Managing calendaring events

• US 9,536,230 B2
• Filed: 12/30/2008
• Issued: 01/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: O'Sullivan, Patrick Joseph, Harpur, Liam, Raguillat, Fred, Zimmet, Carol Sue
• Primary Examiner(s): TANG, KAREN C
• Application Number:
  US12/346,045
• Publication Number:
  US 20100169145A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,926 Days
• Field of Search: 709/205, 709/206, 709/207
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

An indication of a meeting being scheduled between a plurality of attendees is received. A first one of the attendees is designated an owner of the meeting. Ownership privileges for the meeting are associated with at least a second one of the meeting attendees. The ownership privileges associated with at least a second one of the meeting attendees are associated based upon, at least in part, a social network defined for the owner of the meeting.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving an indication of a meeting being scheduled between a plurality of attendees, wherein a first one of the attendees is designated an owner of the meeting;

determining a social network for the owner of the meeting, the social network including individuals with whom the owner of meeting interacts with across a plurality of communication channels;

identifying at least a second one of the meeting attendees, wherein at least the second one of the meeting attendees is part of the social network;

determining that at least the second one of the meeting attendees has a predefined threshold level of proximity to the owner of the meeting within the social network, wherein proximity is based upon, at least in part, how often at least the second one of the meeting attendees interacts with the meeting owner, wherein the proximity is increased when there are more frequent interactions between the owner and the at least the second one of the meeting attendees and diminished during a period of time when there is a lower degree of said interactions;

associating ownership privileges for the meeting with at least the second one of the meeting attendees based upon, at least in part, the second one of the meeting attendees having the predefined threshold level of proximity to the owner of the meeting within the social network; and

allowing the second one of the meeting attendees to exercise the ownership privileges for the meeting.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein associating ownership privileges for the meeting with the second one of the meeting attendees includes one or more of enabling the second one of the meeting attendees to cancel the meeting and enabling the second one of the meeting attendees to reschedule the meeting.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein associating ownership privileges for the meeting with the second one of the meeting attendees includes at least one of:

enabling the second one of the meeting attendees to add at least one additional meeting attendee; and

enabling the second one of the meeting attendees to remove at least one of the plurality of attendees.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined threshold level of proximity to the owner of the meeting within the social network is defined for the owner of the meeting.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the predefined threshold level of proximity to the owner of the meeting within the social network is based upon, at least in part, a social network map.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein how often at least the second one of the meeting attendees interacts with the meeting owner is based include, at least in part, a history of communications across one or more communication channels.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the social networking application that defines, at least in part, the social network defined for the owner of the meeting includes IBM Lotus Connections.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the social networking application that defines, at least in part, the social network defined for the owner of the meeting includes at least one of:

SharePoint, Facebook, Linkedln, MySpace, and Twitter.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein how often at least the second one of the meeting attendees interacts with the meeting owner is determined based upon, at least in part, one or more of the inclusion of the second one of the attendees on a contact list associated with the meeting owner and an activity history associated with at least one of the meeting owner and the second one of the attendees.

10. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium having a plurality of instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving an indication of a meeting being scheduled between a plurality of attendees, wherein a first one of the attendees is designated an owner of the meeting;

determining a social network for the owner of the meeting, the social network including individuals with whom the owner of meeting interacts with across a plurality of communication channels;

identifying at least a second one of the meeting attendees, wherein at least the second one of the meeting attendees is part of the social network;

determining that at least the second one of the meeting attendees has a predefined threshold level of proximity to the owner of the meeting within the social network, wherein proximity is based upon, at least in part, how often at least the second one of the meeting attendees interacts with the meeting owner, wherein the proximity is increased when there are more frequent interactions between the owner and the at least the second one of the meeting attendees and diminished during a period of time when there is a lower degree of said interaction;

associating ownership privileges for the meeting with at least the second one of the meeting attendees based upon, at least in part, the second one of the meeting attendees having the predefined threshold level of proximity to the owner of the meeting within the social network; and

allowing the second one of the meeting attendees to exercise the ownership privileges for the meeting.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the instructions for associating ownership privileges for the meeting with the second one of the meeting attendees include instructions for one or more of enabling the second one of the meeting attendees to cancel the meeting and enabling the second one of the meeting attendees to reschedule the meeting.

12. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the instructions for associating ownership privileges for the meeting with the second one of the meeting attendees include instructions at least one of:

enabling the second one of the meeting attendees to add at least one additional meeting attendee; and

enabling the second one of the meeting attendees to remove at least one of the plurality of attendees.

13. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the predefined threshold level of proximity to the owner of the meeting within the social network is defined for the owner of the meeting.

14. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein how often at least the second one of the meeting attendees interacts with the meeting owner is determined based upon, at least in part, one or more of the inclusion of the second one of the attendees on a contact list associated with the meeting owner and an activity history associated with at least one of the meeting owner and the second one of the attendees.

15. A computing system comprising:

at least one processor;

at least one memory architecture coupled with the at least one processor;

a first software module executed on the at least one processor and using the at least one memory architecture, wherein the first software module is configured to receive an indication of a meeting being scheduled between a plurality of attendees, wherein a first one of the attendees is designated an owner of the meeting;

a second software module executed on the at least one processor and using the at least one memory architecture, wherein the second software module is configured to determine a social network for the owner of the meeting, the social network including individuals with whom the owner of meeting interacts with across a plurality of communication channels;

a third software module executed on the at least one processor and using the at least one memory architecture, wherein the second software module is configured to identify at least a second one of the meeting attendees, wherein at least the second one of the meeting attendees is part of the social network; and

a fourth software module executed on the at least one processor and using the at least one memory architecture, wherein the second software module is configured to determine that at least the second one of the meeting attendees has a predefined threshold level of proximity to the owner of the meeting within the social network, wherein proximity is based upon, at least in part, how often at least the second one of the meeting attendees interacts with the meeting owner, wherein the proximity is increased when there are more frequent interactions between the owner and the at least the second one of the meeting attendees and diminished during a period of time when there is a lower degree of said interaction, the fourth software module further configured to associate ownership privileges for the meeting with at least the second one of the meeting attendees based upon, at least in part, the second one of the meeting attendees having the predefined threshold level of proximity to the owner of the meeting within the social network, the fourth software module further configured to allow the second one of the meeting attendees to exercise the ownership privileges for the meeting.

16. The computing system of claim 15, wherein the second software module, which is configured to associate ownership privileges for the meeting with the second one of the meeting attendees, is further configured to one or more of enable the second one of the meeting attendees to cancel the meeting and enable the second one of the meeting attendees to reschedule the meeting.

17. The computing system of claim 15, wherein the second software module, which is configured to associate ownership privileges for the meeting with the second one of the meeting attendees, is further configured to at least one of:

enable the second one of the meeting attendees to add at least one additional meeting attendee; and

enable the second one of the meeting attendees to remove at least one of the plurality of attendees.

18. The computing system of claim 15, wherein the predefined threshold level of proximity to the owner of the meeting within the social network is defined for the owner of the meeting.

19. The computer system of claim 15, wherein how often at least the second one of the meeting attendees interacts with the meeting owner is determined based upon, at least in part, one or more of the inclusion of the second one of the attendees on a contact list associated with the meeting owner and an activity history associated with at least one of the meeting owner and the second one of the attendees.