Calendar Consultation Dialogue Processing for Proactive Conflict Resolution

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Solution Overview

Problem

Users often feel overwhelmed by the volume of events in their calendars, leading to scheduling conflicts and inefficiencies, as they struggle to align their calendar events with their time-management goals and preferences, requiring substantial time and effort to resolve these issues.

Innovation Solution

A system that proactively identifies inconsistencies in calendar events based on user time-management conditions, generated from calendar and personal information, and automatically updates events after user approval, using a trained scheduling model to optimize calendar efficiency.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If users manually review and resolve scheduling conflicts in their calendars, then they can identify and fix inconsistencies, but it requires substantial time and energy that users do not have

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedetection of scheduling inconsistenciesVSAvoidtime and energy to resolve conflicts

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system automatically detects scheduling inconsistencies and generates resolutions without requiring user intervention. The calendar consultation bot proactively identifies conflicts, evaluates them against user preferences, and implements fixes autonomously, allowing the calendar system to serve itself rather than requiring manual user review of each conflict.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The manual mechanical process of reviewing and resolving calendar conflicts is replaced with an automated computational system. The bot uses natural language processing and machine learning models to detect inconsistencies and generate resolutions, substituting human cognitive effort with automated intelligence.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

2Productivity

If users proactively optimize their calendars to align with time-management goals, then scheduling efficiency improves, but users need to be aware of their goals and actively manage their calendars

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvescheduling efficiencyVSAvoidactive calendar management effort

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The system continuously monitors calendar data and user behavior patterns, then provides feedback by identifying inconsistencies and suggesting optimizations. The bot analyzes scheduling patterns, compares them against user preferences, and communicates specific actionable insights back to users, enabling continuous improvement without requiring users to actively think about optimization strategies.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs preliminary analysis of calendar data to identify potential scheduling conflicts and optimization opportunities before users need to address them. By proactively detecting issues and preparing resolution suggestions in advance, the system eliminates the need for users to reactively manage their calendars when problems arise.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

3Productivity

If the system automatically updates calendar events based on generated recommendations, then calendar optimization is achieved, but user control over scheduling decisions is reduced

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecalendar optimization speedVSAvoiduser control over scheduling

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The system implements dynamic control where automation level adjusts based on user preferences and situation. Users can configure their desired level of automated intervention, allowing the system to be highly autonomous for routine optimizations while requiring user approval for significant changes. This dynamic approach maintains both efficiency and user control adaptively.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The calendar consultation bot serves as an intermediary between automated analysis and user decision-making. Rather than directly imposing changes or leaving users to make all decisions, the bot presents analyzed options with reasoning, allowing users to review and approve decisions. This intermediary role balances automation efficiency with user control by translating complex analysis into actionable choices.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentUS12361386B2Calendar consultation dialogue processor

Publication Date: 2025.07.15 MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING LLC

AI summary

Systems and methods are provided for a calendar consultation with a user. The disclosed technology uses at least a personal profile or a personal scheduling model and identifies issues in scheduled calendar events associated with the user. Based on a number of the identified issues, a calendar consultant informs the user about the identified issues and prompts the user whether to interactively resolve the issues through a calendar consultation session. During the calendar consultation session, the calendar consultant interactively informs about issues, suggests options for resolving the issues, confirms an option to perform, and updates the calendar schedule. The calendar consultant proactively suggests the user to participate in interactive calendar consultation sessions and improves productivity of the user performing tasks.