Remote Appointment Scheduling Across Multiple Calendar Services

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing systems face challenges in managing appointment data across multiple calendars and calendar services, making it difficult for users to find suitable appointment times across different calendars and services, especially when users have varying availability and privacy concerns.

Innovation Solution

A system and method for remote management of appointment data that involves storing user data entries on a processing server, querying calendar providers for availability, and using algorithms to identify optimal appointment times based on user availability across multiple calendars, thereby simplifying the process of scheduling appointments across different calendar services.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If a user manually checks each calendar service to find suitable appointment times, then the user can identify available slots, but the process becomes time-consuming and complex when multiple calendars and services are involved

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveavailability identification accuracyVSAvoidtime to schedule appointment

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces a centralized appointment management system that acts as an intermediary between multiple calendar services and the user. This system aggregates availability data from various calendar providers (Google Calendar, Outlook, iCloud, etc.) and presents a unified view of available time slots, eliminating the need for users to manually check each service separately while maintaining accurate availability information.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The system provides universal functionality by supporting multiple calendar services and providers through a single interface. It can handle appointments across different calendar systems (Google, Outlook, iCloud, Yahoo, etc.) simultaneously, allowing users to schedule appointments that involve participants using different calendar services without requiring separate manual processes for each provider.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

2Productivity

If users share detailed calendar information to enable appointment scheduling, then suitable times can be identified, but user privacy is compromised

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveappointment scheduling efficiencyVSAvoidprivacy exposure

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The system extracts only the necessary information for scheduling appointments - specifically availability time slots - while leaving detailed calendar events and sensitive information private. Users can share their availability without exposing the actual content of their calendar events, meeting titles, or other confidential details, thus maintaining productivity while protecting privacy.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent implements selective information sharing where different levels of detail are provided to different parties. The appointment management system receives detailed calendar data from each user's calendar service to accurately determine availability, but only shares the derived availability information (not the raw detailed calendar data) with other participants, thus protecting user privacy while enabling efficient scheduling.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

3Adaptability or versatility

If the system integrates with multiple calendar providers, then compatibility and versatility improve, but system complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecalendar service compatibilityVSAvoidsystem architecture complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system uses calendar service provider-specific interfaces or adapters as intermediaries to communicate with different calendar services (Google, Outlook, iCloud, etc.). These intermediaries handle the complexity of each provider's specific API and data format, allowing the core appointment management system to remain simple while supporting multiple calendar providers through standardized interaction patterns.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentUS11348073B2Method and system for remote management of appointment data

Publication Date: 2022.05.31 VARANIDEA LLC

AI summary

A method for remote management of appointment data includes: receiving appointment data including a time range, an originating user identifier, invitee user identifiers, and an appointment length; identifying an originating user data entry that includes the originating user identifier and invitee user data entries that include the invitee user identifiers; transmitting a calendar data request to the respective associated calendar provider for each calendar data entry included in the originating and invitee user data entries; receiving calendar data for each calendar data entry that includes availability in the time range; identifying an appointment time having a highest availability of invitees based on received availability; and transmitting the appointment time, for each calendar data entry included in the originating and invitee user data entries, to the associated calendar provider.