Autonomously rescheduling appointments

• US 8,688,489 B2
• Filed: 09/23/2008
• Issued: 04/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bhogal, Kulvir Singh, Peterson, Robert Ross, Seacat, Lisa Anne, Talbot, Mark William
• Primary Examiner(s): Dixon, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Fields, Benjamin S
• Application Number:
  US12/236,077
• Publication Number:
  US 20100076802A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,016 Days
• Field of Search: 705/8, 705 711- 742
• US Class Current: 705/7.11
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1095 Meeting or appointment

Abstract

A method, system, and computer program product for autonomously rescheduling a future meeting in response to receiving a meeting cancellation notice of a previously scheduled meeting. A meeting rescheduling logic (MRL) of a server receives a cancellation of a scheduled meeting of an identified contact. The MRL may select a highest priority meeting from a plurality of meetings that has been flagged with an auto-move-up status. The MRL determines if all attendees of the selected meeting are available to attend the meeting at the open time slot of the identified contact'"'"'s calendar. Upon determining that all attendees of the selected meeting are available at the open time slot, the MRL reschedules the selected meeting at the open time slot, and notifies all attendees. Additionally, the MRL may cancel a lower priority meeting of the attendees to accommodate moving a higher priority meeting into the open time slot.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for autonomously rescheduling meetings, the method comprising:

receiving, by a computer, a meeting cancellation notice of a first meeting scheduled with an identified contact, wherein the meeting cancellation notice contains a specified time of the meeting;

in response to receiving the meeting cancellation notice, reviewing a plurality of scheduled meetings of a calendar of the identified contact;

the computer identifying, from the plurality of scheduled meetings within the calendar of the identified contact, one or more scheduled meetings that are flagged with an auto move-up status, wherein the auto move-up status indicates that a flagged meeting should be dynamically rescheduled for an earlier date/time, if an earlier time slot becomes available;

selecting a second meeting that has a highest priority level of the one or more scheduled meetings that are flagged with an auto move-up status;

identifying one or more listed attendees of the second meeting;

determining if the listed attendees of the second meeting are available at the specified time;

in response to determining that all of the listed attendees are available at the specified time, dynamically rescheduling the second meeting at the specified time;

in response to determining that a listed attendee has a prior commitment at the specified time, determining a priority level of the prior commitment; and

in response to determining that the priority level of the prior commitment is lower than a priority level of the second meeting;

automatically cancelling the prior commitment; and

rescheduling the second meeting at the specified time.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a notification message to each of the one or more attendees of the second meeting, wherein the notification message informs the one or more attendees of a schedule change and contains an updated scheduled time for the second meeting.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a notification message to the identified contact, wherein the notification message contains;

the meeting cancellation notice of the first meeting; and

the updated scheduled time for the second meeting.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the notification is one of a text-based message or an audio message.

5. A server comprising:

a processor;

a system memory coupled to said processor;

a program utility having code executing on the server that causes the server to;

receive a meeting cancellation notice of a first meeting scheduled with an identified contact, wherein the meeting cancellation notice contains a specified time of the meeting;

in response to receiving the meeting cancellation notice, reviews a plurality of scheduled meetings of a calendar of the identified contact;

identify, from the plurality of scheduled meetings within the calendar of the identified contact, one or more scheduled meetings that are flagged with an auto move-up status, wherein the auto move up status indicates that a flagged meeting should be dynamically rescheduled for an earlier date/time, if an earlier time slot becomes available;

select a second meeting that has a highest priority level of the one or more scheduled meetings that are flagged with an auto move-up status;

identify one or more listed attendees of the second meeting;

determine if the listed attendees of the second meeting are available at the specified time;

in response to determining that all of the listed attendees are available at the specified time, dynamically reschedule the second meeting at the specified time;

in response to determining that a listed attendee has a prior commitment at the specified time, determine a priority level of the prior commitment and

in response to determining that the priority level of the prior commitment is lower than a priority level of the second meeting;

automatically cancel the prior commitment and

reschedule the second meeting at the specified time.

6. The system of claim 5, the program utility further comprising code that causes the server to:

transmit a notification message to each of the one or more attendees of the second meeting, wherein the notification message informs the one or more attendees of a schedule change and contains an updated scheduled time for the second meeting.

7. The system of claim 5, the program utility further comprising code that causes the server to:

transmit a notification message to the identified contact, wherein the notification message contains;

the meeting cancellation notice of the first meeting; and

the updated scheduled time for the second meeting.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the notification is one of a text-based message or an audio message.

9. A computer program product comprising:

a storage device; and

program code on the storage device that when executed on a computer system causes the computer system to autonomously reschedule meetings by;

receiving a meeting cancellation notice of a first meeting scheduled with an identified contact, wherein the meeting cancellation notice contains a specified time of the meeting;

in response to receiving the meeting cancellation notice, reviewing a plurality of scheduled meetings of a calendar of the identified contact;

identifying, from the plurality of scheduled meetings within the calendar of the identified contact, one or more scheduled meetings that are flagged with an auto move-up status, wherein the auto move up status indicates that a flagged meeting should be dynamically rescheduled for an earlier date/time, if an earlier time slot becomes available;

selecting a second meeting that has a highest priority level of the one or more scheduled meetings that are flagged with an auto move-up status;

identifying one or more listed attendees of the second meeting;

determining if the listed attendees of the second meeting are available at the specified time;

in response to determining that all of the listed attendees are available at the specified time, dynamically rescheduling the second meeting at the specified time;

in response to determining that a listed attendee has a prior commitment at the specified time, determining a priority level of the prior commitment; and

in response to determining that the priority level of the prior commitment is lower than a priority level of the second meeting;

automatically cancelling the prior commitment and

rescheduling the second meeting at the specified time.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, the program code further comprising additional code for transmitting a notification message to each of the one or more attendees of the second meeting, wherein the notification message informs the one or more attendees of a schedule change and contains an updated scheduled time for the second meeting.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, the program code further comprising additional code for transmitting a notification message to the identified contact, wherein the notification message contains:

the meeting cancellation notice of the first meeting; and

the updated scheduled time for the second meeting.

12. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the notification is one of a text-based message or an audio message.