Mobile application for calendar sharing and scheduling

• US 8,712,820 B2
• Filed: 09/20/2010
• Issued: 04/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Gingras, Marc, Yang, Fang, Sarrazin, Jacou
• Primary Examiner(s): Jeanty, Romain
• Application Number:
  US12/886,022
• Publication Number:
  US 20110071878A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,317 Days
• Field of Search: 705/7.18
• US Class Current: 705/7.18
• 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: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

The embodiments discussed herein describe an application device and method for calendar sharing and scheduling over a communication network. When a meeting is to be scheduled between two or more participants, the organizing participant enters an identification of the participants and requests a time suggestion. In response to the request, information relating to the availability and/or preferences of each participant is gathered from one or more databases and processed centrally in a remote server to determine a block of time during which all the participants are commonly free. The block of time is pushed to a user interface for display. If the organizing user selects the block of time, a meeting request may be sent to the participants to confirm the meeting.

Claims

1. A system for determining a block of time based on participant identification and data entities synchronized with a plurality of calendar databases, the system comprising:

a device; and

a remote server, wherein;

the device has access to the remote server via a communication network and comprises a user interface for receiving identifications of participants of a meeting, and a database query;

the device further, upon receipt of the database query, communicates the identifications of the participants to the remote server over the communication network;

the remote server receives the identifications of the participants from the device;

the remote server retrieves, from at least two of the plurality of calendar databases, data entities for the participants of the meeting including calendar information and processes said retrieved data entities to determine a block of time during which all of the participants of the meeting are free, the at least two of the plurality of databases from which the data entities are retrieved comprising a first calendar database with which first data entities are synchronized for a first calendar service which is employed by at least one of the participants, and a different second calendar database with which second data entities are synchronized for a second calendar service which is employed by at least one other of the participants;

the remote server further transmits an identification of said block of time to the device;

the device receives the identification of said block of time from the remote server; and

the device outputs an identification of at least a portion of said block of time for display on the user interface.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein:

a) the user interface of the device further receives a time duration; and

b) the device further receives the time duration from the user interface, and

upon receipt of the database query, communicates the time duration to the remote server, wherein the block of time comprises the time duration.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein

c) the user interface of the device further receives a selection of the block of time;

and

d) the device receives the selection of the block of time from the user interface, and books the selected block of time on a calendar.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein

e) the user interface of the device further receives a meeting request;

and

f) the device receives the meeting request from the user interface and sends the meeting request in accordance with the block of time selected.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the device retrieves, from the remote server, calendars of the participants of the meeting, when settings associated with the calendars allow a sharing of the calendars, and

outputs the calendars to the user interface for display.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the remote server repeats at least one of the retrieving and the processing of said retrieved data entities to determine a different block of time during which all of the participants of the meeting are commonly free.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein an identification of the different block of time is output to the user interface for display.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the device is implemented for use with a mobile phone which includes an accelerometer, and wherein the database query is triggered by inducing a given acceleration to the accelerometer.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein a further database query is triggered by inducing the given acceleration to the accelerometers again thereby resulting in a determination by the remote server of a different block of time during which all of the participants are commonly free.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the database query takes into consideration at least one of filters and buffers pre-set by each of the participants of the meeting.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the device causes a plurality of blocks of time to be presented on the user interface.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of databases is part of the remote server.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of databases is an external database which is accessible through a communication link.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein, upon determining that no block of time is found during which all participants of the meeting are free, the device causes the user interface to display a message to that effect.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface allows selection of at least one of start time and end time defining a given period, the block of time being restricted to the given period.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein, upon determining that no end time is selected and no block of time is found during which all participants of the meeting are free, the remote server performs at least one of the retrieving and the processing of said retrieved data entities within a future time frame in which no start or end dates are defined.

17. A computer-implemented method in a server for determining a block of time based on participant identification and data entities synchronized with a plurality of electronic databases, the method comprising:

receiving, by the server, identifications of participants of a meeting;

receiving, by the server, a database query;

retrieving, by the server, from at least two databases of the plurality of databases, data entities for each of the participants of the meeting including calendar information, the at least two of the plurality of databases from which the data entities are retrieved comprising a first calendar database with which first data entities are synchronized for a first calendar service which is employed by at least one of the participants, and a different second calendar database with which second data entities are synchronized for a second calendar service which is employed by at least one other of the participants;

processing, by the server, said retrieved data entities to determine a block of time during which all of the participants of the meeting are commonly free; and

transmitting an identification of said block of time from the server.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

receiving a time duration, wherein the block of time comprises the time duration.

19. A computer-implemented method, in a system comprising a device and a remote server, for processing participant identification and data entities synchronized with a plurality of databases, the method comprising:

receiving, by the device, the identifications of participants of a meeting;

receiving, by the device, a start time and an end time identifying a given period;

communicating, by the device, the identifications of participants, the start time and the end time to the remote server;

receiving, by the remote server, from at least two electronic databases, data entities for each of the participants of the meeting, the at least two of the plurality of databases from which the data entities are retrieved comprising a first calendar database with which first data entities are synchronized for a first calendar service which is employed by at least one of the participants, and a different second calendar database with which second data entities are synchronized for a second calendar service which is employed by at least one other of the participants;

processing, by the remote server, the received data entities for each of the participants of the meeting, the data entities for each of the participants of the meeting having free blocks of time during which the respective participant has a free status, to select a block of time, from the free blocks of time, which is common to the data entities of each participant having a free status during the given period;

communicating, by the remote server, said block of time which is common to the device; and

outputting an identification of at least a portion of said block of time which is common for display on a user interface.

20. A server for determining a block of time based on participant identification and data entities synchronized with a plurality of electronic databases, the server comprising:

a processor accessible via a communication network;

a memory operatively coupled to the processor, the processor storing instructions to be performed by the processor, the instructions configured to cause the processor to;

receive identifications of the participants;

retrieve from at least two of the plurality of databases, data entities for each of the participants of the meeting including calendar information, the at least two of the plurality of databases from which the data entities are retrieved comprising a first calendar service database with which first data entities are synchronized for at least one of the participants and a different second calendar service database with which second data entities are synchronized for at least one other of the participants;

process said retrieved data entities to determine a block of time during which all of the participants of the meeting are free; and

transmit an identification of said block of time.

21. The server of claim 20, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to receive a time duration, wherein the block of time comprises the time duration.

22. The server of claim 20, wherein the instructions stored in the memory cause the processor to transmit calendars of the participants of the meeting when settings associated with the calendars allow a sharing of the calendars.

23. The server of claim 20, wherein the instructions stored in the memory cause the processor to repeat at least one of the retrieving and the processing of said retrieved data entities to determine a different block of time during which all of the participants are commonly free.

24. The server of claim 23, wherein an identification of the different block of time is transmitted.

25. The server of claim 20, wherein the processing said retrieved data entities takes into consideration at least one of filters and buffers pre-set by each participant.