Recurrence definition identification

• US 9,892,382 B2
• Filed: 05/18/2006
• Issued: 02/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Record, Andrew D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Nga B
• Application Number:
  US11/419,061
• Publication Number:
  US 20070136119A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,289 Days
• Field of Search: 705 711, 705 718, 705 724
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1095 Meeting or appointment

Abstract

A solution for managing dates is provided, in which a recurrence definition that represents a list of dates using a recurrence rule is automatically identified. The recurrence definition may also include a set of exceptions, which account for variations from a recurring pattern in the list of dates. In one embodiment, an efficiency measure is obtained for each of various proposed recurrence definitions, and a recurrence definition that most efficiently represents the list of dates is identified. In one application, an event management (e.g., calendaring) program automatically identifies an efficient recurrence rule for a list of event occurrences.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of managing dates using a recurrence definition, comprising:

obtaining, by a first computer system from a second computer system over a communications network, a list of dates of previously-scheduled event occurrences, using a processor of the first computer system; and

executing stored instructions, by the processor, to improve storage efficiency of a storage device from which a scheduling module operating on the first computer system manages storage of event data, comprising;

from the list of dates of occurrences, using the processor for programmatically determining a recurrence definition that represents the list of dates of occurrences, the recurrence definition comprising a recurrence rule from which the dates of occurrences can be recreated; and

storing the determined recurrence definition on the storage device instead of storing the list of dates of occurrences.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining comprises receiving the list of dates during a synchronization operation for synchronizing dates between a first electronic calendar system executing on the first computer system and a second electronic calendar system executing on the second computer system.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the processor for:

determining an efficiency measure of the programmatically determined recurrence definition and an efficiency measure of a previously-determined recurrence definition that represents the list of dates and which comprises a different recurrence rule from which the dates can be recreated; and

replacing the previously-determined recurrence definition, on the storage device, with the programmatically determined recurrence definition when the determined efficiency measures indicate that the programmatically determined recurrence definition is more efficient than the previously-determined recurrence definition.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the programmatically determining further comprises:

calculating, for each of a plurality of proposed recurrence definitions, a corresponding efficiency measure for representing the list of dates, based on how many exceptions are required for recreating the dates using the recurrence rule of the proposed recurrence definition, an exception comprising a change from a selected one of the dates recreatable using the recurrence rule to match a different date present in the list of predetermined dates; and

selecting one of the plurality of proposed recurrence definitions for use as the recurrence definition based on the corresponding efficiency measures.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the programmatically determining further comprises:

determining a set of proposed recurrence rules for the recurrence definition;

calculating, for at least one combination of a proposed recurrence rule in the set of proposed recurrence rules and a proposed interval in a set of proposed intervals for the proposed recurrence rule, a corresponding efficiency measure for representing the list of dates, based on how many exceptions are required for recreating the dates using the proposed recurrence rule, an exception comprising a change from a selected one of the dates recreatable using the recurrence rule to match a different date present in the list of predetermined dates; and

selecting the at least one combination of a proposed recurrence rule and a proposed interval for the recurrence definition based on the corresponding efficiency measure.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising using the processor for:

determining a set of modifier groups for a proposed recurrence rule in the set of proposed recurrence rules, each modifier group corresponding to a unique internal modifier that classifies the dates for the proposed recurrence rule and each modifier group including at least one of the list of dates; and

determining the set of proposed intervals based on at least one of the set of modifier groups.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising using the processor for:

determining a likely interval for the recurrence rule, based on a number of time units between neighboring dates in the list of dates;

determining a set of factors for the likely interval; and

including at least one of the set of factors in the set of proposed intervals.

8. A system for managing dates using a recurrence definition, comprising:

a first computer system comprising a processor; and

instructions which are executable, using the processor, to implement functions comprising;

obtaining, by the first computer system from a second computer system over a communications network, a list of dates of previously-scheduled event occurrences; and

improving storage efficiency of a storage device from which a scheduling module operating on the first computer system manages storage of event data, comprising;

from the list of dates of occurrences, programmatically determining a recurrence definition that represents the list of dates of occurrences, the recurrence definition comprising a recurrence rule from which the dates of occurrences can be recreated; and

storing the determined recurrence definition on the storage device instead of storing the list of dates of occurrences.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the obtaining comprises receiving the list of dates during a synchronization operation for synchronizing dates between a first event management system executing on the first computer system and a second event management system executing on the second computer system.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the functions further comprise:

determining an efficiency measure of the programmatically determined recurrence definition and an efficiency measure of a previously-determined recurrence definition that represents the list of dates and which comprises a different recurrence rule from which the dates can be recreated; and

replacing the previously-determined recurrence definition, on the storage device, with the programmatically determined recurrence definition when the determined efficiency measures indicate that the programmatically determined recurrence definition is more efficient than the previously-determined recurrence definition.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the programmatically determining further comprises:

determining, for each of a plurality of proposed recurrence definitions, a corresponding efficiency measure for representing the list of dates, based on how many exceptions are required for recreating the dates using the recurrence rule of the proposed recurrence definition, an exception comprising a change from a selected one of the dates recreatable using the recurrence rule to match a different date present in the list of predetermined dates; and

selecting one of the plurality of proposed recurrence definitions for use as the recurrence definition based on the corresponding efficiency measures.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the programmatically determining further comprises:

determining a set of proposed recurrence rules for the recurrence definition;

calculating, for at least one combination of a proposed recurrence rule in the set of proposed recurrence rules and a proposed interval in a set of proposed intervals for the proposed recurrence rule, a corresponding efficiency measure for representing the list of dates, based on how many exceptions are required for recreating the dates using the proposed recurrence rule, an exception comprising a change from a selected one of the dates recreatable using the recurrence rule to match a different date present in the list of predetermined dates; and

selecting the at least one combination of a proposed recurrence rule and a proposed interval for the recurrence definition based on the corresponding efficiency measure.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the functions further comprise:

determining a set of modifier groups for a proposed recurrence rule in the set of proposed recurrence rules, each modifier group corresponding to a unique internal modifier that classifies the dates for the proposed recurrence rule and each modifier group including at least one of the list of dates; and

determining the set of proposed intervals based on at least one of the set of modifier groups.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the functions further comprise:

determining a likely interval for the recurrence rule, based on a number of time units between neighboring dates in the list of dates;

determining a set of factors for the likely interval; and

including at least one of the set of factors in the set of proposed intervals.

15. A computer-implemented method of managing previously-scheduled event occurrence dates for an electronic system using a recurrence definition, comprising using a processor of a first computer system to perform:

obtaining, by the first computer system from a second computer system over a communications network, a list comprising a plurality of dates, each of the dates representing a previously-scheduled event occurrence; and

executing stored instructions, by the processor, to improve storage efficiency of a storage device from which a scheduling module operating on the first computer system manages storage of event data, comprising;

sorting the list of dates into sequential order;

determining a most common number of days between consecutive ones of the dates in the sorted list of dates;

responsive to determining that the most common number is approximately 7 or 30, selecting to use a weekly or monthly recurrence rule type, respectively, and otherwise selecting to use a daily recurrence rule type;

choosing a set of modifier groups corresponding to the selected recurrence rule type;

organizing each of the dates into a corresponding one of the modifier groups in the chosen set, wherein each of the dates corresponds to only a unique one of the modifier groups in the chosen set;

selecting, from the modifier groups, a particular one having a highest number of dates organized therein;

calculating a number of time units between each pair of consecutive ones of the dates organized into the selected modifier group, the time units corresponding to the selected recurrence rule type;

selecting a most common one of the calculated number of time units as a first proposed interval for the particular modifier group and selecting one as a second proposed interval for the particular modifier group;

determining a starting date and an ending date for the plurality of dates, the starting date being an earliest of the dates in the list and the ending date being a latest of the dates in the list;

generating a first representation of dates and a second representation of dates, comprising;

setting a first date in the first and the second representations equal to the starting date; and

iteratively computing, for the first and the second representations until reaching the ending date, a next date in the first and the second representations by adding a number of days corresponding to the first and the second interval, respectively, to a next-previous date in the respective representation;

comparing, for each of the first and the second representations as a sequence, the dates therein to the dates in the sorted list to determine a count of matching dates in each of the first and the second representations and a count of non-matching dates in each of the first and the second representations;

multiplying, for each of the first and the second representations, the count of non-matching dates by an exceptions multiplier to generate an exceptions cost for each of the first and the second representations;

selecting, as a determined interval, either the first interval or the second interval based on a lower of the corresponding exceptions cost; and

storing, on the storage device instead of storing the list of dates, a recurrence definition from which the list of dates can be recreated, the recurrence definition comprising the recurrence definition type, the selected interval, the start date, the ending date, and an exceptions list, wherein the exceptions list comprises each non-matching date from the representation corresponding to the selected interval.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the modifier groups in the set comprise days of a calendar week when the recurrence rule type is weekly.

17. The method according to claim 15, wherein the modifier groups in the set comprise months of a calendar year when the recurrence rule type is monthly.