property that will cause the associated attendee to miss the event, skipping the update of the at least one property.

12. The computer-readable storage device of claim 11, wherein the out-of-sync property that will cause the associated attendee to miss the event comprises at least one of the following:

an event'"'"'s existence, a start time, a location, an event request acceptance, a duplicate property, a duplicate event, and a corruption.

13. The computer-readable storage device of claim 11, further comprising logging an event comprising information associated with determining whether the at least one property associated with the event on the at least one of the plurality of electronically stored calendars is the same as a corresponding property associated with the event associated with the organizer.

14. The computer-readable storage device of claim 11, further comprising notifying the attendee of the update to the at least one property.

15. The computer-readable storage device of claim 11, further comprising determining whether the at least one property associated with the event on the at least one of the plurality of electronically stored calendars is the same as the corresponding property associated with the event associated with the organizer on a periodic basis.

16. A system for providing calendar repair, the system comprising:

a memory storage; and

a processing unit coupled to the memory storage, wherein the processing unit is operative to;

create an event on an electronically stored calendar associated with an organizer of the event according to information received from the organizer of the event,

replicate information associated with the event to a plurality of electronically stored calendars, where each of the plurality of electronically stored calendars is associated with at least one of a plurality of users and wherein each of the plurality of users comprises an attendee of the meeting event,

determine, on a periodic basis of at least once every 24 hours, whether the information associated with the event on at least one of the plurality of electronically stored calendars differs from the information associated with a master copy of the event, wherein the master copy of the event comprises the event on the electronically stored calendar associated with the organizer of the event, wherein the information associated with the event comprises an event time, an event date, an event location, an event response status, an event duration, an event existence, and an event duplicate property,

in response to determining that the information associated with the event on at least one of the plurality of electronically stored calendars differs from the information associated with a master copy of the event, determine whether the difference comprises a property likely to cause the attendee to miss the meeting, wherein the property likely to cause the attendee to miss the meeting comprises at least one of the following;

an event'"'"'s existence, a start time, a location, an event request acceptance, a duplicate property, a duplicate event, and a corruption,

in response to determining that the difference comprises a property likely to cause the attendee to miss the meeting;

update the event on the at least one of the plurality of electronically stored calendars with the information associated with the master copy of the event, and

provide a notification to the user associated with the at least one of the plurality of calendars that the event has been updated, wherein being operative to provide the notification comprises at least one of the following;

send an e-mail message to the user, send an SMS message to the user, provide an audible alert, and display a notification message on a display device associated with the user,

in response to determining that the difference does not comprise a property likely to cause the attendee to miss the meeting, determine whether the information associated with the event on the at least one of the plurality of electronically stored calendars that differs from the information associated with the master copy of the event comprises a private property, and

in response to determining that the information associated with the event on the at least one of the plurality of electronically stored calendars that differs from the information associated with a master copy of the event comprises a private property, leave the information out-of-sync between the event on the at least one of the plurality of calendars and the master copy of the event.