Multi-layered online calendaring and purchasing

• US 6,369,840 B1
• Filed: 03/10/1999
• Issued: 04/09/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/10/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: AOL Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: America Online Inc. (Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sobotka, David C., Barnett, Theodore H., Lao, Vengpui Louis, Espinoza, Anthony A., Zaeske, Andrew W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cabeca, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Vu, Kieu D.
• Application Number:
  US09/265,515
• Time in Patent Office: 1,126 Days
• Field of Search: 345/113, 345/326, 345/329, 345/339, 345/344, 345/345, 345/963, 345/435, 345/353, 345/356, 345/357, 345/331, 345/853, 345/733, 345/962, 345/751, 345/841, 345/854, 345/764, 345/797, 709/201, 709/203, 709/219, 709/217, 707/501
• US Class Current: 715/853
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06314 Calendaring for a resource
• 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 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/962 Operator interface for marketing or sales
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/963 Calendar or scheduling

Abstract

A computer-implemented method and system for generating and displaying a calendar containing user-selected events from user-selected categories. A plurality of categories of events are provided. The user can select which categories are of interest, and then select individual events within those categories. Events are overlaid on a calendar unique to the user. Calendars may also be shared among a number of selected users, if desired. Online purchasing and related actions can be associated with each event.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for multi-layered online calendaring, comprising:

a) accepting user input specifying at least one of a plurality of categories;

wherein at least one category of the plurality of categories corresponds to a unique visual characteristic;

b) retrieving a plurality of events associated with the specified category, each having a date;

c) selectively displaying a date-delimited subset of the retrieved events associated with the specified category;

d) accepting user input selecting at least one of the displayed events;

e) adding the selected event to a computer-implemented personal calendar;

f) repeating steps a) through e); and

g) displaying the computer-implemented personal calendar by overlaying information from the selected events from the specified categories on a common display, the information for at least one event in a category being displayed uses the unique visual characteristic corresponding to the category if the category corresponds to a unique visual characteristic.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein each of at least a subset of the events has a time.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the unique visual characteristic is a color.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

f) repeating steps a) through e);

g) accepting user input specifying a subset of the specified categories for display; and

h) displaying the computer-implemented personal calendar by overlaying information from the selected events from the subset of the specified categories on a common display.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

d.1) accepting user input specifying a purchase associated with the selected event; and

d.2) processing the specified purchase.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

f) displaying the computer-implemented personal calendar.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

f) displaying a date-delimited subset of the computer-implemented personal calendar.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

f) accepting user input describing at least one personal event; and

g) integrating the personal event with the selected event in the computer-implemented personal calendar.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising:

h) selectively publishing the personal event to a group calendar.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising:

i) accepting input specifying a group of users to have access to the group calendar;

j) accepting input from a second user requesting information from the group calendar; and

k) responsive to the second user being specified in the group, selectively transmitting the information from the group calendar to the second user.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising:

i) accepting input specifying a group of users to have access to the group calendar;

j) designating a permitted level of access for each user in the group;

k) accepting input from a second user requesting access to the group calendar;

l) responsive to the second user being specified in the group, and to the requested access corresponding to the permitted level of access for the second user, allowing the requested access to the group calendar; and

m) responsive to the second user not being specified in the group, or to the requested access not corresponding to the permitted level of access for the second user, denying the requested access to the group calendar.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

f) accepting user input describing at least one personal event; and

g) displaying the computer-implemented personal calendar by overlaying the personal event onto the at least one selected event from the at least one specified category on a common display.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

f) accepting user input modifying the selected event;

g) recording the modified selected event in the computer-implemented personal calendar.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein a) comprises:

a.1) transmitting a page to a screen viewable by the user, the page containing a plurality of links, each link associated with a category; and

a.2) detecting user activation of a link specifying one of the categories;

and wherein c) comprises;

c.1) transmitting a page to a screen viewable by the user, the page containing a plurality of links, each link associated with a retrieved event belonging to a date-delimited subset of the retrieved events associated with the specified category;

and wherein d) comprises;

a.2) detecting user activation of a link specifying one of the displayed events.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein each of steps a.1) and c.1) comprise transmitting a page via a hypertext transfer protocol, and wherein each transmitted page comprises a hypertext-encoded document.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein each of steps a) and c) are performed by transmitting a file across a computer network.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein b) comprises retrieving a plurality of events from an externally-hosted database.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

f) accepting user input specifying that the computer-implemented personal calendar is to be shared with a second user; and

g) accepting input from the second user requesting the computer-implemented personal calendar; and

h) selectively transmitting at least a portion of the computer-implemented personal calendar to the second user.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein c) comprises selectively displaying a subset of the retrieved events associated with a user-specified date.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein c) comprises selectively displaying a subset of the retrieved events associated with a user-specified month.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein c) comprises selectively displaying a subset of the retrieved events associated with a user-specified week.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein b) further comprises:

b.1) retrieving at least one event from a personal calendar of a second user.

23. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein b) further comprises:

b.1) retrieving at least one event from a group calendar.

24. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein each of at least of a subset of the events has a location, and wherein b) comprises retrieving a plurality of events associated with the specified category and having a location corresponding to a specified location.

25. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a list of categories identified as newly available.

26. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a list of events identified as newly available.

27. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

f) displaying an alert in connection with the selected event, at a predetermined time relative to the date of the event.

28. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

f) outputting an audio alert in connection with the selected event, at a predetermined time relative to the date of the event.

29. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

f) sending a communication in connection with the selected event, at a predetermined time relative to the date of the event.

30. A computer-implemented system for multi-layered online calendaring, comprising:

a user input device for accepting user input specifying at least one of a plurality of categories, and for accepting user input selecting at least one of a plurality of displayed events;

wherein at least one category of the plurality of categories corresponds to a unique visual characteristic;

an event retrieval module, coupled to the user input device, for retrieving a plurality of events associated with the specified category, each event having a date;

a display module, coupled to the event retrieval module, for selectively displaying a date-delimited subset of the retrieved events associated with the specified category;

wherein the information for at least one event in the specified category is displayed using the unique visual characteristic corresponding to the specified category if the specified category corresponds to a unique visual characteristic; and

a personal calendar storage device, coupled to the user input device, for adding a selected event to a computer-implemented personal calendar.

31. The computer-implemented system of claim 30, wherein the display module displays the computer-implemented personal calendar by overlaying information from at least two selected events from at least one specified category on a common display.

32. The computer-implemented system of claim 30, further comprising a purchasing module, coupled to the user input device, for processing a user-specified purchase associated with the selected event.

33. The computer-implemented system of claim 30, wherein:

the user input device further accepts user input describing at least one personal event; and

the display module displays the computer-implemented personal calendar by overlaying the personal event onto the at least one selected event from the at least one specified category on a common display.

34. The computer-implemented system of claim 30, further comprising:

an alert device, coupled to the personal calendar storage device, for displaying an alert in connection with the selected event, at a predetermined time relative to the date of the event.

35. The computer-implemented system of claim 30, further comprising:

an alert device, coupled to the personal calendar storage device, for outputting an audio alert in connection with the selected event, at a predetermined time relative to the date of the event.

36. The computer-implemented system of claim 30, further comprising:

a group calendar publishing module, coupled to the personal calendar storage device, for selectively publishing the personal event to a group calendar storage device.

37. The computer-implemented system of claim 36, wherein:

the user input device accepts input specifying a group of users to have access to the group calendar; and

the group calendar storage device accepts input from a second user requesting information from the group calendar, and, responsive to the second user being specified in the group, selectively transmits the information from the group calendar to the second user.

38. A computer-implemented system for multi-layered online calendaring, comprising:

an events database, containing a plurality of events, each event associated with at least one category, each event having a date;

a personal category database, containing personal calendar information for a user;

wherein at least one category corresponding to the events database or the personal category database corresponds to a unique visual characteristic;

an application server, coupled to the events database and to the personal calendar database, for retrieving a plurality of events from the events database, the plurality of events being associated with a specified category, and for retrieving personal calendar information from the personal calendar database; and

a display device, coupled to the application server, for selectively displaying a date-delimited subset of the retrieved events associated with the specified category, the information for at least one event in the specified category is displayed using the unique visual characteristic corresponding to the specified category if the specified category corresponds to a unique visual characteristic.

39. The computer-implemented system of claim 38, further comprising a user input device coupled to the application service, wherein:

the application server, responsive to the user specifying an event from the displayed date-delimiting subset, adds the specified event to the personal calendar information for the user.

40. The computer-implemented system of claim 39, wherein the display device selectively displays a computer-implemented personal calendar by overlaying information from user-specified events.

41. A computer-implemented system for multi-layered online calendaring, comprising:

user input means, for accepting user input specifying at least one of a plurality of categories, and for accepting user input selecting at least one of a plurality of displayed events;

wherein at least one category of the plurality of categories corresponds to a unique visual characteristic;

event retrieval means, coupled to the user input means, for retrieving a plurality of events associated with the specified category, each event having a date;

display means, coupled to the event retrieval means, for selectively displaying a date-delimited subset of the retrieved events associated with the specified category, the information for at least one event in the specified category is displayed using the unique visual characteristic corresponding to the specified category if the specified category corresponds to a unique visual characteristic; and

personal calendar storage means, coupled to the user input means, for adding a selected event to a computer-implemented personal calendar.

42. The computer-implemented system of claim 41, wherein the display means displays the computer-implemented personal calendar by overlaying information from at least two selected events from at least one specified category on a common display.

43. The computer-implemented system of claim 41, further comprising purchasing means, coupled to the user input means, for processing a user-specified purchase associated with the selected event.

44. The computer-implemented system of claim 41, wherein:

the user input means further accepts user input describing at least one personal event; and

the display means displays the computer-implemented personal calendar by overlaying the personal event onto the at least one selected event from the at least one specified category on a common display.

45. The computer-implemented system of claim 41, further comprising:

alert means, coupled to the personal calendar storage means, for displaying an alert in connection with the selected event, at a predetermined time relative to the date of the event.

46. The computer-implemented system of claim 41, further comprising:

alert means, coupled to the personal calendar storage means, for outputting an audio alert in connection with the selected event, at a predetermined time relative to the date of the event.

47. The computer-implemented system of claim 41, further comprising:

group calendar publishing means, coupled to the personal calendar storage means, for selectively publishing the personal event to a group calendar storage means.

48. The computer-implemented system of claim 47, wherein:

the user input means accepts input specifying a group of users to have access to the group calendar; and

the group calendar storage means accepts input from a second user requesting information from the group calendar, and, responsive to the second user being specified in the group, selectively transmits the information from the group calendar to the second user.

49. A computer program product comprising a computer-usable medium having computer-readable code embodied therein for multi-layered online calendaring, comprising:

computer-readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to accept user input specifying at least one of a plurality of categories, and to accept user input selecting at least one of a plurality of displayed events;

wherein at least one category of the plurality of categories corresponds to a unique visual characteristic;

computer-readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to retrieve a plurality of events associated with the specified category, each event having a date;

computer-readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to selectively display a date-delimited subset of the retrieved events associated with the specified category, the information for at least one event in the specified category is displayed using the unique visual characteristic corresponding to the specified category if the specified category corresponds to a unique visual characteristic; and

computer-readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to add a selected event to a computer-implemented personal calendar.

50. The computer program product of claim 49, wherein the computer-readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to selectively display are configured to cause a computer to display the computer-implemented personal calendar by overlaying information from at least two selected events from at least one specified category on a common display.

51. The computer program product of claim 49, further comprising computer-readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to process a user-specified purchase associated with the selected event.

52. The computer program product of claim 49, wherein:

the computer-readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to accept user input are configured to cause a computer to accept user input describing at least one personal event; and

the computer-readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to selectively display are configured to cause computer to display the computer-implemented personal calendar by overlaying the personal event onto the at least one selected event from the at least one specified category on a common display.

53. The computer program product of claim 49, further comprising:

computer-readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to display an alert in connection with the selected event, at a predetermined time relative to the date of the event.

54. The computer program product of claim 49, further comprising:

computer-readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to output an audio alert in connection with the selected event, at a predetermined time relative to the date of the event.

55. The computer program product of claim 49, further comprising:

computer-readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to selectively publish the personal event to a group calendar storage device.

56. The computer program product of claim 55, wherein:

the computer-readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to accept user input are configured to cause a computer to accept input specifying a group of users to have access to the group calendar; and

the group calendar storage device accepts input from a second user requesting information from the group calendar, and, responsive to the second user being specified in the group, selectively transmits the information from the group calendar to the second user.