Patent ID: 6216110
Filing Date: 2001-04-10
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
A computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions for making availability information associated with a schedule file accessible to others without giving access to the schedule file, comprising:receiving, at a first calendar engine module, a first event input indicating the occurrence of an event for a user of the calendar engine module, the first event input comprising a start time for the first event, a duration for the first event, and a tentativeness identifier for the first event;in response to receiving the first event input, instructing the calendar engine module to place the first event input in the schedule file, wherein the schedule file is maintained on a local machine that is not publicly accessible;instructing the calendar engine module to parse the first event input for availability information comprising the start time for the first event, the duration of the first event, and the tentativeness identifier for the first event;from the calendar engine module, forwarding the availability information to a publisher engine module;in response to receiving the availability information, instructing the publisher engine module to create an availability file comprising the availability information; wherein the availability file is stored in a non-proprietary format;instructing the publisher engine module to publish the availability file to a server machine which is publicly accessible; andscheduling, at a second calendar engine module, a second event by accessing the availability file to determine the tentativeness identifier and, based on the tentativeness identifier, determining whether the user is likely to be available to attend the second event.