Reserving a time block in a calendar application to account for a travel time between geographic locations of appointments

• US 8,712,810 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2007
• Issued: 04/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Meisels, Adrienne C., Coughlin, Stephen J., Renner, W. Karl
• Primary Examiner(s): CAMPBELL, SHANNON S
• Application Number:
  US11/966,639
• Publication Number:
  US 20080167938A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,314 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1.1, 705/5, 705/6
• US Class Current: 705/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063116 Schedule adjustment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06316 Sequencing of tasks or work
• 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

Techniques are described for accounting for travel time in scheduling appointments in an electronic calendar. For example, a travel time between appointments may be identified and a time block may be reserved on a calendar application to account for such travel time. Geographic locations of adjacent appointments in a calendar may be determined and a route between the geographic locations also may be determined. A travel time associated with traveling the route between the geographic locations may be computed and the computed travel time may be compared to unscheduled time between the adjacent appointments in the calendar to determine whether the unscheduled time exceeds the travel time. If it is determined that the unscheduled time exceeds the travel time, a time block may be reserved on the calendar application to account for the travel time.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for identifying a travel time between appointments, the method comprising:

identifying a first appointment at a first location in a calendar application;

identifying a second appointment at a second location that occurs later in time than the first appointment in the calendar application;

determining, with at least one processor, an expected mode of transportation from the first location to the second location, wherein the expected mode of transportation is determined based on at least one of keywords or geographic locations associated with the first and second appointments;

identifying a route extending from the first location to the second location based on the expected mode of transportation;

identifying a travel time associated with the route, based on the expected mode of transportation;

determining an amount of unscheduled time between the first appointment and the second appointment;

determining whether the amount of unscheduled time exceeds the travel time;

if it is determined that the amount of unscheduled time exceeds the travel time, reserving a time block on the calendar application to account for the travel time;

receiving a plurality of event information updates associated with the expected mode of travel, wherein the frequency in receiving each update of the plurality of updates increases with the approach of reserved time block;

determining a delayed travel time based on the received event information updates associated with the expected mode of travel;

determining whether the amount of unscheduled time exceeds the delayed travel time associated with the expected mode of travel; and

if it is determined that the amount of unscheduled time exceeds the delayed travel time associated with the expected mode of travel, providing the event information update to the user.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein:

identifying the first appointment further includes identifying an ending time of the first appointment;

identifying the second appointment further includes identifying a starting time of the second appointment; and

determining the amount of unscheduled time includes subtracting the ending time of the first appointment from the starting time of the second appointment.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining whether the amount of unscheduled time exceeds the travel time by more than a threshold amount; and

if it is determined that unscheduled time exceeds the travel time by more than the threshold amount, providing a message that informs a user of the unscheduled time.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

automatically setting, without user input, a reminder for the second appointment, the reminder being set for a specified time that precedes the starting time of the second appointment time by at least the travel time to the second appointment; and

displaying a notification window at the specified time that precedes the starting time of the second appointment time by at least the travel time to the second appointment, the notification window structured and arranged to remind the user about the second appointment.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining whether the travel time exceeds the amount of unscheduled time; and

if it is determined that travel time exceeds the amount of unscheduled time, providing an alert message, to inform the user that, based on the current scheduling of the first and second appointments, the user would not have enough time to arrive at the second appointment location.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 further comprising providing one or more suggestions to enable the user to respond to the alert message, wherein the one or more suggestions includes a suggestion for at least one of:

leave the first appointment sooner than the scheduled ending time of the first appointment, cancel, one or both of the first or second appointments, reschedule the first or second appointment, and notify the other attendees of the second appointment, or another designee, that the user will arrive late.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 further comprising:

identifying people attending the second appointment;

identifying time availability of the people attending the second appointment; and

based on the time availability of the people attending the second appointment, taking steps to reschedule the second appointment at a mutually convenient time for people attending the second appointment.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein identifying the first appointment and the second appointment further includes:

accessing the calendar application via a navigation application in response to activation of a transferring control tool that appears within an interface of the navigation application; and

identifying the first appointment and the second appointment in the calendar application.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 wherein the transferring control tool is configured to import time and geographic information of the first and second appointments to the navigation application.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 wherein the transferring control is further configured to cause the navigation application to:

identify the route and the travel time associated with the route;

calculate the remaining time between the ending time of the first appointment and the starting time of the second appointment;

determine whether the remaining time exceeds the travel time; and

instruct the calendar application to place the hold between the first appointment and the second appointment to account for the travel time if it is determined the remaining time exceeds the travel time.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein identifying the first appointment and the second appointment further includes:

accessing the calendar application via a client device; and

identifying the first appointment and the second appointment in the calendar application.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 wherein the client device interfaces between the calendar application and a navigation application.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 wherein accessing the calendar application includes accessing the calendar application in response to activation of a transferring control tool within the client device that transfers control between the calendar application and the navigation application.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 further comprising communicating the ending time and the geographic location of the first appointment and the starting time and the geographic location of the second appointment to the navigation application in response to the activation of the transferring control.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

monitoring the current location of a user,

identifying a change in the current location of the user;

referencing the route extending from the geographic location of the first appointment to the geographic location of the second appointment;

determining whether the current location of the user exceeds a threshold amount from the route; and

if it is determined that the current location of the user exceeds the threshold amount from the route, providing the user with direction to the second appointment from the current location of the user.

16. A computer-implemented method for identifying a travel time between appointments, the method comprising:

identifying a first appointment in a calendar application;

identifying a time of the first appointment;

receiving, from a user, a request to schedule a second appointment at a requested time;

identifying a geographic location of the first appointment and a geographic location of the second appointment;

determining, with at least one processor, an expected mode of transportation between the geographic locations of the first and second appointments, wherein the expected mode of transportation is determined based on at least one of keywords or geographic locations associated with the first and second appointments;

identifying a route extending between the geographic location of the first appointment and the geographic location of the second appointment, based on the expected mode of transportation;

identifying a travel time associated with the route, based on the expected mode of transportation;

determining an amount of unscheduled time between the first appointment and the second appointment;

receiving a plurality of event information updates associated with the expected mode of travel, wherein the frequency in receiving each update of the plurality of updates increases with the approach of reserved time block;

determining a delayed travel time based on the received event information updates associated with the expected mode of travel;

determining whether the amount of unscheduled time exceeds the delayed travel time associated with the expected mode of travel; and

if it is determined that the delayed travel time differs from the identified travel time by a threshold amount,

determining one or more alternative routes extending between the geographic location of the first appointment and the geographic location of the second appointment, wherein the one or more alternative routes is unaffected by the events associated with the received event information updates that indicated a delay in the identified travel time for the expected mode of travel, and

providing the determined one or more alternative routes to the user.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16 further comprising alerting the user, before scheduling the second appointment at the first particular time, about a possible conflict if it is determined that the travel time exceeds the amount of unscheduled time.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17 further comprising:

in response to alerting the user, receiving, from the user, a second request to schedule the second appointment at an updated requested time;

determining an amount of unscheduled time between the first appointment and the second appointment based on the updated requested time for the second appointment;

if it is determined that the amount of unscheduled time exceeds the travel time;

scheduling the second appointment at the updated requested time; and

reserving a time block on the calendar application to account for the travel time.

19. A computer-implemented method for identifying unscheduled time between two appointment entries in a calendar other than travel time and presenting options to a user for using the unscheduled time, the method comprising:

identifying at least one of a first appointment entry in a calendar associated with a user and a second appointment entry in the calendar associated with the user, the first appointment entry being associated with a first geographic location, the second appointment entry being associated with a second geographic location that is different than the first geographic location, and a starting time of the second appointment entry being subsequent to an ending time of the first appointment entry;

identifying a travel time entry corresponding to a travel time between the first geographic location associated with the first appointment entry and the second geographic location associated with the second appointment entry;

determining whether a time between the ending time of the first appointment entry and the starting time of the second appointment entry is more than a threshold greater than time required by the travel time entry; and

conditioned on determining that the time between the ending time of the first appointment entry and the starting time of the second appointment entry is more than a threshold greater than the time required by the travel time entry;

identifying unscheduled time, other than travel time, between the first appointment entry and the second appointment entry;

accessing information related to interests of the user;

receiving a geographical designation proximate to a travel route between the first geographic location and the second geographic location;

identifying one or more options for using the identified unscheduled time based on the information related to interests of the user along the travel route and within the geographical designation; and

presenting the identified one or more options to the user.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 19 wherein:

identifying at least one of a first appointment entry in the calendar associated with the user and a second appointment entry in the calendar associated with the user includes identifying the first appointment entry in the calendar associated with the user and the second appointment entry in the calendar associated with the user; and

determining whether a time between an ending time of the first appointment entry and a starting time of the second appointment entry is more than a threshold greater than the time required by the travel time entry includes;

determining the ending time of the first appointment entry;

determining the starting time of the second appointment entry;

computing the time between the ending time of the first appointment entry and the starting time of the second appointment entry;

comparing the time between the ending time of the first appointment entry and the starting time of the second appointment entry with the time required by the travel time entry;

based on comparison results, determining whether the time between the ending time of the first appointment entry and the starting time of the second appointment entry is more than the threshold greater than the time required by the travel time entry.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 19 wherein identifying one or more options for using the identified unscheduled time includes:

accessing information related to one or more options available for using unscheduled time;

determining a time associated with each of the one or more options based on the accessed information related to the one or more options available for using unscheduled time;

comparing the determined time associated with each of the one or more options with the identified unscheduled time;

based on comparison results, identifying options for which the determined time is less than or equal to the identified unscheduled time.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 19 wherein:

identifying one or more options for using the identified unscheduled time includes identifying at least one of;

an option to spend more time at the first geographic location subsequent to the first appointment;

an option to spend more time at the second geographic location prior to the second appointment;

an option to visit a point of interest located proximate to the first geographic location;

an option to visit a point of interest located proximate to the second geographic location;

an option to visit a point of interest located along a route between the first geographic location and the second geographic location; and

an option to reschedule at least one of the first and second appointments to minimize the identified unscheduled time.