Specifying during meeting establishment when respondents are to be prompted for attendance intentions

• US 8,126,974 B2
• Filed: 05/02/2008
• Issued: 02/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Lyle, Ruthie D., Cannon, Ulysses Lamont
• Primary Examiner(s): Winder, Patrice
• Assistant Examiner(s): Golabbakhsh, Ebrahim
• Application Number:
  US12/114,547
• Publication Number:
  US 20090276498A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,397 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709206-207, 709/236
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting

Abstract

A meeting initialization request for a meeting can be identified. The meeting initialization request can specify a prompt time for attendance intentions. A programmatic trigger, referred to as a prompt trigger, can be established for the prompt time. A firing of this prompt trigger can occur when a current time equals the prompt time. At this time, at least one potential attendee for the meeting can be determined. A set of potential attendees is typically defined by the meeting initiator within the meeting initialization request. An intention message can be sent to the determined potential attendee responsive to a firing of the programmatic trigger. This intention message can be sent at a time close to the prompt time. The intention message can prompt the potential attendee to indicate whether the potential attendee intends to attend the meeting.

Claims

1. A method for delayed meeting intention response comprising:

a computing device identifying a meeting initialization request for a meeting, wherein said meeting initialization request specifies a prompt time for attendance intentions;

the computing device establishing a programmatic trigger for the prompt time, referred to as the prompt trigger;

the computing device firing the prompt trigger when a current time equals the prompt time;

the computing device determining at least one potential attendee of the meeting; and

the computing device sending an intention message to the determined potential attendee responsive to a firing of the prompt trigger, wherein said intention message prompts the potential attendee to indicate whether the potential attendee intends to attend the meeting, wherein the intention message comprises a set of user selectable answers for whether the potential attendee will attend the meeting, said user selectable answers comprising;

yes, no, and a response indicating that the potential attendee is not sure whether the potential attendee will be attending the meeting.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the meeting initialization request is received during a meeting initialization time, wherein the prompt time is a user configured time having a date and time established by a meeting initiator who completed the meeting initialization request.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the computing device receiving user input entered into a prompt element of a user interface, wherein said user interface is one used to establish a new meeting time, a plurality of meeting participants, a meeting title, and other meeting attributes, wherein the input entered into the prompt element defines the prompt time.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the sending comprises at sending an email message to email addresses of at least a portion of the at least one determined potential attendees.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the meeting initialization request is received by meeting management software, where said meeting management software stores meeting specifics from the meeting initialization request in a data store comprising a plurality of meeting records, wherein each of said meeting record comprises a primary key for a meeting event, an attribute for meeting time, and an attribute for prompt time.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said meeting initialization request comprises a tally time for the meeting, said method further comprising:

the computing device establishing a programmatic trigger for the tally time, referred to as the tally trigger;

the computing device firing the tally trigger when a current time equals the tally time;

the computing device compiling metrics from a plurality of intention responses from potential attendees;

wherein the plurality of intention responses indicate whether the potential attendees intend to attend the meeting; and

the computing device creating from these compiled metrics an expected attendance report, which is made available to at least one party designated as authorized by an meeting initiator of the meeting initialization request, wherein the meeting initialization request is received during a meeting initialization time, wherein the prompt time is a user configured time having a date and time established by the meeting initiator who completed the meeting initialization request, wherein the tally time is a user configured time having a date and time established by the meeting initiator.

7. A method for summarizing intention responses comprising:

the computing device identifying a meeting initialization request for a meeting, wherein the meeting initialization request specifies a tally time for the meeting;

the computing device establishing a programmatic trigger for the tally time;

the computing device firing the programmatic trigger when a current time equals the tally time;

the computing device compiling metrics from a plurality of intention responses from potential attendees;

wherein the plurality of intention responses indicate whether the potential attendees intend to attend the meeting, wherein each of the intension responses provides an answer to whether the corresponding potential attendee is to attend the meeting, wherein said answer is selected from a set of answers comprising;

yes, no, and a response indicating that the corresponding potential attendee is not sure whether the potential attendee will be attending the meeting; and

the computing device creating from these compiled metrics an expected attendance report, which is made available to at least one party designated as authorized by an initiator of the meeting initialization request.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the tally time is a user configured time having a date and time established by the meeting initiator.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

the computing device receiving user input entered into a tally element of a user interface, wherein said user interface is one used to establish a new meeting time, a plurality of meeting participants, a meeting title, and other meeting attributes, wherein the input entered into the tally element defines the tally time.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

sending the expected attendance report to the at least one party responsive to the firing of the tally trigger.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the meeting initialization request is received by meeting management software, where said meeting management software stores meeting specifics from the meeting initialization request in a data store comprising a plurality of meeting records, wherein each of said meeting record comprises a primary key for a meeting event, an attribute for meeting time, and an attribute for tally time.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein said meeting initialization request comprises a prompt time for the meeting, said method further comprising:

the computing device receiving user input entered into a tally element of a user interface;

the computing device receiving user input entered into a prompt element of the user interface, wherein the user interface is one used to establish a new meeting time, a plurality of meeting participants, a meeting title, and other meeting attributes, wherein the input entered into the tally element defines the tally time, and wherein the input entered into the prompt element defines the prompt time;

the computing device establishing a programmatic trigger for the prompt time, referred to as the prompt trigger;

the computing device firing the prompt trigger when a current time equals the prompt time;

the computing device determining at least one potential attendee of the meeting; and

the computing device sending an intention message to the determined potential attendee responsive to a firing of the prompt trigger, wherein said intention message prompts the potential attendee to indicate whether the potential attendee intends to attend the meeting.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein said steps of claim 8 are steps performed automatically by at least one machine in accordance with at least one computer program having a plurality of code sections that are executable by the at least one machine, said at least one computer program being stored in a machine readable medium.

14. A system comprising hardware and software for managing meetings that permits and establishment of at least one of a prompt time and a tally time comprising:

a meeting management software program stored in a non-transitory machine usable medium configured to receive, manage, and store meeting specific information and configured to perform a plurality of programmatic actions related to the meeting specific information;

a meeting data store configured to store digitally encoded information comprising the meeting specific information used by the meeting management software program; and

a user interface of the meeting management software program comprising a meeting establishment view, said meeting establishment view comprising a plurality of interface controls for establishing specifics for a meeting, said meeting establishment view comprising a prompt time element configured to accept input defining a configurable prompt time, wherein said prompt time represents a time when potential attendees are to be presented messages to indicate whether each potential attendee intends to attend the meeting, wherein said meeting management software is configured to establish a programmatic trigger for the prompt time, referred to as the prompt trigger, and wherein the meeting management software is configured to fire the prompt trigger and is configured to perform a programmatic action related to the prompt time when a current time equals the prompt time, wherein the messages presented to potential attendees to indicate whether each potential attendee intends to attend the meeting comprise a set of user selectable answers for whether the potential attendee will attend the meeting, said set of user selectable answers comprising;

yes, no, and a response indicating that the potential attendee is not sure whether the potential attendee will be attending the meeting.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein said user interface further comprises at least one tally element, wherein the input entered into the tally element defines the tally time, wherein said tally time represent a time at which metrics from a plurality of intention responses from potential attendees for a meeting are to be compiled and made available to a party designated by a meeting initiator, wherein the plurality of intention responses indicate whether the potential attendees intend to attend the meeting, wherein said meeting management software is configured to establish a programmatic trigger for the tally time, referred to as the tally trigger, and wherein the meeting management software is configured to fire the tally trigger and is configured to perform a programmatic action related to the tally time when a current time equals the tally time.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein said meeting data store is configured to store a plurality of indexed database records stored in database tables, wherein one of said database tables is a meeting table that has a primary key of a meeting identifier, wherein said meeting table has an attribute defining the prompt time, and wherein said meeting table has an attribute defining the tally time.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the database tables are relational database management system (RDBMS) tables configured in third normal form.

18. The system of claim 14, further comprising:

communication software stored in a machine usable medium configured to permit a user to communicate with a plurality of other users, wherein said meeting management software program and said communication software are configured to interact to automatically send messages to each potential participant of a meeting, as defined in the meeting data store, when the prompt trigger fires.