Encoded Email Event Scheduling Across Organizations
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Scheduling meetings across multiple organizations is challenging due to inaccessible availability information and cumbersome user interfaces, especially as the number of potential attendees grows.
Innovation Solution
A system that allows a sender device to generate an email message with encoded data elements specifying proposed meeting times, which can be embedded in the message and transmitted to recipient devices, enabling users to select available times and automatically create event entries in their electronic calendars, facilitating coordination across different organizations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If traditional scheduling methods are used across multiple organizations, then availability information can be accessed, but the scheduling complexity increases significantly as the number of attendees grows
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an email message with encoded data elements as an intermediary mechanism that bridges different organization's calendar systems. The encoded data element contains proposed event times that can be universally interpreted and processed across different email server infrastructures, enabling availability information exchange without direct system integration.
Solution Approach 2:
The scheduling process is segmented into independent steps: generating proposed times, encoding them in data elements, embedding in email messages, and processing responses. This segmentation allows each component to be handled independently, reducing the overall scheduling complexity even as the number of attendees increases.
2Ease of operation
If formal meeting coordination is conducted through traditional interfaces, then meeting times can be scheduled, but the user interface becomes cumbersome and confusing
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables self-service scheduling where the email message automatically contains encoded proposed times and the recipient device can automatically process these to determine availability and create event entries. This eliminates the need for complex manual coordination through traditional interfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex mechanical user interface interactions with automated electronic processing. The encoded data element in the email message is automatically decoded and processed by the recipient device, substituting manual interface manipulation with automated computational processes.
3Loss of information
If availability information from different organizations is accessed, then comprehensive scheduling options are available, but the information accessibility is blocked by separate email servers
Solution Approach 1:
The email message serves multiple functions: it communicates the meeting proposal, encodes proposed times, and enables availability checking across different organizations. The encoded data element format is universally compatible with different email server infrastructures, allowing the same mechanism to work across organizational boundaries.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transforms availability information into encoded data elements that can be transmitted through standard email protocols. By changing the representation format of scheduling data into universally compatible encoded elements, the system enables cross-organization information exchange despite infrastructure differences.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are examples relating to scheduling events using devices in communication through a network. In some examples, an email message comprising an encoded data element is obtained. The encoded data element includes data that specifies a proposed time for an event. The data that specifies the proposed time for the event is extracted from the encoded data element. Content from the email message is rendered in a user interface. A user interface element is rendered within the user interface. The user interface element represents the proposed time for the event and an availability for the event at the proposed time.