Relational Scheduling System for Meeting Resource Optimization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current calendar and conference room reservation systems lack integration and do not effectively account for the importance of participants and resources in scheduling meetings, failing to maximize the availability of both mandatory and non-mandatory participants and resources.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for relational scheduling that allows users to input meeting request data including participant and resource importance ratings, enabling the optimization of meeting times to meet mandatory requirements while maximizing the sum of non-mandatory participant and resource ratings within defined scheduling criteria.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional calendar and conference room reservation systems are used, then basic meeting scheduling is possible, but the systems lack integration and do not account for participant and resource importance ratings
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines calendar management system and conference room reservation system into a single integrated platform. This merging allows the system to simultaneously manage participant availability and resource availability, enabling comprehensive scheduling that considers both people and resources with their respective importance ratings, thereby resolving the fragmentation issue while maintaining manageable complexity through unified architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated system performs multiple functions: it schedules participants based on their availability and importance ratings, reserves conference rooms based on resource availability and importance ratings, and coordinates both aspects simultaneously. This multi-functionality allows a single system to replace multiple separate tools while adding the capability to optimize scheduling decisions based on weighted importance criteria.
2Reliability
If mandatory participant requirements are enforced, then meeting goals are ensured, but flexibility in scheduling is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the parameter of participant availability from a binary state (available/unavailable) to a weighted state by introducing importance ratings. This allows the scheduling algorithm to prioritize mandatory participants while also considering optional participants with high importance ratings, thereby maintaining meeting goal achievement while increasing scheduling flexibility through optimized time slot selection.
3Productivity
If comprehensive resource availability is tracked, then optimal meeting times can be found, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system transforms resource availability data into a standardized format with importance ratings assigned to different resources (e.g., projector, conference room, phone system). This parameter standardization allows the scheduling algorithm to efficiently process and compare multiple resources across different time slots, improving scheduling efficiency while managing data complexity through consistent data structures and weighted evaluation criteria.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for relational scheduling of people and/or resources includes a process for relational scheduling of people and/or resources whereby a user desiring to schedule a meeting is provided the ability to designate participants and/or meeting resources desired for a meeting, and to give each desired participant and/or meeting resource an importance rating/score, including the ability to designate a given participant and/or meeting resource as mandatory. The user also defines meeting scheduling criteria including a meeting length and a meeting date window. This meeting request data is then used to search participant and/or meeting resource availability data to determine one or more meeting times within the user defined meeting scheduling criteria provide not only the mandatory meeting requirements, but also maximize the non-mandatory participant and/or resource rating/score for the meeting.