U.S. patent application number 10/453234 was filed with the patent office on 2004-06-10 for computer program comprising a plurality of calendars.
Invention is credited to Cerveau, Laurent, Guiheneuf, Bertrand, Hullot, Jean-Marie, Noyau, Eric.
Application Number | 20040109025 10/453234 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 31981409 |
Filed Date | 2004-06-10 |
United States Patent
Application |
20040109025 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Hullot, Jean-Marie ; et
al. |
June 10, 2004 |
Computer program comprising a plurality of calendars
Abstract
Methods, systems and machine readable media for operating a
calendar in a data processing system. In one exemplary method, a
calendar interface is displayed on a display device, wherein the
calendar interface is capable of displaying calendar events for a
user, and a control interface is displayed, which control interface
allows the user to selectively display calendar events
simultaneously from at least two calendars of the user in the
calendar interface.
Inventors: |
Hullot, Jean-Marie;
(Boucival, FR) ; Guiheneuf, Bertrand; (Sinat Pais,
FR) ; Cerveau, Laurent; (Paris, FR) ; Noyau,
Eric; (Mersang, FR) |
Correspondence
Address: |
James C. Scheller, Jr.
BLAKELY, SOKOLOFF, TAYLOR & ZAFMAN LLP
Seventh Floor
12400 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles
CA
90025-1026
US
|
Family ID: |
31981409 |
Appl. No.: |
10/453234 |
Filed: |
June 2, 2003 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
60406521 |
Aug 28, 2002 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
715/764 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 16/273 20190101;
Y10S 715/963 20130101; G06Q 10/107 20130101; G06Q 10/109 20130101;
H04L 67/1095 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
345/764 ;
345/763 |
International
Class: |
G09G 005/00 |
Claims
1. A computer program comprising a plurality of calendars and a
user interface wherein the user interface provides an interface for
two or more calendars.
2. A computer program as claimed in claim 1, in which said user
interface comprises more than one window.
3. A computer program as claimed in claim 2, in which one of said
windows comprises a primary date range.
4. A computer program as claimed in claim 3, in which said primary
date range contains a data field for each day of a month.
5. A computer program as claimed in claim 3, in which said primary
date range contains a data field for each day of a week.
6. A computer program as claimed in claim 3, in which said primary
data range contains a data field for each month of a year.
7. A computer program as claimed in claim 3, in which said primary
date range contains a data field for each of a plurality of hours
of a selected day.
8. A computer program as claimed in claim 5, in which another of
said windows comprises a subsidiary date range comprising at least
one month and including a marker for indicating the selected
day.
9. A computer program as claimed in claim 4, in which another of
said windows comprises a second subsidiary date range comprising at
least one week and including a secondary marker for indicating the
selected day.
10. A computer program as claimed in claim 1, in which one of said
calendars is selected as a most important calendar for a given
user.
11. A computer program as claimed in any claim 10, further
comprising an interrogator interface for adding, selecting,
modifying and deleting an event in said most important
calendar.
12. A computer program as claimed in claim 11, in which said
interrogator interface also enables an event to be moved from one
calendar to another.
13. A computer program as claimed in claim 11, in which said
interrogator interface also enables a property to be assigned to an
event or modified.
14. A computer program as claimed in claim 13, in which said
property comprises the event appearing recurrently.
15. A computer program as claimed in claim 13, in which said
property comprises an alarm.
16. A computer program as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a
toggle for each calendar, for enabling events of a toggled calendar
to be displayed or not displayed by the user interface and wherein
the two or more calendars are for the same user.
17. A computer program as claimed in claim 1, in which said events
are displayed as a 2-D shape at least approximately representing
the duration specified.
18. A computer program as claimed in claim 17, in which events
which overlap are distinguished from each other by a distinguishing
feature.
19. A computer program as claimed in claim 18, in which said
distinguishing feature comprises a different colour.
20. A computer program as claimed in claim 18, in which said
distinguishing feature comprises a different 2-D shape only
partially extending over the specified duration.
21. A computer program as claimed in claim 18, in which said
distinguishing feature comprises one event being translucent such
that the other overlapping event can be displayed therebehind.
22. A computer program as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a
search interface for enabling a search across one or more
calendars.
23. A computer program as claimed in claim 10, further comprising a
task interface for enabling tasks to be entered on said most
important calendar.
24. A method of operating a calendar system on a data processing
system, said method comprising: displaying a calendar interface
which is capable of displaying calendar events for a user;
displaying a control interface which allows said user to
selectively display calendar events from at least two calendars of
said user in said calendar interface.
25. A method as in claim 24 wherein said control interface allows
said user to display events from a first group of calendars and to
not display events from a second group of calendars.
26. A method as in claim 25 wherein said control interface allows
said user to select one calendar as a most important calendar.
27. A method as in claim 25 wherein events which overlap are
distinguished from each other by a distinguishing feature.
28. A machine readable medium containing executable instructions
which when executed by a data processing system cause said system
to perform a method comprising: displaying a calendar interface
which is capable of displaying calendar events for a user;
displaying a control interface which allows said user to
selectively display calendar events from at least two calendars of
said user in said calendar interface.
29. A machine readable medium as in claim 28 wherein said control
interface allows said user to display events from a first group of
calendars and to not display events from a second group of
calendars.
30. A machine readable medium as in claim 29 wherein said control
interface allows said user to select one calendar as a most
important calendar.
31. A machine readable medium as in claim 29 wherein events which
overlap are distinguished from each other by a distinguishing
feature.
32. An apparatus for operating a calendar, said apparatus
comprising: means for displaying a calendar interface which is
capable of displaying calendar events for a user; means for
displaying a control interface which allows said user to
selectively display calendar events from at least two calendars of
said user in said calendar interface.
33. An apparatus as in claim 32 wherein said control interface
allows said user to display events from a first group of calendars
and to not display events from a second group of calendars.
34. An apparatus as in claim 33 wherein said control interface
allows said user to select one calendar as a most important
calendar.
35. An apparatus as in claim 33 wherein events which overlap are
distinguished from each other by a distinguishing feature.
Description
[0001] This application is related to and hereby claims the benefit
of the filing date of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial
No. 60/406,521, filed Sep. 9, 2002, which application is hereby
incorporated herein by reference.
[0002] The present invention relates to a computer program
comprising a plurality of calendars.
[0003] In the last fifty years, the pace of life and complexity for
the consumer has increased considerably. Hitherto, many consumers
merely required a simple manuscript diary or calendar to organise
the various commitments and events occurring in their life. This
developed further for consumers in having more than one diary or
calendar for each person of a household or for different areas of
their life. Thus, it was not uncommon to maintain a family diary
for the events for each member of the household and work calendars
to maintain events for working members of the household and
possibly also social calendars to maintain events for social
matters such as theatre appearances or sporting fixtures.
[0004] As the pace of life and complexity for the consumer
increased even further, maintaining those separate calendars became
considerably more difficult. It was not uncommon for the
appropriate calendar not to be available or conflicting events from
different calendars confirmed.
[0005] Thus, it has been proposed to have a single system for
maintaining events. Having a single manuscript calendar becomes
very bulky and difficult to access from various sites and difficult
to present data in a cohesive manner. Accordingly, electronic
calendar programs have been developed. Events for different
categories are indicated by different labels or other
distinguishing marks. However, having a single electronic calendar
is still very cumbersome to use and when there are many events for
a single time span, the calendar can become very confusing.
[0006] In due course, electronic calendars provided the user with a
plurality of calendars, each one dedicated to a category such as
home, work, school, football fixtures, golf fixtures, theatre
productions etc. An example of which can be found in one of the
personal digital assistants provided by PSION (Registered Trade
Mark). A user of such electronic calendars is required to enter and
view events for the relevant category in the relevant calendar.
When checking potentially conflicting events, a user must scroll
through each of the calendars in turn. Managing the calendars and
various events stored in the calendars is not easy and requires
considerable organisational skills.
SUMMARY OF THE DESCRIPTION
[0007] Certain embodiments of the present invention are directed
towards an improved system for managing a plurality of calendars in
a more cohesive manner.
[0008] One exemplary embodiment of the present invention is related
to a computer program comprising a plurality of calendars and a
user interface wherein the improvement lies in that the user
interface provides an interface for two or more calendars. That is
to say each calendar simultaneously shares the user interface.
Thus, there are a number of calendars per user in comparison to the
prior art which focuses on a single calendar per user whereby
events are distinguished between each other, or a number of
calendars each dedicated to a particular category and each using
separate user interfaces. Exemplary methods of the invention and
exemplary systems embodying the invention are also described.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0009] Embodiments of the present invention will now be described
by way of further example only and with reference to the
accompanying drawings, in which:
[0010] FIG. 1 is a diagram of a user interface according to an
embodiment of the present invention;
[0011] FIG. 2 is a diagram of the user interface according to an
embodiment of the present invention illustrating two situations,
one displaying events from two calendars and the other displaying
events from only one calendar;
[0012] FIG. 3 is a diagram of a user interface according to the
present invention illustrating a different data range as the
primary date range;
[0013] FIG. 4 is a diagram of a user interface according to the
preferred embodiment illustrating the display of events;
[0014] FIG. 5 is a diagram of a user interface according to the
preferring embodiment illustrating to do items;
[0015] FIG. 6 is a diagram of a user interface according to the
preferred embodiment illustrating a search result window;
[0016] FIG. 7 is a diagram of a user interface according to the
preferred embodiment illustrating overlapping events;
[0017] FIG. 8 is a diagram of part of a user interface according to
the preferred embodiment illustrating said overlapping events in
more detail;
[0018] FIG. 9 is a diagram of a publish interface for publishing
one of the calendars;
[0019] FIG. 10 is a schematic illustration of publishing a calendar
according to the present invention; and
[0020] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a flow chart for changing
an event in a calendar which is published according to the present
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0021] Embodiments of the present invention relate to calendar
operations on a data processing system. A data processing system
which may be used with embodiments of the invention typically
include a display for displaying a calendar interface and a
processor for controlling the display and an input device. Examples
of such data processing systems include general purpose computers
or special purpose computers or personal digital assistants or
cellular telephones. Examples of data processing systems are shown
and described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,222,549 which is hereby
incorporated herein by reference. Often, the data processing system
will include a memory for storing software (e.g. computer program)
instructions. Embodiments of the invention may be embodied, at
least in part, in software. That is, the techniques may be carried
out in a computer system or other data processing system in
response to its processor, such as a microprocessor, executing
sequences of instructions contained in a memory, such as ROM,
volatile RAM, non-volatile memory, cache or a remote storage device
(addressable through a network). In various embodiments, hardwired
circuitry may be used in combination with software instructions to
implement the present invention. Thus, the techniques are not
limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and
software nor to any particular source for the instructions executed
by the data processing system. In addition, throughout this
description, various functions and operations are described as
being performed by or caused by software code to simplify
description. However, those skilled in the art will recognize what
is meant by such expressions is that the functions result from
execution of the code by a processor, such as the microprocessor of
a data processing system.
[0022] A machine readable media can be used to store software and
data which when executed by a data processing system causes the
system to perform various methods of the present invention. This
executable software and data may be stored in various places
including for example ROM, volatile RAM, non-volatile memory and/or
cache. Portions of this software and/or data may be stored in any
one of these storage devices.
[0023] Thus, a machine readable media includes any mechanism that
provides (i.e., stores and/or transmits) information in a form
accessible by a machine (e.g. a computer, network device, personal
digital assistant, manufacturing tool, any device with a set of one
or more processors, etc.). For example, a machine readable media
includes recordable/non-recordable media (e.g. read only memory
(ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media;
optical storage media; flash memory devices; etc.) as well as
electrical, optical, acoustical or other forms of propagated
signals (e.g. carrier waves, infrared signals, digital signals,
etc.); etc.
[0024] The present invention in one exemplary embodiment comprises
a computer program having a user interface providing an interface
for two or more calendars. FIG. 1 is a diagram of such a user
interface 2. The user interface includes a number of windows 4, 6
and 8. Window 4 is titled "My Calendars". FIG. 1 illustrates the
use of the user interface with two calendars, namely "Home" and
"Work". The names of the calendars are displayed in the "My
Calendars" window. Preferably, the calendars "Home" and "Work" are
created by default. Other calendars may be included, especially
public event calendars.
[0025] Window 6 comprises a primary date range. In FIGS. 1 and 2,
the primary date range comprises a day with a data field for each
hour. In FIG. 3, the primary date range is a month. Needless to
say, the primary date range may be weekly or yearly. A selector 10
in the user interface enables a user to select which primary date
range to display.
[0026] The primary date range includes a data field for each unit
of the primary date range. That is to say, in the daily date range,
the data fields are hours, in the weekly date range, the data
fields are days or hours, in the monthly date range, the data
fields are days or hours and in the yearly date range, the data
fields are months, weeks, days or hours. As shown in FIG. 3, the
data fields may display sub-fields for each hour of the day when
the primary date range is monthly. Similarly, in the yearly date
range, each data field may display sub-fields for each day. In the
daily date range, the preferred embodiment displays only some of
the hours available.
[0027] Window 8 enables a subsidiary date range to be displayed. In
FIGS. 1 and 2, the subsidiary date range is monthly. A marker 12,
enables the day selected in the primary date range to be indicated
in the subsidiary date range. For example, Tuesday February 5 2002
is shown in the primary date range and this day is indicated by the
marker in the subsidiary date range which displays February
2002.
[0028] The user interface provides a toggle or control interface 14
for each calendar. The user interface indicates to the user that
the toggle is activated when a tick or check mark appears next to
the name of the calendar. If a toggle is activated, then the events
from the respective calendar are displayed by the user interface,
typically by displaying the events in a calendar interface such as
a daily or weekly or monthly view. FIG. 2, illustrates two
situations for the user interface. One situation has the user
interface displaying events from two calendars, namely "Home" and
"Work" whereas the other situation has the user interface
displaying events from only one calendar, namely "Home". For
example, in the first situation in FIG. 2, there is an event
occurring at 10 am, namely "Meeting" which is not displayed in the
other situation since this event only appears in the calendar
"Work" which is not activated.
[0029] The present invention thus enables a user to manage all of
the required calendars using a computer program having a single
user interface and all of the 2 or more calendars may be calendars
for the same user displaying events, meetings, etc. for that user.
The user interface significantly enhances the management of the
events occurring over a plurality of calendars. Thus, when checking
availability of a new event, a user merely needs to activate all of
the relevant calendars (leaving the other calendars not activated),
and the events in all the relevant (activated) calendars are all
displayed and a user can easily confirm whether there is
availability. Conversely, when considering just one category of
events, a user merely needs to deactivate the redundant calendars
and activate only the one relating to the particular category. The
user interface thus very efficiently manages the calendars on the
one hand by combining all of the calendars and yet allows
flexibility to focus on one or a few calendars to minimise
confusion and reduce complexity.
[0030] FIGS. 4 to 7 illustrate a preferred embodiment of the
present invention. In FIGS. 4 to 7, window 8 displays more than one
month as the subsidiary date range. Moreover, the marker 12,
indicates a selected week. Window 6 comprises the primary date
range of a week with hourly data fields for each day of the week.
The user interface indicates a particular day in the primary date
range and a detailed marker 16 in the subsidiary date range
indicates the same day. For example, Tuesday 27th August 2002 is
highlighted in the primary date range and the detailed marker
indicates the same day and this is distinguished from the marker 12
in the subsidiary date range.
[0031] FIG. 4 illustrates an event, namely "My Event". The event is
displayed as a 2-D shape, namely a rounded rectangle. The 2-D shape
has boundaries which are approximately contiguous with the
specified duration, namely 9 am to 1 p.m. and thus represent the
duration of the event.
[0032] In order to minimise confusion, only one of the calendars is
selected for editing at any one time. Thus, a user selects a
calendar of most importance in the hierarchy of all of the
calendars. This is indicated by highlighting in the user interface.
For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the calendar "lala" is
highlighted, thereby indicating that as the most important
calendar.
[0033] When a user wishes to add, select, modify or delete an
event, the user may highlight the event and double click. An
interrogator interface 20 is activated and displayed. The date of
the event and duration are displayed as shown at 22. Changes can be
made using the arrows. The calendar from which the event is taken
is also displayed at 24. The event may be moved from one calendar
to another by changing the associated calendar appearing at 24. The
details of the event are displayed at 26. Not only may the event be
changed but also properties associated with the event may be
changed. For example, an alarm may be indicated and/or selected at
28. When the alarm is due, any known computer program alarm may be
provided such as an audio or visual announcement. A shortcut 30 may
be activated to set the duration as the whole day or other duration
depending upon the primary date range used. Another property is to
set the event as recurring. A recurring event may comprise for
example Birthdays, anniversaries, regular appointments etc.
[0034] The user interface of the preferred embodiment shown in FIG.
4 also includes an additional window 40. Window 40 is entitled "To
Do items". To do items include those tasks for which a specific
time is not required but set for a particular day, week, month or
year, depending upon the primary date range selected. In FIG. 4,
the primary date range is weekly and the to do items are noted for
a particular day. To do items can be displayed such as that shown
in FIG. 5. The to do items may be implemented in a "Franklin Covey
mode".
[0035] FIG. 6 illustrates a user interface with an additional
window 50. Window 50 provides another subsidiary date range, in
this case weekly. The events occurring in window 50 are generally
of a day long duration. Such a display is particularly useful when
displaying user's holidays or national holidays or other events of
a day duration such as Birthdays. Those events are indicated by a
2-D rectangular shape with rounded corners at the extremities of
the duration. Such events are termed banners. A banner may also be
used to display a weekend or holiday period. The computer program
is able to display such a banner with rectangular corners at the
extremity of the duration when the shortcut 30 is activated.
[0036] The preferred embodiment also provides for searches to be
effected. The searches are facilitated by search interface 60. A
string of characters is entered into the search interface. A search
is conducted across selected calendars and the search results are
displayed in a search result window 62. For example in FIG. 6, the
search string "acan" was entered and various entries identified and
displayed. The search interface also enables each of the events
presented thereby to be viewed and/or changed and selecting one of
the results in the search interface for changing may produce the
interrogator interface as discussed above.
[0037] As discussed above, events from each toggled calendar are
displayed by the user interface. FIG. 7 illustrates the user
interface according to the preferred embodiment whereby several
calendars are toggled, namely "US Holidays 2", "lala", "Jewish
Holidays", "testpub" and "VacancesG5". The events from all of these
toggled calendars are shown in the primary date range. It is not
uncommon for events to conflict. Thus, a distinguishing feature is
provided to distinguish between conflicting events. The
distinguishing feature may comprise a different colour, the shape
of the event being displayed differently and/or one of the events
being translucently displayed. When colour is used, the name of the
calendar and each of the events or their shape take the same
colour.
[0038] In FIG. 7, there are two conflicting events which overlap
between 11.30 am and 1 p.m. The events are displayed in a
translucent manner and with their shape reduced such that the
lateral boundary does not extend the full width of the day data
field. FIG. 8 illustrates this in more detail. In this case, there
are two conflicting events with the event entitled "New event" at
10.30 am. The other events "New event" at 9.15 am and "envoyer list
bug" are reduced in size and aligned with the left perimeter of the
day data field whereas the event "New event" at 10.30 am is reduced
in size and aligned with the right perimeter of the day data field.
Moreover, event "New event" at 1030 am is made translucent so that
event "New event" at 9.15 am can be seen there through and event
"envoyer list bug" is overlaid.
[0039] Two features of embodiments of the present invention are the
instant access to data and the natural selection and visualisation
of other sources of events. The present invention may contain a
large multitude of events, in particular because of its ability to
include many calendars within a calendar interface for a user.
Thus, it becomes critical for a user to quickly and easily find
relevant data in a given context. For example, during work hours, a
user must be able to easily find meetings concerning a given
project, by selecting only the work calendar and searching for the
given project. However, at home, the same user, with the same
computer program and user interface must have a way to easily find
social details such as the soccer matches for any given team, again
through selecting only the relevant calendars and searching for the
given team. The user is thus provided with a live textual search
system and related navigational facilities.
[0040] Embodiments of the present invention thus achieve the
objectives of enabling a user to manage all of the required
calendars using a computer program having a single user interface.
The user interface significantly enhances the management of the
events occurring over a plurality of calendars. Thus, when checking
availability of a new event, a user merely needs to activate (e.g.
"toggle") all of the relevant calendars, whose events are all
displayed and a user can easily confirm whether there is
availability. Conversely, when considering just one category of
events, a user merely needs to deactivate (e.g. "de-toggle") the
redundant calendars and activate only the one relating to the
particular category. The user interface thus very efficiently
manages the calendars on the one hand by combining all of the
calendars and yet allows flexibility to focus on one or a few
calendars to minimise confusion and reduce complexity.
[0041] Preferably the computer program is operative on a data
processing system such as a computer such as one of the Macintosh
personal computers from the applicant, Apple Computer Inc. of
Cupertino, Calif., USA. More preferably the computer program is
operative in the MacOS x version 10.2, known as Jaguar (Registered
Trade Mark). Moreover, the computer program is complementary to
Mail and Address Book computer applications also available from
Apple for full personal information management. Needless to say,
the computer program is compatible with printing applications and
functions. Embodiments of the present invention may also be used on
other types of data processing systems such as a personal digital
assistant (PDA) (e.g. a Palm PDA or a Pocket PC) or a cell phone
with a calendar system or a music player, such as an iPod from
Apple.
[0042] In addition, the computer program is compliant with
standards for calendaring applications such as iCal and vCal (both
Registered Trade Marks) and allows import of data from other
applications like Entourage (Registered Trade Mark) available from
Microsoft. Further details can be obtained from
http://www.imc.org/draft-ietf-calsch-inetcal-guide. The computer
program is also compatible with the iTools web service available
from Apple in order to share calendar data easily over the
Internet.
[0043] In view of the compatibility discussed above and in
particular with the operating system, the computer program enables
copy and paste with other applications, drag and drop facilities,
use of the spellchecker, integration with email applications and
integration with address applications for management of personal
information.
[0044] Moreover, the preferred embodiment also provides a publish
and subscribe user interface for providing one or more calendars to
others and/or for subscriber to other calendars. FIG. 9 illustrates
a publish interface for facilitating the publication of the
selected calendar. In the publish interface, one of the calendars
is selected at 90. A user may set preferences associated with the
selected published calendar. For example, all changes effected on
the calendar are published automatically at 92. All notes and
events are included at 94. Any alarms set can also be included or
not in the published calendar at 95 since these may not be relevant
to a subscriber. Similarly any to do items can be included or not
in the published calendar at 96. Finally, the publish interface
enables the calendar to be published either over the Internet or on
a server at 97. Confirmation or cancellation can be effected via
buttons 98. Finally, a status of the publication is indicated at
99.
[0045] Details of a method of managing a calendar by publishing and
subscribing is described in one of our other copending applications
filed on the same day by the same inventors and entitled "A Method
Of Managing A Calendar And A Computer System For Implementing That
Method," attorney docket no. 04860.P2997. Although this other
application is incorporated herein by reference in full, relevant
details of which are as follows:
[0046] FIG. 10 illustrates schematically a computer server 200 on
which is stored a calendar 400 containing at least one event. A
number of subscriber electronic devices 600a, 600b etc are each
connected to the server 200. In the preferred embodiment, the
computer server is provided over the Internet and the subscribers
are computers connected intermittently to the server.
Alternatively, the server could comprise a local area network to
which the subscribers are connected permanently. The electronic
devices could comprise any form of electronic device such as a
notebook or laptop computer, personal digital assistant, mobile
telephone, palm device etc.
[0047] The server 200 has stored thereon the calendar of events
400. The calendar 400 is downloaded and stored on each of the
subscribers to form a local calendar 800a, 800b etc. The local
calendar is stored in the same electronic format as on the server.
The preferred embodiment enables the local calendar to be stored
with a subscriber calendar 1000a, 1000b etc. In particular, the
local calendar and the subscriber calendar both share the same user
interface as described herein.
[0048] The present invention may also include a viewer electronic
device 1200. A viewer 1200 may access the calendar stored on the
server but may not download the same to form a local calendar. In
order for a viewer to become a subscriber, the viewer must pay a
subscriber fee.
[0049] A viewer electronic device may comprise any of the same
subscriber electronic devices, for example a notebook or laptop
computer, personal digital assistant, mobile telephone, palm device
etc and be connected in any of the arrangements as for a
subscriber. Depending upon the electronic device involved any
suitable electronic connection may be made as is well known in the
art including USB, serial ports, firewire, bluetooth, infrared and
over the Internet.
[0050] The preferred embodiment also enables a subscriber 600b to
publish their local calendar 1000b to the server 200 or for viewing
by a viewer 1200. Another subscriber, such as 600a may download the
published local calendar 1000b to form a local subscriber calendar
1000a/b. The viewer may view the local calendar stored on the
server 1000b or directly if connected to the subscriber.
[0051] The subscribers may also be connected directly. In this
case, a subscriber 6a may publish the local calendar 1000a to the
other subscriber 600b which is then stored to form a local
subscriber calendar 1000b/a stored on subscriber 600b.
[0052] The present invention provides for any number of calendars
to be provided by the server or any number of electronic devices
either subscriber or viewer to be included.
[0053] Many calendars are not static. Static calendars include
those relating to national holidays, birthdays, daylight saving
transition dates, tide data etc. However, many calendars are not
static and events need to be added, modified or deleted. All of
these are termed as changes. FIG. 11 illustrates schematically
changes to be effected on a calendar which is published.
[0054] In the first instance a change may be made to a calendar in
operation 2000. If the change occurs on a calendar 400 stored on
the server 200, then each subscriber 600a, 600b, downloads the
change in operation 2200 and the local calendar 800a, 800b is
updated in operation 2400. If the change occurs on a local calendar
100a stored on a subscriber, then the calendar, if sent directly to
another subscriber 600b, is downloaded by the subscriber 600b and
the local subscriber calendar 1000b/a is updated. If the local
calendar 1000b is published on the server 200, then the local
calendar 1000b is republished in operation 2600. The other
subscriber 1000a, downloads the republished calendar 1000b and
updates the local subscriber calendar 1000a/b stored thereon.
[0055] The preferred embodiment also provides for a dialog between
users operating the subscriber devices in order to confirm,
disagree or amend any changes. A user of one of the subscribers may
send a notification to the other subscriber in operation 2800. The
recipient subscriber may reply to confirm the change in operation
3000. The change is then effected on the calendar and the change
implemented on the local calendar as discussed above. The recipient
subscriber may reply to disagree or amend the proposed change in
operation 3200. The subscriber and recipient may conduct this
dialog between notifying 2800 and replying 3200 until a reply to
confirm 3000 is received. The change is then effected as discussed
above.
[0056] The server or subscriber generating the calendar 400, 1000a
or 1000b may provide for the recipient subscriber to view the
calendar only or effect changes. Other preferences may be
determined by the server or subscriber. Such preferences include
the time period between making changes to the calendar and
downloading those changes. Other preferences include merely
notifying a user of a subscriber of a change. All such preferences
are facilitated through the use of a user interface such as
described above and shown in FIG. 9.
[0057] The present invention thus enables events from more than one
calendar to be disseminated and organised in a method which is more
manageable. In particular, events do not need to be re-entered onto
the users electronic calendar thereby avoiding errors and the user
can selectively choose events from certain calendars to be included
in their local calendar. Moreover, the method provides for changes
being effected and a dialog between at least two users for
confirming on changes to be made.
[0058] Thus, through publishing and subscribing to other users
calendars and public calendars, the need for facilitating the
management of all of that data is achieved through the use of a
single user interface.
[0059] To assist a user in appreciating which calendars are
specific to the user or those which are subscribed, a tag 100 as
shown in FIG. 5 is used. Those calendars which include alarms
associated with an event include a tag 102.
[0060] To enhance the security of data integrity and reduce
complexity, it is preferred that data involved in the computer
program is always synchronised across various electronic devices. A
method of synchronising three or more electronic devices is
described in one of our other copending applications filed on the
same day by the same inventors and entitled "A Method Of
Synchronizing Three Or More Electronic Devices And A Computer
System For Implementing That Method," attorney docket no.
04860.P2998.
[0061] The foregoing description has been given by way of example
only and it will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that
modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the
present invention.
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References