Automatic calendaring system

• US 8,930,820 B1
• Filed: 06/30/2011
• Issued: 01/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Inventors: Elwell, Joseph, Buhler, Alan F., Lu, Marianne Y.
• Primary Examiner(s): Riegler, Patrick
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nichols, Jennifer
• Application Number:
  US13/174,595
• Time in Patent Office: 1,286 Days
• Field of Search: 715/738, 715/963, 715/231, 708/112, 705/319
• US Class Current: 715/738
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/102 where the programme performs an interfacing function, e.g. device driver G06F13/105 takes precedence; scheduling within device drivers G06F9/52; contention policies within device drivers G06F9/4881
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/0266 for time management, e.g. calendars, diaries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4881 Scheduling strategies for dispatcher, e.g. round robin, multi-level priority queues
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5038 considering the execution order of a plurality of tasks, e.g. taking priority or time dependency constraints into consideration scheduling strategies G06F9/4881 and subgroups
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• 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 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: G09D 3/12 electrically operated
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/28 Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/105 Selection of the reference unit for prediction within a chosen coding or prediction mode, e.g. adaptive choice of position and number of pixels used for prediction
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/503 involving temporal prediction adaptive coding with adaptive selection between spatial and temporal predictive coding H04N19/107; adaptive coding with adaptive selection among a plurality of temporal predictive coding modes H04N19/109

Abstract

In general, in one aspect, the invention relates to a method for maintaining a calendar of a user. The method includes: accessing an online profile of the user corresponding to a first social networking website; identifying, on the first social networking website, a first entry referencing a physical location, where the first entry is entered on a first calendar date; identifying, on the first social networking website, a second entry referencing the physical location, where the second entry is entered on a second calendar date; calculating, based on the first calendar date and the second calendar date, a first frequency of user visits to the physical location; estimating, based on the first frequency, a future calendar date when the user is expected to visit the physical location; and creating, in the calendar, a future event scheduled to occur at the physical location.

Claims

1. A method for maintaining a calendar of a user, comprising:

accessing an online profile of the user at a first social networking website;

identifying, on the online profile, a first post referencing a physical location,

wherein the first post is created on the first social networking website by a client application of the user on a first calendar date, and

wherein the first post comprises a timestamp of the first calendar date;

identifying, on the online profile, a second post referencing the physical location,

wherein the second post is created on the first social networking website by the client application of the user on a second calendar date, and

wherein the second post comprises a timestamp of the second calendar date;

calculating, by a computer processor and based on the timestamp of first calendar date and the timestamp of second calendar date, a first time period between user visits to the physical location;

estimating, based on the first time period between user visits, a future calendar date when the user is expected to visit the physical location;

creating, in the calendar, an event scheduled to occur at the physical location and on the future calendar date;

determining, after the future calendar date and based on the first social networking website and a second social networking website, that the user did not visit the physical location on the future calendar date;

identifying, on the first social networking website, a third post referencing the physical location, wherein the third post is entered by the user on a third calendar date, wherein the third post comprises a timestamp of the third calendar date, and wherein the third calendar date is after the future calendar date;

calculating a modified first time period between user visits based on the third calendar date;

estimating, based on the modified first time period between user visits, a new future calendar date when the user is expected to visit the physical location; and

creating, in the calendar, a new event corresponding to the new future calendar date.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first post and the second post comprise a first global positioning system (GPS) coordinate of the physical location.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

identifying, based on the first GPS coordinate, a business residing at the physical location of the event, wherein the physical location is an address of the business; and

entering a name of the business into the calendar for the event.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

downloading the calendar into a client application installed on a mobile device of the user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the first post comprises:

identifying, on the first social networking website, an image uploaded by the user; and

extracting, from the image, a plurality of geospatial metadata comprising a global positioning system (GPS) coordinate of the physical location.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, within a financial management application of the user, a plurality of financial transactions between the user and a merchant;

calculating, based on the plurality of financial transactions, a frequency of transactions between the user and the merchant;

estimating, based on the frequency, an execution date of a future financial transaction between the user and the merchant; and

creating, in the calendar, a notification of the future financial transaction corresponding to the execution date.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, on the first social networking website, a message corresponding to the first post; and

entering the message into the calendar for the event.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating, in the calendar, an indication that the event is tentative.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a plurality of instructions for maintaining a calendar of a user, the plurality of instructions comprising functionality to:

access an online profile of the user at a first social networking website;

identify, on the online profile, a first post referencing a physical location,

wherein the first post is created on the first social networking website by a client application of the user on a first calendar date, and

wherein the first post comprises a timestamp of the first calendar data;

identify, on the online profile, a second post referencing the physical location,

wherein the second post is created on the first social networking website by a client application of the user on a second calendar date, and

wherein the second post comprises a timestamp of the second calendar date;

calculate, and based on the timestamp of first calendar date and the timestamp of second calendar date, a first time period between user visits to the physical location;

estimate, based on the first time period between user visits, a future calendar date when the user is expected to visit the physical location;

create, in the calendar, an event scheduled to occur at the physical location and on the future calendar date;

determine, after the future calendar date and based on the first social networking website and a second social networking website, that the user did not visit the physical location on the future calendar date;

identify, on the first social networking website, a third post referencing the physical location, wherein the third post is entered by the user on a third calendar date, wherein the third post comprises a timestamp of the third calendar date, and wherein the third calendar date is after the future calendar date;

calculate a modified first time period between user visits based on the third calendar date;

estimate, based on the modified first time period between user visits, a new future calendar date when the user is expected to visit the physical location; and

create, in the calendar, a new event corresponding to the new future calendar date.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the first post and the second post comprise a global positioning system (GPS) coordinate of the physical location.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the plurality of instructions further comprise functionality to:

identify, based on the GPS coordinate, a business residing at the physical location of the event, wherein the physical location is an address of the business; and

enter a name of the business into the calendar for the event.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein identifying the first post comprises:

identifying, on the first social networking website, an image uploaded by the user; and

extracting, from the image, a plurality of geospatial metadata comprising a global positioning system (GPS) coordinate of the physical location.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the plurality of instructions further comprise functionality to:

identify, within a financial management application of the user, a plurality of financial transactions between the user and a merchant;

calculate, based on the plurality of financial transactions, a second period of time between transactions between the user and the merchant;

estimate, based on the second period of time between transactions, an execution date of a future financial transaction between the user and the merchant; and

create, in the calendar, a notification of the future financial transaction corresponding to the execution date.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the plurality of instructions further comprise functionality to:

identify, on the first social networking website, a message corresponding to the first post; and

enter the message into the calendar for the event.

15. A system for maintaining a calendar of a user, comprising:

a processor;

a calendar server executing on the processor and configured to;

access an online profile of the user at a first social networking website;

identify, on the online profile, a first post referencing a physical location, wherein the first post is created on the first social networking website by a client application of the user on a first calendar date, and wherein the first post comprises a timestamp of the first calendar data;

identify, on the online profile, a second post referencing the physical location, wherein the second post is created on the first social networking website by a client application of the user on a second calendar date and wherein the second post comprises a timestamp of the second calendar date;

calculate, and based on the timestamp of first calendar date and the timestamp of second calendar date, a first time period between user visits to the physical location;

estimate, based on the first time period between user visits, a future calendar date when the user is expected to visit the physical location;

create, in the calendar, an event scheduled to occur at the physical location and on the future calendar date;

determine, after the future calendar date and based on the first social networking website and a second social networking website, that the user did not visit the physical location on the future calendar date;

identify, on the first social networking website, a third post referencing the physical location, wherein the third post is entered by the user on a third calendar date, wherein the third post comprises a timestamp of the third calendar date, and wherein the third calendar date is after the future calendar date;

calculate a modified first time period between user visits based on the third calendar date;

estimate, based on the modified first time period between user visits, a new future calendar date when the user is expected to visit the physical location; and

create, in the calendar, a new event corresponding to the new future calendar date.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the first post and the second post comprise a global positioning system (GPS) coordinate of the physical location.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

a mobile device comprising a GPS receiver and configured to;

transmit, on the first calendar date, the GPS coordinate to the first social networking website in order to perform the first post; and

transmit, on the second calendar date, the GPS coordinate to the first social networking website in order to perform the second post.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the calendar server further comprises functionality to:

identify, within a financial management application of the user, a plurality of financial transactions between the user and a merchant;

calculate, based on the plurality of financial transactions, a second period of time between transactions between the user and the merchant;

estimate, based on the second period of time between transactions, an execution date of a future financial transaction between the user and the merchant; and

create, in the calendar, a notification of the future financial transaction corresponding to the execution date.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein identifying the first post comprises:

identifying, on the first social networking website, an image uploaded by the user; and

extracting, from the image, a plurality of geospatial metadata comprising a global positioning system (GPS) coordinate of the physical location.