Methods and systems for managing an electronic calendar

• US 20080033779A1
• Filed: 08/04/2006
• Published: 02/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Coffman, Patrick L., Christie, Gregory, Colom, Manuel
• Granted Patent: US 9,058,595 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/9
• 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 10/1095 Meeting or appointment

Abstract

Methods and systems for managing an electronic calendar are described. One exemplary method includes displaying a calendar on a display device, the calendar having at least one time range, and displaying an invitation, before it is accepted, on the calendar in the at least one time range with other events which are already accepted. Another exemplary method includes displaying a calendar on a display device and displaying a list of user-selectable calendars comprising an invitation calendar which presents invitations which have not yet been accepted or declined on the invitation calendar. Other methods are described, and machine readable media and systems are also described.

Claims

1. A machine readable medium containing executable program instructions which cause a data processing system to perform a method comprising:

displaying a calendar on a display device, the calendar having at least one time range;

displaying an invitation, before it is accepted or declined, on the calendar in the at least one time range.

2. A medium as in claim 1 wherein the at least one time range comprises one of at least a portion of a day, a week, a plurality of weeks, a month, and a plurality of months, and wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a user input to display the invitation, before it is accepted or declined, on the calendar along with other events, already accepted, on the calendar.

3. A medium as in claim 1, the method further comprising:

receiving a notification of the invitation before it is displayed on the calendar.

4. A medium as in claim 1, the method further comprising:

displaying a user interface to allow a user to accept or decline the invitation.

5. A medium as in claim 4 wherein the user interface comprises an accept icon and a decline icon displayed on the invitation on the calendar.

6. A medium as in claim 4 wherein the method further comprises displaying a list of user-selectable calendars comprising an invitation calendar which presents invitations which have not been accepted or declined and wherein accepting the invitation causes the invitation to be removed from the invitation calendar and causes the invitation to be displayed on the calendar in a form to show it is accepted.

7. A medium as in claim 4 wherein the invitation is presented differently on the calendar than other events, already accepted, on the calendar.

8. A medium as in claim 7 wherein the invitation is visually distinguishable from the other events and the time span of the invitation is shown on the calendar in the same manner as the time spans of the other events which are shown on the calendar and wherein accepting the invitation causes an acceptance message to be sent to a source of the invitation.

9. A machine implemented method comprising:

displaying a calendar on a display device, the calendar having at least one time range;

displaying an invitation, before it is accepted or declined, on the calendar in the at least one time range.

10. A method as in claim 9 wherein the at least one time range comprises one of at least a portion of a day, a week, a plurality of weeks, a month, and a plurality of months, and wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a user input to display the invitation, before it is accepted or declined, on the calendar along with other events, already accepted, on the calendar.

11. A method as in claim 9, the method further comprising:

receiving a notification of the invitation before it is displayed on the calendar.

12. A method as in claim 9, the method further comprising:

displaying a user interface to allow a user to accept or decline the invitation.

13. A method as in claim 12 wherein the user interface comprises an accept icon and a decline icon displayed on the invitation on the calendar.

14. A method as in claim 12 wherein the method further comprises displaying a list of user-selectable calendars comprising an invitation calendar which presents invitations which have not been accepted or declined and wherein accepting the invitation causes the invitation to be removed from the invitation calendar and causes the invitation to be displayed on the calendar in a form to show it is accepted.

15. A method as in claim 12 wherein the invitation is presented differently on the calendar than other events, already accepted, on the calendar.

16. A method as in claim 15 wherein the invitation is visually distinguishable from the other events and the time span of the invitation is shown on the calendar in the same manner as the time spans of the other events which are shown on the calendar and wherein accepting the invitation causes an acceptance message to be sent to a source of the invitation.

17. A data processing system comprising:

means for displaying a calendar on a display device, the calendar having at least one time range;

means for displaying an invitation, before it is accepted or declined, on the calendar in the at least one time range.

18. A machine readable medium containing executable program instructions which cause a data processing system to perform a method comprising:

displaying a calendar on a display device, the calendar having at least one time range;

displaying a notification of an event at a time on the calendar, the notification having a time duration and being displayed at the time on the calendar before it is accepted by a user.

19. A medium as in claim 18 wherein at least one time range comprises one of at least a portion of a day, a week, a plurality of weeks, a month, and a plurality of months and wherein the method further comprises:

displaying a user interface to allow a user to accept the notification and wherein the time duration is displayed on the calendar at the time.

20. A medium as in claim 19 wherein the method further comprises:

presenting an alert for the notification before it is displayed on the calendar;

receiving a user input to display the notification, before it is accepted, on the calendar, and wherein the time duration is displayed as a time dimensional area on the calendar in proportion to the time duration.

21. A medium as in claim 19 wherein the user interface comprises an accept icon displayed in association with the notification on the calendar.

22. A medium as in claim 19 wherein the method further comprises:

displaying a list of user-selectable calendars comprising a notification calendar which presents notifications which have not been accepted and wherein accepting the notification causes the notification to be removed from the notification calendar and causes the notification to be displayed on the calendar in a form to show it is accepted.

23. A medium as in claim 19 wherein the notification is presented differently on the calendar than other events which are already accepted and the time duration is shown on the calendar in the same manner as time durations of the other events which are shown on the calendar, and wherein accepting the notification causes an acceptance message to be sent to a source of the notification.

24. A machine implemented method comprising:

displaying a calendar on a display device, the calendar having at least one time range;

displaying a notification of an event at a time on the calendar, the notification having a time duration and being displayed at the time on the calendar before it is accepted by a user.

25. A method as in claim 24 wherein the at least one time range comprises one of at least a portion of a day, a week, a plurality of weeks, a month, and a plurality of months, and wherein the method further comprises:

displaying a user interface to allow a user to accept the notification and wherein the time duration is displayed on the calendar at the time.

26. A method as in claim 25 wherein the method further comprises:

presenting an alert for the notification before it is displayed on the calendar;

receiving a user input to display the notification, before it is accepted, on the calendar, and wherein the time duration is displayed as a time dimensional area on the calendar in proportion to the time duration.

27. A method as in claim 25 wherein the user interface comprises an accept icon displayed in association with the notification on the calendar.

28. A method as in claim 25 wherein the method further comprises:

displaying a list of user-selectable calendars comprising a notification calendar which presents notifications which have not been accepted and wherein accepting the notification causes the notification to be removed from the notification calendar and causes the notification to be displayed on the calendar in a form to show it is accepted.

29. A method as in claim 25 wherein the notification is presented differently on the calendar than other events which are already accepted and the time duration is shown on the calendar in the same manner as time durations of the other events which are shown on the calendar, and wherein accepting the notification causes an acceptance message to be sent to a source of the notification.

30. A data processing system comprising:

means for displaying a calendar on a display device, the calendar having at least one time range;

means for displaying a notification of an event at a time on the calendar, the notification having a time duration and being displayed at the time on the calendar before it is accepted by a user.

31. A machine readable medium containing executable program instructions which cause a data processing system to perform a method comprising:

displaying a calendar on a display device, the calendar having at least one time range;

displaying a list of user-selectable calendars comprising an invitation calendar which presents invitations which have not yet been accepted or declined on the invitation calendar.

32. A medium as in claim 31 wherein the method further comprises:

displaying, for each user-selectable calendar in the list, a user interface to cause events from a corresponding calendar to be displayed or not displayed on the calendar, and wherein the at least one range comprises one of at least a portion of a day, a week, a plurality of weeks, a month, and a plurality of months.

33. A medium as in claim 32 wherein when the user interface for the invitation calendar is set to cause invitations from the invitation calendar to be displayed, then the invitations are displayed on the calendar before an invitation is accepted, and when the user interface for the invitation calendar is set to cause invitations from the invitation calendar to be not displayed, then the invitations are not displayed.

34. A medium as in claim 33 wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a notification of an invitation, and displaying an alert associated with the invitation.

35. A medium as in claim 34 wherein the method further comprises:

displaying a user interface to allow a user to accept the invitation.

36. A medium as in claim 35 wherein invitations, when displayed on the calendar before being accepted, are visually distinguishable from events from other calendars in the list of user-selectable calendars.

37. A medium as in claim 36 wherein the user interface for each selectable calendar is selectable independently of the other user interfaces for other calendars in the list.

38. A machine implemented method comprising:

displaying a calendar on a display device, the calendar having at least one time range;

displaying a list of user-selectable calendars comprising an invitation calendar which presents invitations which have not yet been accepted or declined on the invitation calendar.

39. A method as in claim 38 wherein the method further comprises:

displaying, for each user-selectable calendar in the list, a user interface to cause events from a corresponding calendar to be displayed or not displayed on the calendar, and wherein the at least one range comprises one of at least a portion of a day, a week, a plurality of weeks, a month, and a plurality of months.

40. A method as in claim 39 wherein when the user interface for the invitation calendar is set to cause invitations from the invitation calendar to be displayed, then the invitations are displayed on the calendar before an invitation is accepted, and when the user interface for the invitation calendar is set to cause invitations from the invitation calendar to be not displayed, then the invitations are not displayed.

41. A method as in claim 40 wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a notification of an invitation and displaying an alert associated with the invitation.

42. A method as in claim 41 wherein the method further comprises:

displaying a user interface to allow a user to accept the invitation.

43. A method as in claim 42 wherein invitations, when displayed on the calendar before being accepted, are visually distinguishable from events from other calendars in the list of user-selectable calendars.

44. A method as in claim 43 wherein the user interface for each selectable calendar is selectable independently of the other user interfaces for other calendars in the list.

45. A data processing system comprising:

means for displaying a calendar on a display device, the calendar having at least one time range;

means for displaying a list of user-selectable calendars comprising an invitation calendar which presents invitations which have not yet been accepted or declined on the invitation calendar.

46. A machine readable medium containing executable program instructions which cause a data processing system to perform a method comprising:

displaying a user'"'"'s calendar on a display device;

displaying a list of calendars comprising an invitation calendar, each of the calendars in the list having at least one time range;

displaying a selection interface for each calendar in the list of calendars, each of the selection interfaces to cause events from a corresponding calendar to be displayed or not displayed on the user'"'"'s calendar.

47. A medium as in claim 46 wherein each selection interface is a toggle for a corresponding calendar, and wherein a calendar'"'"'s events are displayed in the user'"'"'s calendar when its toggle is activated and wherein more than one calendar in the list of calendars can be toggled to an activated state and wherein events contained in all toggled on calendars are displayed concurrently in the user'"'"'s calendar.

48. A medium as in claim 47 wherein invitations from the invitations calendar, when toggled on, are displayed in the user'"'"'s calendar before the invitations are accepted by the user.

49. A medium as in claim 48 wherein deactivating an activated toggle for a first calendar causes events from the first calendar to be removed from the display of the user'"'"'s calendar.

50. A medium as in claim 49 wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a notification of an invitation and displaying an alert associated with the invitation.

51. A medium as in claim 50 wherein the method further comprises:

displaying a user interface to allow a user to accept the invitation.

52. A medium as in claim 51 wherein invitations, when displayed on the user'"'"'s calendars before being accepted, are visually distinguishable from events from other calendars in the list of calendars.

53. A machine implemented method comprising:

displaying a user'"'"'s calendar on a display device;

displaying a list of calendars comprising an invitation calendar, each of the calendars in the list having at least one time range;

displaying a selection interface for each calendar in the list of calendars, each of the selection interfaces to cause events from a corresponding calendar to be displayed or not displayed on the user'"'"'s calendar.

54. A method as in claim 53 wherein each selection interface is a toggle for a corresponding calendar, and wherein a calendar'"'"'s events are displayed in the user'"'"'s calendar when its toggle is activated and wherein more than one calendar in the list of calendars can be toggled to an activated state and wherein events contained in all toggled on calendars are displayed concurrently in the user'"'"'s calendar.

55. A method as in claim 54 wherein invitations from the invitations calendar, when toggled on, are displayed in the user'"'"'s calendar before the invitations are accepted by the user.

56. A method as in claim 55 wherein deactivating an activated toggle for a first calendar causes events from the first calendar to be removed from the display of the user'"'"'s calendar.

57. A method as in claim 56 wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a notification of an invitation and displaying an alert associated with the invitation.

58. A method as in claim 57 wherein the method further comprises:

displaying a user interface to allow a user to accept the invitation.

59. A method as in claim 58 wherein invitations, when displayed on the user'"'"'s calendar before being accepted, are visually distinguishable from events from other calendars in the list of calendars.

60. A data processing system comprising:

means for displaying a user'"'"'s calendar on a display device;

means for displaying a list of calendars comprising an invitation calendar, each of the calendars in the list having at least one time range;

means for displaying a selection interface for each calendar in the list of calendars, each of the selection interfaces to cause events from a corresponding calendar to be displayed or not displayed on the user'"'"'s calendar.