Digital Calendar Sharing Control and Visibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current digital calendar applications lack control over sharing duration, visibility of who is accessing the calendar, and privacy features, leading to unintended sharing and lack of feedback on calendar access.
Innovation Solution
Implementing time-limited sharing, sharing audits and history, and a private notes feature to provide users with control over sharing duration, visibility of who accessed their calendar, and a secure area for private information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a user enables sharing of her calendar with another person, then the other person can view the user's calendar, but the sharing becomes unlimited and continues indefinitely until explicitly stopped
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the sharing duration dynamic by allowing users to set expiration dates or time periods for calendar sharing. The sharing relationship automatically adjusts its duration based on user-defined parameters, transforming from a static indefinite sharing to a dynamic time-limited sharing that automatically expires or can be extended.
2Ease of operation
If a user shares their calendar with multiple people, then others can view the calendar, but the user receives no information about who is looking at the calendar or what information has been viewed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms that provide the calendar owner with information about who has accessed their calendar and what specific calendar items were viewed. This feedback loop restores visibility into calendar access patterns, allowing users to monitor and control sharing effectiveness while maintaining the ease of calendar sharing.
3Reliability
If a user uses privacy functions to keep information private, then some information can be protected, but it causes a confusing situation when the user wants to share some appointment details but keep other information private
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by allowing different privacy levels for different calendar items rather than applying a uniform privacy setting to the entire calendar. Users can mark specific appointments or events with varying degrees of privacy (public, private, confidential), enabling fine-grained control over information disclosure while simplifying the management of mixed-sensitivity calendars.
4Device complexity
If a user forgets to use the privacy function or forgets they are sharing their calendar, then unintended information may be exposed, but the current system provides no warnings or reminders
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary actions by providing users with reminders and notifications before calendar sharing expires or before private information might be inadvertently exposed. The system proactively alerts users to potential security issues or sharing status changes, allowing them to take corrective action before unintended information exposure occurs.
Data Source
AI summary
A digital calendar sharing control and visibility system and method for providing a user with control and visibility of digital calendar sharing. The system and method enhance and improve the sharing capabilities of current digital calendar applications. The system and method include a time-based (or expiration) sharing feature that gives a user control over the expiration date of the calendar sharing. The user can expire the sharing after a certain duration or date. The user also can specify a date range or a time range that a person can view in the user's digital calendar. A sharing audits and history feature allows a user to view who has looked at their calendar and what calendar information has been viewed. A private notes section allows a user to enter information that will not be seen by another person, even if that person has sharing permission to view the user's calendar.