System, method, and service for negotiating schedules while preserving privacy through a shared representation
First Claim
1. A calendaring method for negotiating schedules among a plurality of participants, comprising:
- specifying availability preferences of the plurality of participants;
automatically proposing an event plan reflective of the availability preferences of the plurality of participants; and
automatically providing the plurality of participants with options to accept the event plan, comprising at least one of;
an option to decline the event plan, and an option to iteratively propose an alternative event plan.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A meeting negotiation system provides a new approach to scheduling events by negotiating schedules while preserving privacy through a shared representation that separates the meeting negotiation from the meeting invitation. The negotiation system integrates all scheduling-related information such as times users can meet, location, etc. and reduces dependency on designations of time as free or busy by a potential meeting attendee. Consequently, the negotiation system enables time preferences richer than just free or busy, allowing potential meeting attendees to designate preference in addition to time available. The negotiation system supports annotations and comments as a discussion mechanism, giving feedback to the meeting scheduler before the meeting invitation is issued. Possible times provided for the meeting are provided in the form of a bounded negotiation; participants may select the best time for them to attend a meeting from the bounded negotiation. The meeting organizer finalizes the meeting time from the responses provided by participants.
176 Citations
30 Claims
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1. A calendaring method for negotiating schedules among a plurality of participants, comprising:
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specifying availability preferences of the plurality of participants;
automatically proposing an event plan reflective of the availability preferences of the plurality of participants; and
automatically providing the plurality of participants with options to accept the event plan, comprising at least one of;
an option to decline the event plan, and an option to iteratively propose an alternative event plan. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A calendaring computer program product having instruction codes for negotiating schedules among a plurality of participants, comprising:
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a first set of instruction codes for specifying availability preferences of the plurality of participants;
a second set of instruction codes for automatically proposing an event plan reflective of the availability preferences of the plurality of participants; and
a third set of instruction codes for automatically providing the plurality of participants with options to accept the event plan, comprising at least one of;
an option to decline the event plan, and an option to iteratively propose an alternative event plan. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A calendaring service for negotiating schedules among a plurality of participants, comprising:
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a specification of availability preferences of the plurality of participants;
an automatic proposal of an event plan reflective of the availability preferences of the plurality of participants; and
an automatic provision of the plurality of participants with options to accept the event plan, comprising at least one of;
an option to decline the event plan, and an option to iteratively propose an alternative event plan. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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Specification