Abstract:
Method and system for presenting a view of a calendar on an electronic display. In one embodiment, the method comprises presenting on the display an entry corresponding to a scheduled meeting having at least two participants; presenting on the display a first timeline associated with a first one of the participants, the first timeline comprising an incremental listing of time of day in accordance with a first time zone; presenting on the display a second timeline adjacent the first timeline, the second timeline associated with a second one of the participants and comprising an incremental listing of time of day in accordance with a second time zone; and wherein the entry is presented on the display relative to the first and second timelines to thereby reflect start and end times of the scheduled meeting relative to each of the first and second time zones.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     We live in world in which people interact with each other on a global scale. With the proliferation of off-shoring, outsourcing, and other cooperative business arrangements, as well as general progression toward a global economy, driving geographic diversity, people located in countries across the globe are obliged to interact with one another on a regular basis. Telephone, video, and web conferencing technologies have done much to facilitate communication between people dispersed across the globe and situated in different time zones. 
     SUMMARY 
     One embodiment is a method for presenting a view of a calendar on an electronic display. The method comprises presenting on the display an entry corresponding to a scheduled meeting having at least two participants; presenting on the display a first timeline associated with a first one of the participants, the first timeline comprising an incremental listing of time of day in accordance with a first time zone associated with the first one of the participants; presenting on the display a second timeline adjacent the first timeline, the second timeline associated with a second one of the participants and comprising an incremental listing of time of day in accordance with a second time zone associated with the second one of the participants; and wherein the entry is presented on the display relative to the first and second timelines so as to accurately reflect start and end times of the scheduled meeting relative to each of the first and second time zones. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a conventional collaborative electronic communications system in accordance with one embodiment. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a day view of an online calendaring tool in accordance with the prior art. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a day view of an online calendaring tool in accordance with one embodiment. 
         FIG. 4  illustrates a first meeting view of an online calendaring tool in accordance with one embodiment. 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a second meeting view of an online calendaring tool in accordance with one embodiment. 
         FIG. 6  illustrates a third meeting view of an online calendaring tool in accordance with one embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     This disclosure relates generally to online calendaring applications and, more specifically, to system and method for displaying multiple time zones in a day view of an online calendar. 
     It will be recognized that most, if not all, online calendaring and scheduling tools that are currently available facilitate the scheduling of meetings involving participants dispersed across multiple time zones. For example, Novell&#39;s GroupWise® product allows a user to select a time zone to be associated with the user&#39;s account and, during scheduling of a meeting, displays on the scheduling view the time zone associated with each prospective meeting participant. It is noted that other products include similar functionality. However, currently available online calendaring and scheduling tools fail to display the various time zones in effect for the participants in a given meeting in the day view or meeting view of the calendar for that meeting. 
     Such time zone information would be useful for making decisions during a meeting. For example, a comment by a meeting participant that a report is due “tomorrow morning” will mean one thing to a participant in a time zone where the current day is the same as that of the speaker and something totally different to a participant located in a time zone in which the current day is not the same as that of the speaker. Hence, for a participant who is unaware of the current time as experienced by the other meeting participants, even a seemingly straightforward observation or instruction could be misinterpreted by one or more other participants. 
     As previously noted, a variety of online calendaring and scheduling products are currently available and the embodiments described herein are applicable to all such product; however, for the sake of simplicity and example, the embodiments will be described with reference to Novell&#39;s GroupWise® product. It should be understood, however, that the embodiments are not limited to such application. 
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an embodiment of a conventional GroupWise system  100 . The system  100  includes a NetWare (“NW”) server  102  to which is connected a NetWare administrator (“NWA”) workstation  104  and a plurality of user workstations, represented in  FIG. 1  by user workstations  106   a  and  106   b . Each of the user workstations  106   a ,  106   b , is configured to run GroupWise client software installed on a hard drive of the respective workstation. It will be recognized that GroupWise client software may be installed on the workstations from one or more CDs or servers or may be uploaded thereto via a variety of wired and/or wireless transmission media. In one embodiment, each user registered with GroupWise is assigned a GroupWise user account by a system administrator via the NWA workstation  104 . As will be recognized by those of ordinary skill in the art, each user account may be defined so as to have a time zone associated therewith. Additionally, each user workstation  106   a ,  106   b , has a time zone associated therewith. As will be recognized by those of ordinary skill in the art, the NW server  102  is connected, e.g., via an Internet connection  108 , to remote post offices hosted on one or more other NW servers. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates an exemplary day view  200  of a calendar such as may be presented on a GroupWise user workstation (i.e., a user workstation executing GroupWise client software) in accordance with the prior art. It will be assumed for the sake of example that a workstation on which the day view  200  is displayed is associated with the Mountain Standard time zone (“MST”). It will be noted from the day view  200  that the current day, date, and time in MST, as indicated in an area  202 , is Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2007, 8:31 AM. A plurality of meetings, represented by entries  203   a - 203   d , are scheduled for the displayed day. The meeting times are displayed relative to the associated time zone (MST); therefore, the start times for the meetings represented by entries  203   a - 203   d , are approximately 1:45 AM MST, 2:15 AM MST, 3:45 AM MST, and 7:30 AM MST, respectively. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates an exemplary day view  300  of a calendar presented on a GroupWise user workstation in accordance with embodiments described herein. It will once again be assumed for the sake of example that a workstation on which the day view  300  is associated with MST and that the current day, date, and time in MST, as indicated in an area  302 , is Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2007, 8:31 AM. A plurality of meetings, represented by entries  303   a - 303   d , are scheduled for the displayed day. For purposes of illustration, it will be assumed that each of three people (“Joe,” “Bob,” and “Sue”) will participate in at least one of the scheduled meetings. It will be further assumed that Joe is the owner of the displayed calendar. 
     In accordance with features of one embodiment, the day view  300  includes a timeline corresponding to the time zone of each of the participants. In particular, a first timeline  304   a  corresponds to Joe&#39;s time zone (MST), a second timeline  304   b  corresponds to Bob&#39;s time zone, and a third timeline  304   c  corresponds to Sue&#39;s time zone. Accordingly, the meeting represented by the entry  303   a  is scheduled for 1:45 AM relative to Joe&#39;s time zone, 4:45 AM relative to Bob&#39;s time zone, and 6:45 AM relative to Sue&#39;s time zone. Similarly, the meeting represented by the entry  303   b  is scheduled for 2:30 AM relative to Joe&#39;s selected time zone, 5:30 AM relative to Bob&#39;s time zone, and 7:30 AM relative to Sue&#39;s time zone. The timelines  304   a ,  304   b , and  304   c , represent time in 30 minute increments, although other increment values (e.g., 1 hour or 10 minute) may be used. 
     It will be recognized that time relative to a particular time zone may be represented in other manners than that explicitly illustrated in  FIGS. 3-6 ; therefore, as used herein, the term “timeline” refers to any such representation of time relative to a user&#39;s time zone, including, but not limited to, text tables, lists, and pop-ups, for example. 
     For purposes of illustration below, it will be assumed that Joe and Bob are scheduled participants in the meeting represented by the entry  303   a , Joe and Sue are scheduled participants in the meeting represented by the entry  303   b , and Joe, Bob, and Sue are all scheduled participants in the meeting represented by the entries  303   c  and  303   d.    
       FIG. 4  illustrates a meeting view  400  of the calendar presented on a GroupWise user workstation in accordance with embodiments described herein responsive to selection of the entry  303   a . As previously noted, only Joe and Bob are scheduled participants in the selected meeting; therefore, only two timelines  404   a ,  404   b , are displayed, respectively corresponding to Joe&#39;s and Bob&#39;s time zones. Similarly,  FIG. 5  illustrates a meeting view  500  of the calendar responsive to selection of the entry  303   b . As previously noted, only Joe and Sue are scheduled participants in the selected meeting; therefore, only two timelines  504   a ,  504   b , are displayed, respectively corresponding to Joe&#39;s and Sue&#39;s time zones. Finally,  FIG. 6  illustrates a meeting view  600  of the calendar responsive to selection of the entry  303   c . As previously noted, Joe, Bob, and Sue are all scheduled participants in the selected meeting; therefore, three timelines  604   a ,  604   b , and  604   c  are displayed, respectively corresponding to Joe&#39;s, Bob&#39;s, and Sue&#39;s time zones. 
     It will be noted that in many cases, there will be more participants in a meeting than is convenient to represent with an individual timeline. In such cases, the participants may be grouped according to time zone and timelines are provided which correspond to each such group time zone. In such an embodiment, the individual participants to which a particular time zone corresponds may be displayed, for example, when the mouse cursor is placed over a portion of the timeline associated with the time zone or via some other method. Referring to  FIG. 3 , for example, each of the timelines  304   a ,  304   b , and  304   c , may be designated by a term or phrase representative of the group of participants within the represented time zone (such as name of the time zone or a name for the group of participants), instead of “JOE,” “BOB,” and “SUE,” respectively. The same is true for the meeting views shown in  FIGS. 4-6 . 
     Moreover, if there are still too many timelines to conveniently display in a single view, other mechanisms, such as scroll bars and the like, may be used to enable the user selectively to view the appropriate timelines and the time zones represented thereby. 
     It is understood that modifications, changes and substitutions are intended in the foregoing disclosure and in some instances some features of the embodiments will be employed without a corresponding use of other features. For example, embodiments described herein may be implemented in connection with other online calendaring products, such as, for example, Microsoft Outlook® and Lotus Notes®. Accordingly, it is appropriate that the appended claims be construed broadly and in a manner consistent with the scope of the embodiments described herein. 
     Although the present disclosure has described embodiments relating to specific networking environments, it is understood that the apparatus, systems and methods described herein could applied to other environments. While the preceding description shows and describes one or more embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. For example, various steps of the described methods may be executed in a different order or executed sequentially, combined, further divided, replaced with alternate steps, or removed entirely. In addition, various functions illustrated in the methods or described elsewhere in the disclosure may be combined to provide additional and/or alternate functions. Therefore, the claims should be interpreted in a broad manner, consistent with the present disclosure.