Method for Automated, Intelligent Calendar Management via User Profile Collaboration

Method for Automated, Intelligent Calendar Management via User Profile Collaboration

Methods exist within electronic calendar applications that allow users to set up a company calendar application to automatically accept all meetings when a requesting email is received. However, there is no way for a user to assign priorities or preferences to meeting requests. A system is needed to automatically handle varying requests in an intelligent way, accommodating changes in a user's position and/or responsibilities and goals. In particular, this need is applicable to existing, repeating calendar entries or to times when the user alters their availability to mechanisms that attempt to determine when a user is available for a meeting.

The invention proposed allows a user to define many characteristics (i.e., establish a profile), within a calendar system in order to optimize their participation in the most effective meetings. Once the characteristics are established, the calendar requires less user time to manage. The system intelligently automates calendar behavior in present entries, retroactively automates behavior to existing entries, and adjusts entries to match changes in the user's roles and responsibilities as well as interacts with outside scheduling mechanisms that show the user's availability.

Features:

• Assign preferred times during their normal meeting availability

• Reject meeting requests from selected individuals or organizations

• Assign automated acceptance of meetings from pre-selected individuals or organizations

• Change accepted or tentatively accepted meetings to match an updated priorities

• Automatically adjust for changes in management chains

• Automatically prioritize and accept/reject based on keywords or projects

• Alter existing calendar entries as they fall out of alignment with a user profile or goals

• Pro-actively show the user as unavailable for a meeting, if their profile does not accept the meeting based on the criteria in the meeting invitation

• Show user as available even if they have a meeting scheduled, if the new meeting ranks higher

• Prioritize new meetings over existing ones based on scoring of priority attributes

• Automatically propose a time that is free or overlaps with a lower priority or scored meeting

• Avoid meetings with certain individuals or prioritize some over others

• Potentially prioritize some meetings based on location

• Dynamically update profile to ensure alternating of running meetings

• Automatically cancel or move if the user is the meeting chair

Functions:

• Score and prioritize meeting invitations and existing calendar entries based on a profile system where the profile is comprised of items such as (but not limited to):

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- Position, roles and responsibilities

- Keywords

- Current work hours

- Project identifiers or associations

- Duration and repetition

- Organizational chain

- Meeting chair or other individuals on the inv...