Patent ID: 8005703
Filing Date: 2011-08-23
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A method for forecasting event duration comprising: collecting automatically, via a computing device, historical presentation events metrics from at least one of plurality of sources, the collected historical presentation event metrics including time spent on each slide of a slideshow presentation used by one or more presenters; storing the historical presentation event metrics in a history manager; identifying, via a computing device, an event in a calendaring system and an associated time duration approximation to be forecasted for the event, the event including a start time and end time associated with the event used by the calendaring system, the start and end time established by manually entered user input provided via a user interface of the calendaring system, and the event consisting of a visual or oral presentation, where at least one presenter provides the presentation to a plurality of attendees; computing, via a computing device the time duration approximation for the identified event, the time duration approximation computed using the historical metrics, and based on: a number of attendees of the event, a quantity of topics being covered by the event, and a number of presenters of the event; storing the time duration approximation, which is a forecast time, for the event in a calendaring system while also maintaining the manually entered start and end time for the event, wherein no scheduling conflict would exist for the event assuming that the manually entered start and end time reflect actual times for the event; automatically detecting a potential conflict when the manually entered start and end time for the event conflicts with the forecast time for the event; and; responsive to automatically detecting the potential conflict, automatically alerting at least one user of the calendaring system of the potential conflict via the user interface; and enabling the user of the calendaring system to modify the event in the calendaring system and automatically providing suggestions to the at least one user of the calendaring system based upon the computed time duration approximation.