U.S. patent application number 12/015318 was filed with the patent office on 2008-06-05 for method of arranging supplemental meeting services.
This patent application is currently assigned to INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION. Invention is credited to Scott H. Demsky, Robert M. Szabo.
Application Number | 20080133662 12/015318 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 32092806 |
Filed Date | 2008-06-05 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080133662 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Demsky; Scott H. ; et
al. |
June 5, 2008 |
METHOD OF ARRANGING SUPPLEMENTAL MEETING SERVICES
Abstract
A method of scheduling meetings within a calendaring system can
include receiving a meeting request specifying a meeting time, at
least one participant, and a supplemental meeting service to be
scheduled concurrently with the meeting. A determination can be
made that a supplemental meeting system is not available.
Accordingly, participants can be notified of the meeting time and
that supplemental meeting service information has not been
determined. The method also can include attempting to obtain the
supplemental meeting service information from the supplemental
meeting system until a predetermined time prior to the meeting
time. If the supplemental meeting service information is obtained
before the predetermined time prior to the meeting time, the
participants can be notified of the supplemental meeting service
information.
Inventors: |
Demsky; Scott H.; (Boca
Raton, FL) ; Szabo; Robert M.; (Boca Raton,
FL) |
Correspondence
Address: |
AKERMAN SENTERFITT
P.O. BOX 3188
WEST PALM BEACH
FL
33402-3188
US
|
Assignee: |
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES
CORPORATION
Armonk
NY
|
Family ID: |
32092806 |
Appl. No.: |
12/015318 |
Filed: |
January 16, 2008 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
10273473 |
Oct 18, 2002 |
|
|
|
12015318 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
709/204 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 10/1095 20130101;
G06Q 10/109 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
709/204 |
International
Class: |
G06F 15/16 20060101
G06F015/16 |
Claims
1. Within a calendaring system, a method of rescheduling an
existing meeting and an associated supplemental meeting service
comprising: receiving a request to reschedule the meeting and the
associated supplemental meeting service involving at least one
participant, wherein the request specifies a rescheduled meeting
time; sending a cancellation for the existing meeting service to a
supplemental meeting system and requesting a supplemental meeting
service at the rescheduled meeting time; receiving supplemental
meeting service information for the rescheduled meeting time; and
notifying the participants of the rescheduled meeting time and the
supplemental meeting service information for the rescheduled
meeting time.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the supplemental meeting service
is a teleconference and the supplemental meeting service
information specifies at least a teleconference number.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the supplemental meeting service
information further specifies instructions for accessing the
teleconference.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the supplemental meeting service
is an electronic meeting and the supplemental meeting service
information specifies at least an address of the electronic
meeting.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the supplemental meeting service
information further specifies instructions for accessing the
electronic meeting.
6. A machine readable storage, having stored thereon a computer
program implementation of a calendaring system, having a plurality
of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to
perform the steps of: receiving a request to reschedule a meeting
and an associated supplemental meeting service involving at least
one participant, wherein said request specifies a rescheduled
meeting time; sending a cancellation for the existing meeting
service to a supplemental meeting system and requesting a
supplemental meeting service at the rescheduled meeting time;
receiving supplemental meeting service information for the
rescheduled meeting time; and notifying the participants of the
rescheduled meeting time and the supplemental meeting service
information for the rescheduled meeting time.
7. The machine-readable storage of claim 6, wherein the
supplemental meeting service is a teleconference and the
supplemental meeting service information specifies at least a
teleconference number.
8. The machine-readable storage of claim 7, wherein the
supplemental meeting service information further specifies
instructions for accessing the teleconference.
9. The machine-readable storage of claim 6, wherein the
supplemental meeting service is an electronic meeting and the
supplemental meeting service information specifies at least an
address of the electronic meeting.
10. The machine-readable storage of claim 9, wherein the
supplemental meeting service information further specifies
instructions for accessing the electronic meeting.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a divisional application of, and
accordingly claims the benefit of, U.S. application Ser. No.
10/273,473, filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Oct.
18, 2002, issued as U.S. Pat. No. ______, on ______.
BACKGROUND
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] The present invention relates to the field of calendaring
and scheduling systems and, more particularly, to arranging
meetings and supplemental meeting services through the calendaring
system.
[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0005] Colleagues often experience a need to work with one another
in a cooperative fashion despite, for one reason or another, not
being able to work together in person. Modern technologies such as
teleconferencing and electronic meetings make such interactions
possible. Teleconferencing, as is well known in the art, allows
several persons to participate in a telephone conversation from two
or more different locations. Electronic meeting applications such
as Lotus Sametime.TM., available from International Business
Machines Corporation of Armonk, N.Y., permit persons to view common
images as if each person was located at the same location and
viewing the same display.
[0006] The advent of multi-party calendaring systems, such as Lotus
Notes.TM. which also is available from International Business
Machines Corporation, facilitates the scheduling of multi-party
meetings by determining whether prospective meeting participants
are available at designated times, by sending invitations to join
meetings to designated recipients, as well as scheduling an agreed
upon meeting time, meeting duration, and date within each
participant's individual calendar. While some calendaring systems
attempt to provide functionality beyond time management and
multi-party scheduling, these conventional calendaring systems have
been unable to tightly integrate functionality relating to
supplemental meeting services including, but not limited to,
provisioning a teleconference line, canceling a reserved
teleconference line, or arranging an electronic meeting space.
[0007] Presently, when scheduling a teleconference, conventional
calendaring systems allow a meeting owner to automatically generate
a one-time teleconference phone number to be used in conjunction
with the meeting. In such cases, the meeting owner typically is a
registered user of a third party teleconference system.
Accordingly, scheduling the meeting via the calendaring system also
initiates the scheduling of the teleconference with the
teleconference system. Any charges for establishing and using the
teleconference number, or call-in number, are routed to the meeting
owner or to another entity to be billed such as the department or
business entity in which the meeting owner works.
[0008] Still, for a calendaring system to schedule a meeting and a
teleconference with an automatically generated teleconference
number, conventional calendaring systems must be communicatively
linked with the teleconference system. Otherwise, the calendaring
system will not schedule the meeting as a "teleconference". Rather,
the calendaring system will inform the meeting owner that the
teleconferencing service is currently unavailable and ask the
meeting owner to try again at a later time.
[0009] In consequence, the owner may choose to schedule the meeting
via the calendaring system without the teleconference number. In
that case, the meeting owner must continue to contact the
teleconference system manually, outside of the calendaring system
environment, in an effort to obtain a teleconference number. If the
teleconference system does become available and a teleconference is
successfully scheduled, the meeting owner must generate a meeting
notification manually which specifies the teleconference details
and then distribute the notification to the participants via the
calendaring system. If, however, the teleconference system does not
become available, the meeting owner can manually generate and send
a cancellation notice to the other participants.
[0010] In the event that a meeting owner wishes to cancel a
previously scheduled meeting and teleconference through the
calendaring system, the teleconference system also must be
available to the calendaring system for purposes of notification.
If not, the calendaring system may cancel the meeting, but the
scheduled teleconference will not be cancelled as the
teleconference system is not available. In that case, the
calendaring system informs the meeting owner that the
teleconference system is not available and asks the meeting owner
to try to cancel the scheduled teleconference at a later time.
Thus, the meeting owner is forced to continually try to cancel the
meeting in a manual fashion outside of the calendaring system
environment until the teleconference system does become available.
Typically, if the teleconference is not cancelled within a
predetermined time before the scheduled teleconference time, the
meeting owner likely will be charged for the establishment of the
teleconference even though no teleconference took place.
[0011] If electronic meeting software is to be used in conjunction
with a scheduled meeting, such arrangements typically must be
performed independently of the calendaring system. That is, the
meeting owner must schedule the electronic meeting with the
electronic meeting system, obtain confirmation from the electronic
meeting system, and, through the calendaring system, manually
generate and send a notification to each participant indicating
that an associated electronic meeting has been scheduled. The
instructions for participating in the electronic meeting also must
be provided.
[0012] The lack of integration between conventional calendaring
systems and supplemental meeting systems such as teleconference
systems and electronic meeting systems, forces meeting owners to
expend significant time arranging meetings, leading to increased
costs. In addition to the costs associated with meeting
arrangements, meeting owners often incur additional expenses
resulting from last minute cancellations.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0013] The invention disclosed herein provides a solution for
integrating supplemental meeting services with a calendaring
system. In particular, the present invention can integrate the
scheduling, rescheduling, and cancellation of supplemental meeting
services such as teleconferences and/or electronic meetings with
calendaring functions such as meeting scheduling and meeting
notifications. Accordingly, from within a calendaring system,
various tasks associated with arranging supplemental meeting
services can be performed. Notably, any arrangements made from
within the calendaring system can be provided to participants
automatically, thereby alleviating the need for a meeting owner to
manually distribute any information regarding the supplemental
meeting service.
[0014] One aspect of the present invention can include a method of
scheduling meetings within a calendaring system. The method can
include receiving a meeting request specifying a meeting time, at
least one participant, and a supplemental meeting service to be
scheduled concurrently with the meeting. A supplemental meeting
system can be contacted to determine supplemental meeting service
information for the supplemental meeting service. A determination
can be made that a supplemental meeting system, that is the system
through which the supplemental meeting service is to be scheduled,
is not available. Accordingly, the participants can be notified of
the meeting time and that the supplemental meeting service
information has not been determined. The method further can include
attempting to obtain the supplemental meeting service information
from the supplemental meeting system until a predetermined time
prior to the meeting time.
[0015] If the supplemental meeting service is a teleconference, the
supplemental meeting service information can specify a
teleconference number as well as instructions for accessing the
teleconference. If the supplemental meeting service is an
electronic meeting, the supplemental meeting service information
can specify an address of the electronic meeting and instructions
for accessing the electronic meeting.
[0016] If the supplemental meeting service information is obtained
before the predetermined time prior to the meeting time, the
participants can be notified of the supplemental meeting service
information. Notably, in the case where one of the participants has
been identified as a meeting owner, if the supplemental meeting
service information is not obtained before the predetermined time
prior to the meeting time, the meeting owner can be queried whether
to notify the participants of any supplemental meeting service
information that is determined by the meeting owner outside of the
calendaring system. For example, the meeting owner can manually
arrange a teleconference or an electronic meeting and include that
information within a notification distributed via the calendaring
system. Alternatively, the meeting owner can be queried whether to
notify the participants that the meeting has been cancelled.
[0017] Another aspect of the present invention can include a method
of canceling meetings within a calendaring system. The method can
include receiving a request to cancel a scheduled meeting and an
associated supplemental meeting service involving at least one
participant. A determination can be made that a supplemental
meeting system such as a teleconference system or an electronic
meeting system is unavailable. The time when the request to cancel
is received can be recorded. The participants can be notified that
the scheduled meeting has been cancelled. Accordingly, when the
supplemental meeting system becomes available, the supplemental
meeting system can be notified that the supplemental meeting
service has been cancelled and can be provided with the time in
which the request to cancel was received.
[0018] Another aspect of the present invention can include a method
of rescheduling an existing meeting and an associated supplemental
meeting service within a calendaring system. As noted, the
supplemental meeting service can be a teleconference or an
electronic meeting. The method can include receiving a request to
reschedule the meeting and the associated supplemental meeting
service involving one or more participants. The request can specify
a rescheduled meeting time. Accordingly, a cancellation of the
existing meeting service can be sent to a supplemental meeting
system as well as a request for a supplemental meeting service to
be made available at the rescheduled meeting time. Supplemental
meeting service information for the rescheduled meeting time can be
received.
[0019] Accordingly, the participants can be notified of the
rescheduled meeting time as well as the supplemental meeting
service information for the rescheduled meeting time. If the
supplemental meeting service is a teleconference, the supplemental
meeting service information can specify a teleconference number and
instructions for accessing the teleconference. Alternatively, if
the supplemental meeting service is an electronic meeting, the
supplemental service information can specify an address of the
electronic meeting as well as instructions for accessing the
electronic meeting.
[0020] Yet another aspect of the present invention can include a
method of scheduling a meeting within a calendaring system. The
method can include, responsive to a request to schedule a meeting
at a designated meeting time and with designated participants,
querying a requesting participant to schedule an associated
electronic meeting. Responsive to a request to schedule an
electronic meeting, an electronic meeting for the designated time
can be requested from an electronic meeting system. Electronic
meeting information can be received from the electronic meeting
system. For example, the electronic meeting information can specify
instructions for connecting to the electronic meeting. Accordingly,
the participants can be notified of the meeting time, the
electronic meeting, and the electronic meeting information.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0021] There are shown in the drawings embodiments which are
presently preferred, it being understood, however, that the
invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and
instrumentalities shown.
[0022] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a system for
managing supplemental meeting services in accordance with the
inventive arrangements disclosed herein.
[0023] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a graphical user
interface for use with the system of FIG. 1.
[0024] FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method of scheduling a
meeting and a supplemental meeting service in accordance with the
inventive arrangements disclosed herein.
[0025] FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a method of canceling a
scheduled supplemental meeting service in accordance with the
inventive arrangements disclosed herein.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0026] The invention disclosed herein provides a solution for
integrating supplemental meeting services including
teleconferencing and electronic meetings with a calendaring system.
In particular, the present invention can integrate the scheduling,
rescheduling, and cancellation of supplemental meeting services
with calendaring functions such as meeting scheduling and meeting
notifications. Accordingly, various tasks associated with the
arrangement of supplemental meeting services can be automated from
within the calendaring system.
[0027] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a system 100 for
managing supplemental meeting services in accordance with the
inventive arrangements disclosed herein. As shown in FIG. 1, the
system 100 can include a calendaring system 105, a queuing system
110, an electronic meeting system 115, a teleconference system 120,
and a billing system 145, each communicatively linked via a
communications network 125. An additional supplemental meeting
system 150 also is communicatively linked with the components of
system 100 via the communications network 125 as the present
invention can be used with supplemental meeting services beyond
teleconferencing and electronic meetings. The calendaring system
105 can provide calendaring functions, including meeting
notifications, invitations, and scheduling for one or more
participants 130, 135, and 140. The calendaring system 105 can be
configured to arrange one or more supplemental meeting services to
be used or take place concurrently with a scheduled meeting.
[0028] The queuing system 110 can be any of a variety of persistent
messaging systems serving as an interface between the calendaring
system 105, the electronic meeting system 115, and the
teleconference system 120. The queuing system 110 can be
implemented as a retry mechanism, a message queue, a commercially
available messaging system, or as any other suitable persistent
messaging mechanism. Although depicted as a separate entity, the
queuing system 110 can be distributed across a network such that
components of the queuing system 110 are included as part the
various elements of system 100. For example, the calendaring system
105, any clients of the calendaring system 105 used by participants
130, 135, and 140, the electronic meeting system 115, the
teleconference system 120, the billing system 145, and/or the other
supplemental meeting system 150 can include queuing system
components or clients enabling each element in which the queuing
system component is disposed to implement persistent messaging.
Accordingly, each of the aforementioned elements of system 100 can
store messages until such time when the message is successfully
delivered.
[0029] In any case, the queuing system 110 can be configured to
record the time in which messages are received from the calendaring
system 105, the electronic meeting system 115, and/or the
teleconference system 120. Accordingly, when a message is delivered
from the queuing system 110, the time in which the message was sent
from the originating system can be sent with or included within the
message, notification, or request.
[0030] The teleconference system 120 can provide teleconference
numbers to one or more requesting meeting participants such that
each participant need only call the teleconference number and, if
necessary, enter an assigned password or other identifier to
participate in a scheduled teleconference. The electronic meeting
system 115 enables participants of an electronic meeting to view
common images as if each person was located at the same location
and viewing the same display. The electronic meeting system 115
provides an electronic meeting place, for example specified as a
uniform resource locator or other network address. The electronic
meeting system 115 enables a meeting owner to control which images
are shown to the other electronic meeting participants.
[0031] The billing system 145 can track the usage of supplemental
meeting services such as conference calls and/or electronic
meetings. In particular, the billing system 145 can monitor whether
a particular service has been rescheduled, has been cancelled, as
well as whether such actions took place within predetermined
cancellation time limits. That is, the billing system 145 can be
configured to charge for cancellations and rescheduling if such
notifications do not specify an originating time, to be described
herein in greater detail, which is at least a predetermined time
prior to a scheduled supplemental meeting service time. Notably,
although a single billing system 145 is depicted, each supplemental
meeting service, especially in the case where such services are
provided by third parties unrelated to the calendaring system 105,
can include a billing system.
[0032] In operation, a meeting owner such as participant 130 can
request a meeting with one or more other participants 135 and 140
through the calendaring system 105. Notably the calendaring system
105 can determine a time in which each of the designated meeting
participants is available according to each participant's
individual calendar. During the course of requesting a meeting, the
calendaring system 105 can query the participant 130 whether a
supplemental meeting service such as a teleconference or an
electronic meeting should be scheduled to run concurrently with the
scheduled meeting. If the participant 130 does wish to schedule a
supplemental meeting service, the calendaring system can send a
request to the electronic meeting system 115, the teleconference
system 120, or both as the case may be, to schedule a supplemental
meeting service.
[0033] In the event the electronic meeting system 115 or the
teleconference system 120 is not available, for example where
either system is offline, not responding to received requests, or
where communications between the queuing system 110 and the
supplemental meeting systems have been disrupted, the queuing
system 110 can monitor the supplemental service meeting system to
determine when the supplemental meeting system is again online or
available. For example, the queuing system 110 can continue
attempting the delivery of the request to each respective
supplemental meeting system until such time as a confirmation or
reply is received. Notably, the queuing system 110 can continue
attempting delivery of the request for supplemental meeting
services until a predetermined amount of time prior to the
requested meeting time.
[0034] If the supplemental meeting systems are offline, the
calendaring system 105 can send a meeting notification to
designated meeting participants specifying a meeting time. Such a
meeting notification, however, would not specify information for
supplemental meeting services. In that case, an updated meeting
notification can be distributed to the designated meeting
participants at such time when the supplemental meeting service
information is determined or received by the calendaring system 105
from one or more supplemental meeting systems.
[0035] If confirmation of the scheduled supplemental meeting
service is received by the calendaring system 105 via the queuing
system 110, the calendaring system 105 can send a notification to
the participants notifying each of the scheduled meeting and the
scheduled supplemental meeting service. The notification can
specify any access information such as an address for an electronic
meeting, a teleconference number for a teleconference, as well as
any instructions including passwords and/or other identifiers
required to access the supplemental meeting service which may be
specified within the supplemental meeting system confirmation.
[0036] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary
graphical user interface (GUI) 200 for use with the system of FIG.
1. More particularly, the GUI 200 depicts the teleconference and
electronic meeting request portion of a meeting request GUI for the
calendaring system. The GUI 200 can include one or more segments
205, 210, 215, 220, and 225 which enable a meeting participant to
specify a teleconference service provider, a moderator, the number
of toll and toll-free lines required for a teleconference, whether
entry and/or exit tones are to be played, as well as whether an
electronic meeting is to be scheduled. Notably, segment 230 can
indicate any teleconference information including, but not limited
to, a dial-in number for the teleconference to be used by meeting
participants located within the U.S.A., a dial-in number for the
teleconference to be used by meeting participants located outside
of the U.S.A, and a teleconference password. After obtaining the
information specified in segment 230, the calendaring system can
include that information within one or more meeting notifications
automatically which can be distributed to the meeting
participants.
[0037] FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method 300 of
scheduling a meeting and a supplemental meeting service in
accordance with the inventive arrangements disclosed herein.
Although the method 300 is described with reference to a scheduled
teleconference, those skilled in the art will recognize that a
similar method can be performed to the schedule an electronic
meeting. Accordingly, the method 300 can begin in a state wherein a
meeting owner has requested a meeting and teleconference with one
or more other designated meeting participants. For example using a
GUI such as the GUI of FIG. 2, a meeting owner can specify one or
more other participants to be included within the meeting. Thus, in
step 305, the calendaring system can receive a request from the
meeting owner to schedule a meeting with one or more other
participants and to schedule a teleconference with a third party
teleconference system.
[0038] In step 310, the calendaring system can determine whether
the teleconference system is available. For example, via the
queuing system, the calendaring system can send a request to the
teleconference system for a teleconference dial-in number to be
assigned for use at the time and date specified within meeting
request. The teleconference request also can specify a desired
teleconference duration equal to the meeting duration specified in
the meeting request. Information such as the number of lines,
international lines, toll lines, and/or toll-free lines can be
specified as well. Still, those skilled in the art will recognize
that any of a variety of techniques, for example pinging, can be
used to determine whether the teleconference system is
available.
[0039] If the teleconference system is unavailable, for example in
the case where the teleconference system is non-responsive to one
or more requests, the method can proceed to step 325. If the
teleconference system is available, the method can proceed to step
315 where a reply or confirmation specifying teleconference
information is received from the teleconference system. Notably,
the teleconference information can specify one or more
teleconference numbers, whether directory numbers, extensions,
tie-lines, international numbers, toll numbers, and/or toll-free
numbers, as well as additional information including, but not
limited to, any necessary instructions, for example passwords or
identifiers, to be used by participants when accessing the
teleconference.
[0040] In step 320, the calendaring system can distribute a meeting
notification to each meeting participant specified by the meeting
owner, for example in the meeting request received in step 305. The
meeting notification can include any teleconference information
specified by the teleconference system. In particular, the
calendaring system can extract teleconference information from a
received teleconference system confirmation or reply and insert
that information into the distributed meeting notification.
[0041] In step 325, in the case where no reply was received from
the teleconference system, a meeting notification can be
distributed to the meeting participants indicating the time of the
scheduled meeting. The distributed notification further can
indicate that no teleconference information has been determined for
the meeting, but that such information may be forthcoming.
[0042] In step 330, the teleconference system can be queried by the
queuing system. In particular, a request to schedule a
teleconference, obtain a teleconference number, and any other
necessary teleconference information can be sent to the
teleconference service. In step 335, the queue system can determine
whether a response or confirmation from the teleconference system
specifying teleconference information has been received. If no such
response is received, for example within a predetermined time-out
period, the method can continue to step 340. If a response
specifying the teleconference information is received in step 335,
however, the method can proceed to step 320 where an updated
meeting notification can be distributed to the meeting participants
specifying the received teleconference information.
[0043] In step 340, a determination can be made as to whether any
time remains for requesting a teleconference. The queuing system
can be configured to continually send requests to the
teleconference system until such time as a teleconference is
successfully scheduled, or until a predetermined time period prior
to the scheduled meeting time. For example, if the meeting
notification is for 3:00 p.m., the queuing system can be configured
to continue attempting to schedule a teleconference with the
teleconference system until 10 minutes prior to the 3:00 p.m.
meeting time, or until 2:50 p.m. Still, it should be appreciated
that the queuing system can utilize any of a variety of messaging
techniques to determine whether the teleconference system is
available. For example, the teleconference system can be pinged and
if a response is received, a teleconference request then can be
sent.
[0044] If time remains to continue querying the teleconference
system, the method can loop back to step 330 and continue attempts
to schedule a teleconference. The method can repeat in this manner
until no time is left prior to the scheduled meeting, or until the
teleconference is successfully scheduled. If no time remains, the
method can continue to step 345. In step 345, the meeting owner can
be queried by the calendaring system as to whether the scheduled
meeting should be cancelled or the meeting owner prefers to
manually schedule a teleconference outside of the calendaring
system.
[0045] If the meeting owner prefers to manually schedule the
teleconference, the method can proceed to step 350 where any
further action with regard to scheduling a teleconference to take
place concurrently with the scheduled meeting is handled manually
by the meeting owner outside of the calendaring system. Notably, if
the meeting owner successfully schedules such a teleconference with
a teleconference system, the teleconference information can be
manually included by the meeting owner within an updated or a new
meeting notification to be distributed to the participants via the
calendaring system. If in step 355 the meeting owner chooses to
cancel the scheduled meeting, the calendaring system can distribute
a cancellation notice to each of the meeting participants.
[0046] As mentioned, the method disclosed in reference to FIG. 3
also can be applied to the case wherein a meeting owner desires to
schedule an electronic meeting to take place concurrently with a
scheduled meeting. Accordingly, rather than teleconference
information being received from a teleconference system, the
calendaring system can receive electronic meeting information from
an electronic meeting system. The electronic meeting information
can include a uniform resource locator or other network address
corresponding to a designated electronic meeting place and any
instructions necessary for accessing the electronic meeting.
[0047] FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a method 400 of
canceling a scheduled supplemental meeting service in accordance
with the inventive arrangements disclosed herein. The method 400
can begin in a state wherein a meeting involving one or more
meeting participants has been scheduled through the calendaring
system. Additionally, at least one supplemental meeting service
such as a teleconference and/or an electronic meeting also has been
scheduled to take place concurrently with the scheduled meeting.
Accordingly, in step 405, the calendaring system can receive a
request, from a meeting participant such as the meeting owner, to
cancel a scheduled meeting as well as any other supplemental
meeting services scheduled concurrently or associated with the
meeting.
[0048] In step 410, the calendaring system can record the time when
the cancellation request was received from the meeting participant.
In step 415, the calendaring system can distribute a notice to each
of the meeting participants indicating that the scheduled meeting
has been cancelled. Proceeding with step 420, the calendaring
system can send a cancellation notification to the supplemental
meeting system via the queuing system. The cancellation
notification can include the time in which the cancellation request
was initially received by the calendaring system from the meeting
owner.
[0049] In step 425, the queuing system can determine when the
supplemental meeting system becomes available and ensure that the
cancellation request is delivered to the supplemental meeting
system at that time or shortly thereafter. As the cancellation
request includes a time when the request was first received by the
calendaring system, the supplemental meeting system can determine
whether any billing charges will accrue due to untimely
cancellation. For example, as many billing systems require
cancellation prior to a predetermined time before a scheduled
teleconference and/or electronic meeting, the supplemental meeting
system can compare the time in which the cancellation request was
received with the meeting time to determine whether any such
requirements have been violated. Accordingly, the meeting owner can
avoid any late charges that would otherwise result from the
supplemental meeting system being offline and not able to receive a
cancellation notice.
[0050] Another aspect of the present invention can include a method
of rescheduling a meeting. The method can include a combination of
steps discussed with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. For example, the
calendaring system can receive a request for rescheduling a meeting
and concurrent supplemental meeting service. The request to
reschedule can specify that a scheduled meeting and a concurrently
scheduled supplemental meeting service such as a teleconference or
an electronic meeting is to be cancelled. The cancellation request
also can specify a time and duration for a new meeting and
supplemental meeting service to be scheduled. The request to
reschedule can be provided to the supplemental meeting service via
the queuing system.
[0051] If the calendaring system receives confirmation of the
rescheduled supplemental meeting service, the calendaring system
can distribute a meeting notification advising each meeting
participant of any changes. Persistent messaging techniques as
previously disclosed can be used to ensure that the originally
scheduled supplemental meeting service is cancelled and that a new
supplemental meeting service is arranged.
[0052] The present invention can be realized in hardware, software,
or a combination of hardware and software. The present invention
can be realized in a centralized fashion in one computer system, or
in a distributed fashion where different elements are spread across
several interconnected computer systems. Any kind of computer
system or other apparatus adapted for carrying out the methods
described herein is suited. A typical combination of hardware and
software can be a general purpose computer system with a computer
program that, when being loaded and executed, controls the computer
system such that it carries out the methods described herein.
[0053] The present invention also can be embedded in a computer
program product, which comprises all the features enabling the
implementation of the methods described herein, and which when
loaded in a computer system is able to carry out these methods.
Computer program in the present context means any expression, in
any language, code or notation, of a set of instructions intended
to cause a system having an information processing capability to
perform a particular function either directly or after either or
both of the following: a) conversion to another language, code or
notation; b) reproduction in a different material form.
[0054] This invention can be embodied in other forms without
departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof.
Accordingly, reference should be made to the following claims,
rather than to the foregoing specification, as indicating the scope
of the invention.
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