An interaction method for quickly adding recurring appointments in waterfall month view

Abstract

The application discloses an interactive method for quickly adding a recurring schedule in a waterfall month view. The method involves the following steps: providing a schedule template selector, performing schedule drop, conflict detection and prompt, and differential submission and server verification in the waterfall month view. The application provides a schedule template selector in the user interface, displays a plurality of predefined schedule templates, selects at least one schedule template from them, applies the schedule template to the corresponding date to generate a schedule instance and performs a preview in response to the user's operation on the date grid, performs conflict detection and prompt during the preview, and submits the data to the server in response to the user's submission operation. The application improves the accuracy and efficiency of the interactive operation process of quickly adding a recurring schedule in a waterfall month view, and solves the problems of incoherence, low efficiency and high error rate in the prior art.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of interactive technology for adding recurring schedules, and more particularly to an interactive method for quickly adding recurring schedules in a waterfall-style monthly view. Background Technology

[0002] Users can long-press on any date in the monthly view to trigger creation mode. At this point, users can directly stretch the displayed schedule block to set its duration, anchoring it directly to the monthly view context. When the user releases their finger to confirm the first schedule, no complex form pops up; instead, a lightweight toolbar appears next to the schedule, providing buttons for frequently used modes such as "Weekday Recurrence" and "Every Other Week Recurrence." When the user selects "Weekday Recurrence," the recurrence rule engine (such as rrule.js) is immediately invoked to calculate all matching dates in real time in the background, and all future instances are visualized and previewed on the monthly view in a semi-transparent highlighted format.

[0003] The key integration of the process lies in exception handling. If users need to exclude holidays, they can simply long-press the preview block for that day and drag it out of the view to automatically add that date as an exception; if they need to add dates on irregular days, they can drag and copy the original calendar card to that day and record it as a special addition (RDATE). All modifications are made directly through gestures within the monthly view.

[0004] After final confirmation, all instances are generated in batches. Thanks to virtual scrolling technology, users can seamlessly scroll up and down to view subsequent months. Newly generated recurring schedules are dynamically rendered as they scroll, maintaining a continuous "waterfall" browsing experience and enabling the natural creation and management of complex recurring schedules on the limited screen of mobile devices.

[0005] For example, the invention patent announcement CN105354699B discloses a schedule setting method, device, and schedule management system, which includes: obtaining preset first schedule information; obtaining second schedule information of all participants; performing an analysis operation based on the second schedule information and the first schedule information to obtain a second start and end time; updating the first start and end time in the first schedule information with the second start and end time, and sending third schedule information containing the updated first start and end time to all participant accounts; receiving feedback information sent by participant accounts; and when a schedule confirmation instruction is received, saving the first schedule information and adding the schedule corresponding to the third schedule information to all participant accounts.

[0006] For example, the invention patent with publication number CN103310329A discloses a schedule information adding system, method, mobile phone, and schedule information adding method, which includes: a schedule server and a mobile phone. The schedule server is used to pre-store one or more schedule information, generate and save corresponding schedule identification information for each schedule information, and generate a QR code image containing the identification information. The mobile phone is used to scan and parse the QR code image, obtain the identification information contained in the QR code image, obtain the schedule information corresponding to the schedule identification information from the schedule server, and add the schedule information to the calendar application of the mobile phone.

[0007] The above-mentioned technology has at least the following technical problems:

[0008] In existing technologies, firstly, when creating shifts, courses, or nursing schedules with complex cyclical rules (such as those executed by weekdays, every other week, or custom combinations) on mobile devices and frequently handling exception days (such as statutory holidays, temporary shift changes, or leave requests), the user's workload is heavy. Existing solutions usually rely on multi-level repetitive rule form interfaces, requiring users to first fully define abstract rules to generate a series of events as a whole, and then enter another view or interface to find and modify exceptions one by one. This process leads to frequent interface jumps, dense form filling, and lengthy operation processes on small mobile screens, resulting in low efficiency and a high risk of errors.

[0009] Secondly, although the waterfall-style monthly view provides users with an intuitive browsing experience of long-term arrangements, existing solutions lack quick operation methods that are deeply integrated with it: either they force users to leave the monthly view context and turn to separate interfaces such as the agenda list to operate, resulting in high spatial migration and cognitive costs; or they only provide basic functions such as batch application of the same event after selecting multiple dates, which cannot support flexible rules and real-time exception adjustments.

[0010] Finally, in multi-user collaborative editing scenarios, existing technologies mostly adopt a post-processing mode of "submit first, conflict later". Users cannot foresee potential conflicts with other people's schedules during local operation, and can only discover them after submission to the server. This leads to a delay in conflict resolution, requiring repeated coordination and modification, resulting in low collaboration efficiency. Furthermore, the low efficiency of creating complex recurring schedules in batches on mobile devices, the lack of interaction continuity with the monthly view browsing experience, and the low real-time predictability of multi-user collaborative conflicts result in a disjointed, inefficient, and error-prone interactive operation process for quickly adding recurring schedules in the waterfall-style monthly view. Summary of the Invention

[0011] This application provides an interactive method for quickly adding recurring events in a waterfall-style monthly view. This method solves the problems in the prior art, such as the low efficiency of batch creation of complex recurring events on mobile devices, the lack of continuity of interaction with the monthly view browsing experience, and the low real-time predictability of conflicts in multi-person collaboration. As a result, the interactive operation process for quickly adding recurring events in a waterfall-style monthly view is not smooth, inefficient, and has a high error rate. This method improves the accuracy and efficiency of the interactive operation process for quickly adding recurring events in a waterfall-style monthly view.

[0012] On the one hand, an interactive method for quickly adding recurring schedules in a waterfall-style monthly view is provided, including the following steps: S01, a schedule template selector is provided in the user interface, which displays multiple predefined schedule templates; the user can select at least one schedule template from them, each template containing at least a working time period, identification information, and optional rule attributes; S02, in response to the user's click or continuous scrolling operation on one or more date cells in the waterfall-style monthly view, the selected schedule template is applied to the corresponding date, generating a corresponding schedule instance, and immediately displaying a preview of the schedule instance in the interface; S03 During the rehearsal phase, the system detects in real time whether there are time conflicts between newly generated schedule instances and existing schedules, and highlights or visually marks conflicting instances while providing conflict prompts to the user; S04, after the user confirms the submission, only the difference data involved in this operation, which includes the set of added, modified, or deleted schedule instances, is submitted to the server; the server performs conflict verification on the difference data and returns the final write result to ensure data consistency. Throughout the rehearsal, conflict prompt, and submission process, the system maintains a continuous scrolling experience of the waterfall-style monthly view, avoiding interface jitter or interruption caused by layout rearrangement or view refresh.

[0013] One or more technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this application have at least the following technical effects or advantages:

[0014] 1. By integrating schedule template selection, point / scroll selection of landing points, pre-draft conflict detection, and differential submission into a waterfall-style monthly view, the system provides users with a unified and low-cost batch schedule creation experience. Users can quickly generate multiple schedule instances in the monthly view through intuitive "template-landing point" interaction without having to switch between multiple views or fill out complex rule forms. Especially during continuous scrolling operations, the system automatically identifies date ranges and applies templates in batches, significantly reducing repetitive steps. At the same time, the real-time conflict detection and visual prompt mechanism in the pre-draft stage allows users to discover and handle schedule conflicts before submission, reducing the cost of modification and collaboration errors caused by post-event conflicts. This significantly enhances the accuracy and reliability of schedule data while improving operational efficiency.

[0015] 2. Through a closed-loop mechanism of "pre-drilling layer - differential commit - server-side optimistic locking verification," the system effectively supports schedule management in multi-user collaborative scenarios. User operations performed locally are reflected in real-time within the pre-drilling layer. During commit, only structured differential data is transmitted, reducing network load and server processing pressure. The server performs conflict verification based on optimistic locking and version numbers, returning only the successfully written difference. The client dynamically updates the view accordingly, avoiding data jitter and view interruption caused by full refreshes. Furthermore, the system utilizes asynchronous rendering, layout caching, and local incremental update technologies to ensure continuous and smooth scrolling of the waterfall-style monthly view throughout the entire operation process, without layout reshuffling or visual jumps. This maintains high data consistency while providing a smooth and stable user interface experience.

[0016] 3. This invention not only provides a template-based method for creating schedules, but also supports reverse engineering templates from existing schedule instances, fine-tuning template parameters, and version sharing. This allows frequently used schedule patterns such as shifts and courses to be accumulated, reused, and collaboratively maintained, improving the system's maintainability and rule standardization. Furthermore, the system has offline operation capabilities, automatically caching user operation sequences when the network is interrupted and replaying and synchronizing them after the network is restored. It also properly handles time zone and daylight saving time offsets, ensuring the accuracy of schedule time calculations. These mechanisms enable the system to adapt to varying network conditions and complex time zone scenarios in mobile environments, providing stable and reliable schedule management support for teams operating across regions and time zones. Attached Figure Description

[0017] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the accompanying drawings used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the accompanying drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0018] Figure 1 A flowchart illustrating an interactive method for quickly adding recurring schedules in a waterfall-style monthly view, as provided in this application embodiment;

[0019] Figure 2 The main interaction flowchart of an interactive method for quickly adding recurring schedules in a waterfall-style monthly view provided in this application embodiment;

[0020] Figure 3 A flowchart illustrating the conflict detection and handling process of an interactive method for quickly adding recurring schedules in a waterfall-style monthly view, provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0021] Figure 4 This application provides a flowchart of data synchronization and view update for an interactive method of quickly adding recurring schedules in a waterfall-style monthly view, as provided in an embodiment of the present application. Detailed Implementation

[0022] The technical solution provided in this application will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0023] To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of this application, the following points will be explained first:

[0024] First, in this application, "at least one" means one or more, and "more than one" means two or more. "And / or" describes the relationship between related objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can mean: A alone, A and B simultaneously, or B alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates an "or" relationship between the preceding and following related objects, but it does not exclude the possibility of indicating an "and" relationship; the specific meaning can be understood in context. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can mean: a, b, c; a and b; a and c; b and c; or a and b and c. Here, a, b, and c can be single or multiple.

[0025] Second, the use of prefixes such as "first" and "second" in this application is solely for the purpose of distinguishing and describing different things belonging to the same category, and does not constrain the order, size, or quantity of things. For example, "first message" and "second message" are simply different messages, and there is no chronological, size, or priority relationship between them.

[0026] To better understand the above technical solutions, the following will provide a detailed explanation of the technical solutions in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific implementation methods.

[0027] like Figure 1The diagram shows a flowchart of an interactive method for quickly adding recurring schedules in a waterfall-style monthly view, according to an embodiment of this application. The method includes the following steps: S01, providing a schedule template selector in the user interface, the schedule template selector displaying multiple predefined schedule templates; the user can select at least one schedule template from them, each template containing at least a working time period, identification information, and optional rule attributes; S02, in response to the user's clicking or continuously scrolling operation on one or more date cells in the waterfall-style monthly view, applying the selected schedule template to the corresponding date, generating a corresponding schedule instance, and immediately displaying a preview of the schedule instance on the interface. Effects; S03, During the rehearsal phase, real-time detection is performed to check for time conflicts between newly generated schedule instances and existing schedules, and conflicting instances are highlighted or visually marked, while providing conflict prompts to the user; S04, After the user confirms submission, only the difference data involved in this operation, including the set of added, modified, or deleted schedule instances, is submitted to the server; The server performs conflict verification on the difference data and returns the final write result to ensure data consistency. Throughout the rehearsal, conflict prompt, and submission process, the continuous scrolling experience of the waterfall-style monthly view is maintained, avoiding interface jitter or interruption caused by layout rearrangement or view refresh.

[0028] It's important to explain that the core pain points of batch operations on mobile devices are addressed through a coherent, efficient, and user-friendly closed-loop process. The method begins with step S01: providing a schedule template selector in the user interface, displaying multiple predefined schedule templates (e.g., a template named "Morning Shift"). Users can select at least one template. Each template is not a simple text label but a data entity encapsulating key information, including at least the working time period (e.g., "09:00-18:00"), identification information (e.g., template name, icon, and color), and optional rule attributes (e.g., a recurring rule of "every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday," valid until "2024-12-31"). The technical advantage of this step is that it pre-abstracts and templates complex schedule rules, providing standardized and reusable basic units for subsequent batch operations. This fundamentally avoids the tedious process of repeatedly entering the same rules each time a new schedule is created, significantly reducing operational costs.

[0029] Next, in step S02, in response to the user's selection or continuous scrolling of one or more date cells in the waterfall-style monthly view, the system instantly applies the selected schedule template to these corresponding dates. This interactive action is key to the "quick" addition achieved by this invention. The system immediately generates the corresponding schedule instance and displays the preview effect directly on the interface. Users can intuitively see the operation results without waiting for form submission or page redirection (for example, the selected date cell immediately displays the "early shift" icon and color bar). This technical effect greatly enhances the intuitiveness of the operation and the immediacy of feedback, enabling users to quickly verify whether their operation intention is correct.

[0030] Then, to ensure data accuracy and collaborative reliability, step S03 is initiated simultaneously during the rehearsal phase. The system will detect in real time whether there are time conflicts between newly generated schedule instances and existing local schedules. Once a conflict is detected (e.g., the same time slot is occupied by another schedule), the system will highlight the conflicting instance or use special visual markings (such as a red border or warning icon), and simultaneously provide the user with conflict notification information. This mechanism advances the timing of conflict detection from the traditional after-the-fact (error after submission) to during the process (during the rehearsal). Its technical effect is to give users the ability to identify and resolve conflicts before final confirmation, avoid invalid submissions, improve the success rate of batch operations and the accuracy of data, which is especially crucial in scenarios involving collaborative scheduling among multiple people.

[0031] Finally, after the user confirms the submission, step S04 is executed. The system does not submit the entire month's data, but only the differential data involved in this operation (i.e., the set of added, modified, or deleted schedule instances) to the server. This differential submission method significantly reduces the amount of data transmitted over the network, improves synchronization efficiency, and is particularly beneficial in mobile network environments. After receiving the data, the server performs strong consistency conflict checking on the differential data again and returns the final write result, thus ensuring data consistency under multi-user operations at the server level. Crucially, throughout the entire process, from template selection, preview, conflict alerts to final submission, all interactions occur within the unified context of the waterfall-style monthly view. This technical effect perfectly maintains the continuous scrolling experience of the monthly view, effectively avoiding interface jitter, flickering, or operation interruptions caused by layout reflow or global view refresh, providing users with an extremely smooth and immersive operating experience.

[0032] It should be added that, such as Figure 2The diagram shows the main interactive flowchart of an interactive method for quickly adding recurring schedules in a waterfall-style monthly view, as provided in this application embodiment. The specific process is as follows: The user first obtains and selects a schedule template in the interface, and then triggers the system to "apply the template and generate a preview instance" by "clicking or swiping dates" in the waterfall-style monthly view. After generating the instance, the system performs "conflict detection" in real time. If a conflict is detected, the process enters a processing branch: the system "highlights the conflict and provides a prompt," and allows the user to "temporarily edit," after which the system can re-detect until the conflict is resolved. When there is no conflict or the user confirms, the process asks "Does the user confirm submission?" If the user confirms, the system "submits differential data to the server," the server performs verification and returns the result, and finally, the client incrementally updates the view to complete the entire operation. If the user cancels in the conflict handling or confirmation stage, the process switches to "cancel operation" and ends. The entire closed-loop design provides intuitive and efficient templated batch operations and real-time conflict feedback, while ensuring operational flexibility, data accuracy, and interface smoothness through preview, editing, differential submission, and incremental updates.

[0033] In this embodiment, through four interconnected steps S01 to S04, template-based processing, intuitive interaction, real-time verification, and efficient data synchronization are organically combined, ultimately enabling fast, accurate, and uninterrupted batch schedule creation within a specific and efficient browsing interface of the waterfall-style monthly view.

[0034] Furthermore, the schedule template is a shift template, which includes a template name, working time period, template icon, and color code. Users can quickly browse and select the shift template through a fixed panel at the bottom of the interface or a drawer-style interface that slides out from the side. They can also directly adjust the working time period parameters of the shift template in the same interface, realizing an integrated operation of template selection and parameter fine-tuning.

[0035] In this embodiment, the schedule template is specifically defined as a shift template. This template is a structured data object whose core attributes include template name (e.g., "early shift"), working hours (e.g., "09:00-17:00"), template icon, and color coding. These attributes together constitute a complete and intuitively recognizable visual unit. The technical effect is that it transforms abstract shift information into a concrete, semantically rich graphical representation, enabling users to quickly identify and distinguish them through differences in icon shape and color, greatly improving template recognizability and selection efficiency.

[0036] It's important to explain that, to enable efficient access and operation of the aforementioned shift templates, the system provides a highly optimized user interface. Users can quickly browse and select the desired shift template through a fixed panel at the bottom of the interface or a side-sliding drawer-style interface. This interface design offers significant technical advantages: the bottom panel perfectly aligns with the thumb's operating area on mobile devices, while the drawer-style interface efficiently utilizes the screen's horizontal space without completely obscuring the main view. Both designs ensure that the template selector can be quickly brought up and hidden, achieving seamless switching with the main operation view (waterfall-style monthly view), reducing user interaction costs and the cognitive burden of context transition.

[0037] Furthermore, the innovation of this invention lies in breaking away from the cumbersome traditional "select-confirm-edit" process. Users can directly adjust key parameters such as the working time period of the selected shift template within the same panel or drawer interface, without needing to navigate to secondary or tertiary menus. This design achieves integrated operation of template selection and parameter fine-tuning. Its core technological benefit is that it provides users with significant operational flexibility, allowing them to quickly personalize templates according to specific date requirements before applying them in batches. This not only simplifies the operation path and reduces interface jumps, but more importantly, it supports a practical working mode of "standard templates as the foundation, flexible fine-tuning as a supplement," enabling the system to meet both standardized management requirements and adapt to temporary and abnormal scheduling needs. This improves efficiency while enhancing the system's adaptability to complex real-world scenarios.

[0038] Furthermore, the preview includes dynamic visual effects to highlight the schedule instance in the selected date cell; wherein, if a time conflict is detected between the schedule instance and an existing schedule, visual marking is performed through at least one of the following methods: color change, border highlighting, or conflict icon overlay, to intuitively prompt the user about the conflict status; the conflict detection is performed based on a hybrid mechanism that combines locally cached schedule data with real-time server verification to ensure the timeliness and accuracy of conflict prompts.

[0039] In this embodiment, advanced visual and data technologies provide users with realistic, reliable, and information-rich operational feedback. Specifically, the preview process includes carefully designed dynamic visual effects. When a user applies a shift template to a specific date cell through point-and-click or swipe operations, the system immediately highlights the newly generated schedule instance in that date cell using dynamic methods such as smooth fill animations, color gradients, or icon pop-ups. This instant and smooth visual feedback creates a true "what you see is what you get" experience. Its technical effect is to greatly enhance the intuitiveness and certainty of the operation, allowing users to clearly perceive the results of each operation command, effectively avoiding misoperations and increasing user confidence.

[0040] Furthermore, the pre-launch mechanism integrates intelligent conflict detection capabilities. While rendering visual effects, the system continuously assesses whether there are time conflicts between newly generated schedule instances and existing schedules. Upon detecting a conflict, the system doesn't rely solely on simple text prompts but instead provides alerts through a more intuitive visual channel. Specific methods include, but are not limited to: changing the instance's color to a warning color (such as red or orange), adding a flashing or highlighted border, or overlaying a conflict icon (such as an exclamation mark) on top of the existing icon. This multi-dimensional visual marking method effectively attracts the user's attention instantly, allowing them to quickly locate the problem without carefully reading the text. This achieves near-zero-delay conflict status alerts, significantly improving the efficiency of human-computer interaction.

[0041] It should be further explained that, to support the aforementioned real-time and accurate conflict alerts, this invention employs a robust hybrid conflict detection mechanism. This mechanism does not rely solely on the client or server, but combines the advantages of both: First, the system utilizes locally cached schedule data for instantaneous, offline preliminary conflict screening. This ensures that even in unstable network environments, users receive timely initial feedback, guaranteeing smooth interaction. Next, the system attempts to communicate with the server to perform a real-time server-side verification based on the latest global data. The core technical advantage of this hybrid mechanism lies in its balance between the immediacy and ultimate accuracy of conflict alerts. Local caching ensures a zero-latency response experience, while server-side verification serves as the authoritative final decision, effectively preventing missed or false alarms due to expired local data. Especially in scenarios involving collaborative editing, this fundamentally ensures the high reliability of conflict information, providing a solid data foundation for users' subsequent decisions.

[0042] It needs to be explained that, such as Figure 3 The diagram shows a conflict detection and handling flowchart for an interactive method of quickly adding recurring schedules in a waterfall-style monthly view, provided in an embodiment of this application. The specific process is as follows: After generating a preview instance, the system performs hybrid conflict detection (combining local caching and server-side verification); if a conflict is detected, the conflict instance is highlighted in the monthly view, and conflict details and handling suggestions are provided to the user through a pop-up window or status bar; the user can choose to automatically adjust the time, ignore the conflict, or cancel the operation; if the user chooses to automatically adjust the time, the system updates the layout in the preview layer and re-detects the conflict; if the user chooses to ignore the conflict, it is marked as "forced submission"; the user finally confirms whether to submit, and the process is completed after submission; otherwise, the preview instance is cleared.

[0043] Furthermore, user operations on one or more date cells include point selection and continuous selection. The point selection operation is used to quickly add a single schedule instance to a single date cell. The continuous selection operation is used to continuously slide on multiple adjacent or non-adjacent date cells, automatically identify the date range covered by the selection trajectory, and apply the selected schedule template in batches to each date cell within that range, generating multiple schedule instances and simultaneously displaying them in preview.

[0044] In this embodiment, the core innovation at the interaction level lies in providing two complementary operation modes with different granularities to precisely adapt to users' different operational intentions, ranging from precise specification to batch coverage. User operations on one or more date cells specifically include point selection and continuous selection. Point selection is the basic interaction method; by tapping a single date cell, the system responds by quickly adding a single schedule instance to that date cell. The technical advantage of this operation mode is that it achieves extreme precision and control, suitable for handling individual dates (such as temporary shift changes or scheduling a single meeting) or making minor adjustments to existing batch operation results. It empowers users to make precise micro-adjustments within macro-batch operations, enabling the system to flexibly handle various complex and abnormal situations.

[0045] It's worth noting that the continuous scrolling operation is even more efficient, forming the key to the "rapid" batch addition of this invention. This operation refers to the user's finger continuously sliding across multiple date cells in the waterfall-style month view. The system can automatically identify and analyze the continuous or non-contiguous date range covered by the scrolling trajectory (e.g., horizontally scrolling to select a week, or skipping to select multiple Wednesdays). Its core technological advantage lies in simplifying the traditionally repetitive batch selection process into a single, natural one-handed gesture. In response to this operation, the system applies the selected shift template to every cell within the identified date range in one batch, instantly generating multiple schedule instances and simultaneously displaying a preview. The revolutionary advantage of this is a significant increase in operational efficiency: users can complete tasks that would otherwise require dozens of clicks with a simple swipe, greatly reducing the physical and time costs of batch creating regular or semi-regular shifts. Meanwhile, "simultaneous preview" ensures the instant visualization of operation results, allowing users to immediately view the overall effect of batch operations without waiting for the sequential operations to complete step by step, thus ensuring the continuity and integrity of the interaction process.

[0046] In this embodiment, the organic combination of point selection and continuous selection modes enables the invention to perfectly cover all scenarios, from fine-grained individual management to efficient batch scheduling. Users can seamlessly switch between the two modes according to the granularity of the actual task, thereby achieving unprecedented batch operation efficiency while maintaining absolute control over individual schedules. This is a fundamental innovation in the existing interactive methods for adding schedules on mobile devices.

[0047] Furthermore, the specific steps for immediately displaying the preview effect of the schedule instance in the interface are as follows: during the preview effect display, a temporary editing function for the schedule instance is provided; users can directly modify the content, adjust the time, or delete any previewed schedule instance in the waterfall-style monthly view. All modifications only take effect in the preview layer and are synchronized with the server data only after the user performs the submission operation.

[0048] In this embodiment, the "immediate display of the preview effect of the schedule instance in the interface" is not a simple, read-only static preview, but a dynamic, interactive temporary editing layer. Specifically, during the preview effect display, the system synchronously provides temporary editing functionality for the schedule instance. This means that after a user generates a batch of preview instances by clicking or scrolling, they can directly operate on any displayed preview instance in the current waterfall-style monthly view's preview layer without canceling the current operation or entering a new editing mode. Users can directly click on a preview instance to modify its content (such as changing shift notes), adjust its time (such as fine-tuning the start and end times for that day), or delete it from the list added in this batch. The core technical advantage of this mechanism lies in its clever isolation of data state. The system strictly stipulates that all modifications made during the preview stage only take effect in the current client's preview layer, existing as a temporary, draft state change. These modifications are not immediately synchronized with the server-side data. The revolutionary technical effect it brings is to provide users with a "secure sandbox" environment. Users can boldly explore and iterate within this sandbox. For example, after applying templates in batches, if a particular day requires special arrangements, the instance for that day can be directly modified. Alternatively, if an extra date is accidentally selected, it can be deleted immediately without worrying about these intermediate steps contaminating the final data or generating unnecessary network requests. This significantly reduces the psychological burden on users and encourages more complex scheduling attempts. Ultimately, only when the user is completely satisfied with the entire pre-run result (including all initial additions and subsequent temporary edits) and performs the final commit will the system integrate this series of operations into a single differential data packet for synchronization with the server. This closed-loop design of "pre-run-edit-final commit" achieves a perfect combination of "reversible operation" and "eventual consistency." It ensures high user flexibility during operation, allowing for fine-tuning of batch operations, while ensuring efficient data synchronization and accurate final state by aggregating multiple interactions into a single atomic commit. This elevates the user experience from a rigid linear process to a flexible, secure, and efficient new level.

[0049] Furthermore, conflict detection is performed in real time during the pre-rehearsal phase. The detection rules include at least one of time interval overlap detection, personnel conflict detection, and resource conflict detection. If a conflict is detected, the conflict schedule instance is not only highlighted in the waterfall-style monthly view, but the user is also provided with conflict details and suggested handling options through at least one of the following methods: pop-up prompt box, bottom status bar notification, or corner mark.

[0050] In this embodiment, the conflict detection mechanism of the present invention is a multi-dimensional and proactive intelligent verification process executed in real time during the pre-rehearsal phase. Its core lies in the fact that the detection rules are not limited to simple time conflicts, but include at least one of time interval overlap detection, personnel conflict detection, and resource conflict detection. This means the system can perform deep semantic checks: time interval overlap detection ensures that the same personnel or resources are not repeatedly allocated within the same time period; personnel conflict detection can determine whether a specified employee is already on another shift or on leave, preventing overstaffing; and resource conflict detection can verify the availability of physical resources such as meeting rooms and equipment. The technical effect of this multi-dimensional detection rule is to elevate conflict detection from the surface-level time conflict to the constraint conflict at the business logic level, thereby preventing the problem of invalid schedules caused by the unavailability of personnel and resources at the source, greatly improving the practical feasibility and business accuracy of schedule generation.

[0051] It should be further explained that after identifying the conflict, this invention employs a multi-layered, three-dimensional prompting strategy to ensure that users can perceive and understand the conflict information without omission. First, the system highlights the conflict schedule instance in the waterfall-style monthly view (e.g., with a red border), which provides intuitive spatial location of the conflict, allowing users to find all the problem points at a glance within the context of the monthly view. More importantly, the system is not limited to this visual marker; it also provides users with richer information through at least one auxiliary method, such as pop-up prompts, bottom status bar notifications, or corner markers. The technical effect of this multi-channel prompting strategy is that it achieves a balance between information density and clarity: the in-view highlight provides quick location, while components such as pop-up boxes can carry detailed conflict details (e.g., "overlaps with Zhang San's 'project meeting' time" or "the required meeting room is already occupied") and specific suggested handling options (e.g., "ignore," "adjust time," or "change personnel"). This avoids the hassle for users to guess the cause of the conflict or manually find a solution, upgrading a simple "error alarm" to an intelligent "decision assistance" that directly guides users to the next step, significantly shortening the conflict resolution path and improving overall interaction efficiency and user experience smoothness.

[0052] Furthermore, the conflict notification information includes the number of conflicts, the creator and time information of the conflict schedule, and provides one-click conflict handling suggestions; the one-click conflict handling suggestions include at least one of the following options: automatically adjust the time, ignore the conflict and save, cancel the current operation; after the user selects the corresponding option, the schedule layout is immediately updated in the preview layer, and the conflict detection is re-executed until the user confirms that there are no conflicts and allows submission.

[0053] In this embodiment, the conflict handling mechanism goes beyond simple warnings, achieving an intelligent, closed-loop solution. When the system detects a conflict during the pre-launch phase, the conflict alert presented to the user is highly structured and information-rich. It not only informs the user of the existence of a conflict but also provides the context needed for decision-making. Specifically, the alert includes the total number of conflicts, giving the user an overall grasp of the problem's scale; it also lists the creators and specific times of key conflict events. Transforming vague warnings into clear, actionable diagnostic information allows users to quickly determine the nature and priority of the conflict, whether to rely on communication and coordination or direct, mandatory adjustments, thus laying a rational foundation for the next steps.

[0054] More importantly, the system doesn't simply pass the problem on to the user; instead, it proactively provides one-click conflict resolution suggestions. These suggestions are pre-set solutions based on common scenarios and typically include at least one option such as automatic time adjustment (e.g., the system intelligently finds nearby free time slots and suggests them), ignoring conflicts and saving (suitable for special cases where the user confirms that it can be overridden), and canceling the current operation. The core technical effect of providing these pre-set options is to greatly simplify the conflict resolution process, freeing users from the tedious process of manually calculating time and repeatedly trying to adjust it. This achieves a rapid transition from "identifying a problem" to "solving a problem," and is especially suitable for complex scenarios involving multiple conflicts, significantly improving operational efficiency.

[0055] It's important to explain that the entire process forms an efficient interactive closed loop: after a user selects any processing option, the system doesn't directly submit the data. Instead, it immediately updates the schedule layout in the pre-launch layer based on the user's selection (e.g., automatically shifting conflict instances to a new time point). Subsequently, the system automatically re-executes conflict detection to verify whether the adjustment resolved existing conflicts or introduced new ones. This "operation-feedback-re-verification" cycle continues until the user confirms there are no conflicts in the pre-launch layer, at which point the system allows final submission. The technical effect of this closed-loop design is to create a dynamic, self-correcting operating environment. It ensures that the user's final submission is iteratively optimized, maximizing the rationality and accuracy of the data, while completely controlling the trial-and-error costs of conflict resolution within the client's pre-launch phase, avoiding unnecessary round trips with the server, and ultimately providing the user with a smooth, reliable, and truly intelligent conflict handling experience.

[0056] Furthermore, the differential data is a structured operation set, which includes operation type identifiers, unique identifiers of affected schedules, time information, and content differences before and after modification. Before submission, the differential data is locally serialized and compressed, and incremental encoding is used during network transmission to reduce data transmission volume and improve synchronization efficiency.

[0057] In this embodiment, the core innovation at the data synchronization level lies in the meticulous structured definition and transmission optimization of the "differential data." The differential data is not a simple, unstructured list of data, but a well-defined set of structured operations. This set of operations is like a precise instruction list, where each record clearly includes an operation type identifier (such as "add," "modify," or "delete"), a unique identifier of the affected schedule, relevant time information, and specific content differences before and after the modification. Defining the differential data as a structured set of operations rather than a final state snapshot significantly enhances the semantic accuracy and processing efficiency of the data. Upon receiving the data, the server does not need to perform complex state comparisons and intent inferences; it can directly execute updates based on the explicit "operation instructions." This not only reduces the server's computational overhead but, more importantly, avoids ambiguity that may arise from state comparisons, laying a solid foundation for maintaining data consistency, especially when handling concurrent operations.

[0058] To further improve synchronization performance, especially in mobile network environments, this invention performs multi-step optimization processes before data transmission. First, before submission, the system locally serializes and compresses the structured differential data on the client side. Serialization (e.g., converting to JSON Binary or Protocol Buffers format) transforms the data into a more compact and easily parsed byte stream, while compression further reduces the data size. Next, during network transmission, the system employs incremental encoding. This means that if there are many repetitive or unchanged parts between consecutively submitted data packets, the encoder only transmits the differing parts, not the complete data packet. This series of optimizations (serialization, compression, and incremental encoding) works together to significantly reduce the amount of data transmitted over the network. This not only speeds up data transmission, shortens user waiting time, and improves synchronization efficiency, but also directly reduces network traffic consumption on mobile devices. This optimization is crucial for scenarios with unstable network signals or those billed by data usage, ensuring a smooth and usable user experience for core functions under different network conditions, enhancing the robustness and universality of the solution.

[0059] Furthermore, after receiving the differential data, the server uses an optimistic locking mechanism combined with version number verification to perform conflict review. If a conflict is detected with the existing data on the server, the conflict is automatically merged or some operations are rejected, and only the successfully written schedule instances are returned to the client in the form of differential sets. The client dynamically updates the local view based on the returned results without a full refresh.

[0060] In this embodiment, a rigorous server-side data processing flow is designed to ensure eventual data consistency in a multi-user collaborative environment. When the server receives the differential data submitted by the client, it does not write it directly but initiates a conflict review process based on an optimistic locking mechanism. The core of this mechanism is version number verification: the server checks whether the version number of the schedule instance targeted by each operation in the differential data matches the version number currently stored on the server. If the versions match, it means that the target data has not been modified by others after the operation was generated, and the server accepts and executes the operation, while updating the version number. The technical advantage of this optimistic locking mechanism is that it avoids the performance degradation caused by traditional exclusive locks, allows multiple clients to perform read and write operations simultaneously, greatly improves system throughput and response speed in high-concurrency scenarios, and aligns with the application characteristics of collaborative editing.

[0061] It's important to note that if version number verification fails, it indicates that other users have modified related data during the client's pre-commit phase, causing a conflict. In this case, the server doesn't simply reject the entire commit; instead, it automatically performs intelligent conflict merging or selectively rejects operations that cannot be automatically resolved. For example, the system might accept all "add" operations but reject "modify" operations based on outdated versions. After processing, the server only returns the successfully written schedule instances to the client as a "difference" set. This "difference" result package accurately reflects the server's final state. The technical effect of this design is to achieve a balance between atomicity and partial success. It ensures that even in the event of partial operation conflicts, other valid operations can still be successfully committed, maximizing the preservation of user work and avoiding the terrible experience of "all or nothing" commit failures.

[0062] Finally, after receiving the difference response from the server, the client dynamically updates its local view based on this precise result. According to the list of successfully written instances, it transitions these instances from the pre-launch state to the official state in the local interface and removes those instances rejected by the server. The entire synchronization process does not require a full refresh of the interface or a re-fetching of data. Its core technical advantage is the exceptional continuity and stability of the user interface. Users will not experience any flickering or jittering in the monthly view; they will only see the portion of their operation results confirmed by the server smoothly integrated into the interface, while the rejected portions quietly disappear. This precise incremental update mechanism, combined with the aforementioned optimistic locking and differential commit, forms a highly efficient, reliable, and user-friendly collaborative processing loop.

[0063] Furthermore, the specific steps to maintain the continuous scrolling experience of the waterfall-style monthly view are as follows: an asynchronous rendering and layout caching mechanism is adopted during the preview and submission process; the asynchronous rendering and layout caching mechanism specifically includes: independently drawing and overlaying the visual layer of the schedule instance in the monthly view to avoid triggering the overall view reflow; after successful submission, content refresh without jitter is achieved through incremental updates of local views and smooth transition animations.

[0064] In this embodiment, a sophisticated optimization strategy is implemented at the view rendering level. The core steps to maintain the continuous scrolling experience of the waterfall-style monthly view lie in the mandatory use of asynchronous rendering and layout caching mechanisms during the two key interactive stages of preview and submission. Specifically, this mechanism decouples the static layout of the monthly view (such as the position and size of date cells) from the dynamic schedule content. When a preview instance needs to be displayed, the system does not recalculate and redraw the entire monthly view. Instead, it independently and off-screen draws the visual layers of the schedule instance (such as color blocks and icons), and then displays them on top of the original monthly view as layer overlays. The core effect of this layer separation and overlay display technology is that it completely avoids the "overall view reflow" of the browser or native UI components triggered by adding or modifying content. Reflow is one of the root causes of interface lag and jitter. This method, by isolating changes, ensures that basic interactions such as scrolling and zooming remain silky smooth even when users are performing complex operations such as previewing and conflict checking.

[0065] It's worth noting that after the user confirms the submission and data synchronization is successful, the view update strategy continues to adhere to this principle of "minimizing impact." The system avoids abrupt full-page refreshes or data re-fetching, instead achieving seamless content switching through incremental updates of local views and smooth transition animations. Specifically, based on the successful write result returned by the server, the client precisely locates the specific date cells that need updating, and then only incrementally renders the content of these cells. Simultaneously, the system applies a brief, smooth transition animation (e.g., fading out of the preview layer and fading in of the new official content) to visually connect the preview and official states. The technical effect of this series of operations is to achieve "flicker-free content refresh." Users don't perceive sudden flickering or jumping in the interface, but rather the preview content seamlessly "integrating" into the official view. Ultimately, this complete rendering optimization scheme from preview to submission ensures that powerful batch operation interactions can coexist perfectly with the ultra-smooth experience advocated by the waterfall view, thus safeguarding the core user experience while providing complex functionality.

[0066] It should be added that, such as Figure 4The diagram shows a data synchronization and view update flowchart for an interactive method of quickly adding recurring schedules in a waterfall-style monthly view, as provided in an embodiment of this application. The specific process is as follows: First, after the user confirms the submission, the system constructs a structured incremental data operation set, then completes serialization and compression locally, and then transmits it to the server via the network in an incremental encoding manner. After receiving the data, the server first performs optimistic locking and version verification. If a data conflict is detected, the conflict is automatically merged or some operations are rejected. If there is no conflict, all operations are executed. Then, a successfully written difference set result is generated and returned to the client. Finally, the client uses asynchronous rendering and smooth animation to complete the synchronization, ensuring a smooth interactive experience.

[0067] Those skilled in the art will understand that embodiments of the present invention can be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products. Therefore, the present invention can take the form of a completely hardware embodiment, a completely software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present invention can take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) containing computer-usable program code.

[0068] This invention is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, special-purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, generate instructions for implementing the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams. Figure 1 One or more processes and / or boxes Figure 1 A device that provides the functions specified in one or more boxes.

[0069] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable storage medium that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing device to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable storage medium produce an article of manufacture including instruction means, which are implemented in a process Figure 1 One or more processes and / or boxes Figure 1 The function specified in one or more boxes.

[0070] These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing equipment to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable equipment to produce a computer-implemented process, thereby providing instructions that execute on the computer or other programmable equipment for implementing the process. Figure 1One or more processes and / or boxes Figure 1 The steps of the function specified in one or more boxes.

[0071] Although preferred embodiments of the invention have been described, those skilled in the art, upon learning the basic inventive concept, can make other changes and modifications to these embodiments. Therefore, the appended claims are intended to be interpreted as including both the preferred embodiments and all changes and modifications falling within the scope of the invention.

[0072] Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various modifications and variations to this invention without departing from its spirit and scope. Therefore, if these modifications and variations fall within the scope of the claims of this invention and their equivalents, this invention also intends to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

1. An interactive method for quickly adding recurring schedules in a waterfall-style monthly view, characterized in that, Includes the following steps: S01, A schedule template selector is provided in the user interface, which displays a plurality of predefined schedule templates; Users can select at least one schedule template, each template containing working time periods, identification information, and optional rule attributes; S02, in response to the user's point selection or continuous swiping operation on one or more date cells in the waterfall-style monthly view, the selected schedule template is applied to the corresponding date, a corresponding schedule instance is generated, and the preview effect of the schedule instance is immediately displayed in the interface; S03, during the pre-show phase, real-time detection is performed to check for time conflicts between newly generated schedule instances and existing schedules, and conflicting instances are highlighted or visually marked, while providing conflict alerts to users. S04, after the user confirms the submission, only the differential data involved in this operation will be merged and submitted to the server. The differential data includes the set of added, modified or deleted schedule instances. The server performs conflict verification on the differential data and returns the final write result to ensure data consistency. Throughout the entire process of previewing, conflict prompting and submission, it maintains a continuous scrolling experience of the waterfall-style monthly view and avoids interface jitter or interruption caused by layout rearrangement or view refresh. The user's operations on one or more date cells include point selection and continuous selection. The point-and-click operation is used to quickly add a single schedule instance to a single date cell; The continuous brushing operation is used to continuously slide on multiple adjacent or non-adjacent date cells, automatically identify the date range covered by the brushing trajectory, and apply the selected schedule template in batches to each date cell within that range, generating multiple schedule instances and simultaneously displaying them in preview.

2. The interactive method for quickly adding recurring schedules in a waterfall-style monthly view as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The schedule template is a shift template, which includes a template name, working time period, template icon, and color code. Users can quickly browse and select the shift templates through a fixed panel at the bottom of the interface or a drawer-style interface that slides out to the side. They can also directly adjust the working time period parameters of the shift templates on the same interface, achieving integrated operation of template selection and parameter fine-tuning.

3. The interactive method for quickly adding recurring schedules in a waterfall-style monthly view as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The preview includes dynamic visual effects to highlight the schedule instance in the selected date grid; If a time conflict is detected between a schedule instance and an existing schedule, it will be visually marked by at least one of the following methods: color change, border highlighting, or conflict icon overlay, so as to intuitively prompt the user about the conflict status. Conflict detection is performed using a hybrid mechanism that combines locally cached schedule data with real-time server-side verification to ensure the timeliness and accuracy of conflict alerts.

4. The interactive method for quickly adding recurring schedules in a waterfall-style monthly view as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The specific steps for immediately displaying the preview effect of the schedule instance in the interface are as follows: During the preview display, temporary editing functionality for the schedule instance is provided; Users can directly modify the content, adjust the time, or delete any pre-rehearsed schedule instance in the waterfall-style monthly view. All modifications only take effect in the pre-rehearsed layer and are not synchronized with the server data until the user performs the submission operation.

5. The interactive method for quickly adding recurring schedules in a waterfall-style monthly view as described in claim 1, characterized in that, Conflict detection is performed in real time during the rehearsal phase, and the detection rules include at least one of time interval overlap detection, personnel conflict detection, and resource conflict detection. If a conflict is detected, the conflict schedule instance will not only be highlighted in the waterfall-style monthly view, but the user will also be provided with conflict details and suggested handling options through at least one of the following methods: pop-up prompt, bottom status bar notification, or badge mark.

6. The interactive method for quickly adding recurring schedules in a waterfall-style monthly view as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The conflict alert information includes the number of conflicts, the creator and time of the conflict schedule, and provides one-click conflict resolution suggestions. The one-click conflict handling suggestion includes at least one of the following options: automatically adjust time, ignore conflict and save, cancel current operation; after the user selects the corresponding option, the schedule layout is immediately updated in the preview layer, and conflict detection is re-executed until the user confirms that there is no conflict and allows submission.

7. The interactive method for quickly adding recurring schedules in a waterfall-style monthly view as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The differential data is a structured operation set, which includes an operation type identifier, a unique identifier of the affected schedule, time information, and the content differences before and after the modification. Before submission, the differential data is locally serialized and compressed, and incremental encoding is used during network transmission to reduce data transmission volume and improve synchronization efficiency.

8. The interactive method for quickly adding recurring schedules in a waterfall-style monthly view as described in claim 1, characterized in that, After receiving the differential data, the server uses an optimistic locking mechanism combined with version number verification to perform conflict review. If a conflict is detected with existing data on the server, the conflict will be automatically merged or some operations will be rejected, and only the successfully written schedule instances will be returned to the client in the form of a difference set. The client dynamically updates the local view based on the returned results, without requiring a full refresh.

9. The interactive method for quickly adding recurring schedules in a waterfall-style monthly view as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The specific steps to maintain a continuous scrolling experience in the waterfall-style moon view are as follows: Asynchronous rendering and layout caching mechanisms are used during the preview and submission processes; The asynchronous rendering and layout caching mechanism specifically includes: independently drawing and overlaying the visual layers of calendar instances in the month view to avoid triggering a complete view reflow; After successful submission, the content is refreshed without jitter through incremental updates of the local view and smooth transition animations.

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