Contextual Data Surfacing for Electronic Calendar Events
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Solution Overview
Problem
Electronic calendars often become overcrowded, making it difficult for users to manage and keep track of meeting times, locations, and preparation needs due to the overwhelming amount of scheduled events.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for identifying and surfacing contextual content related to electronic calendar events, filtering events within a threshold time frame, applying rules to prioritize and present relevant information, and providing executable actions such as navigation and document access directly within the calendar application.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If electronic calendars include all scheduled events and related information, then the calendar provides complete scheduling information, but the calendar becomes overwhelming and difficult to manage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and surfaces only the most relevant contextual information for upcoming calendar events, separating it from the complete but overwhelming calendar data. The system identifies events within a threshold time frame and selectively presents location information, travel time, and other contextual details, allowing users to access complete information when needed while seeing only essential information in the main view.
2Loss of information
If the calendar surfaces all contextual information for every event, then users have access to all needed details, but the interface becomes cluttered and overwhelming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by providing different levels of information visibility based on the specific context and user needs. The system surfaces contextual information selectively for individual events based on relevance criteria, rather than uniformly displaying all information for all events. This creates a customized information presentation where each event receives appropriate attention based on its proximity to the current time and other factors.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments calendar information into multiple levels: a primary view showing essential event details, and expanded views providing additional contextual information. The system divides the information hierarchy into core event data and supplementary contextual data, allowing users to navigate between levels as needed, thereby reducing interface clutter while maintaining comprehensive information availability.
3Ease of operation
If users manually search for calendar event information, then users can find specific details, but users spend excessive time and effort managing their schedules
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary action by automatically identifying and surfacing relevant contextual information for upcoming events before users need it. The system proactively calculates travel times, identifies location details, and prepares other contextual data in advance, so that when users view their calendar, the most relevant information is already displayed without requiring manual searches or additional queries.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables self-service by allowing the calendar system to automatically manage information presentation based on predefined criteria. The system autonomously determines which events are upcoming, what contextual information is relevant, and how to surface that information, reducing the need for user intervention in information retrieval and calendar management tasks.
4Loss of information
If the system processes and displays all calendar event details, then users have complete information, but processing costs and system resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial action by processing and displaying only the subset of calendar information that is most relevant to users at any given time. Rather than processing all event details uniformly, the system selectively processes contextual information for events within a threshold time frame, calculating only the necessary travel times and location details for upcoming events, thereby reducing computational overhead while maintaining information completeness for relevant events.
Data Source
AI summary
In non-limiting examples of the present disclosure, systems, methods and devices for surfacing content related to electronic calendar events are presented. An electronic calendar event library may be maintained. One or more calendar events that meet threshold time criteria in relation to a current time may be identified. One or more rules may be applied to the identified events to determine whether contextual information and/or actions should be surfaced in relation to those events. In some examples, an event priority score may be calculated for each of the identified events. Contextual information and/or actions associated with events with event priority scores that exceed a threshold value may be surfaced. The contextual information and/or actions may be prioritized based on the event priority scores.