Multiple option electronic scheduler and rescheduler

An electronic rescheduler for promptly and efficiently rescheduling appointments in a two part procedure. In the first step, there is an initial selection of one or more different time periods or "options" during which a new, replacement appointment would be desired; and, in resonse, the electronic rescheduler reports a listing of free time slots that are available within the selected "options". In the second, and final step, one of the reported free time slots is chosen for the new appointment, and is entered into the rescheduler to complete the rescheduling operation. A number of such "options" are made available, including "morning" or "afternoon" appointments, the "earliest" available time, and others. For office use, the electronic rescheduler can be configured as a desk top unit positioned alongside a telephone, and coupled to the phone. It may include a display screen, printer, and audible announcer, for voice response over the phone; as well as a keyboard for the various entries and selections.

STATEMENT OF THE INVENTION 
This invention generally relates to improvements in electronic scheduling 
of appointments; and more particularly, to cancelling or rescheduling 
prior appointments to new dates and times. 
BACKGROUND AND PRIOR PATENTS 
In a family of earlier patents, and pending applications, including U.S. 
Pat. No. 4,162,610 and Reissue No. 32,655; U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,548,510; 
4,769,796; 4,783,800, and others, there are disclosed a number of 
different electronic schedulers and systems for more efficiently managing 
the use of time by both individuals and businesses. In such schedulers, a 
number of appointments are entered and stored in a memory for a number of 
different time periods in the future, and are retained in retrievable form 
as a rapidly accessable record of a user or users future committments. At 
the convenience of the user, the schedules of appointments for any 
selected time period, or periods, are selectively retrieved from the 
memory and communicated by any one of a visual display, a printed record, 
or an audible announcement. Alternatively, or additionally, a subschedule 
of free or available time slots are selectively determined from the 
memory, for any selected future time period, to assist the user in making, 
and confirming, a new appointment in the future. 
Additionally, in such earlier patents and applications, any of the 
appointments stored in the memory can be randomly cancelled or 
rescheduled, by erasing the memory for that time slot and reentering a new 
appointment for a different time. 
However, the occurance of an unexpected event, such as an emergency event, 
or other of greater priority, often makes it necessary for an office to 
cancel an entire series of appointments on a given day, or time period, 
and to reschedule each of such cancelled appointments to other times that 
are more convenient, and available to both parties. 
Conversely, it is often necessary that an individual scheduled for an 
appointment with an office, is required to cancel that appointment, or 
reschedule it to a different time. The rescheduling of such appointments, 
whether by a office, or an individual, is often difficult and time 
consuming, particularly where the office is very busy, receiving many 
calls daily, and dealing with many persons during a typical working day. 
Furthermore, where the need arises to cancel or reschedule an appointment 
arises at a time after normal business hours, the prior appointment is 
often missed, or the rescheduling is delayed until that office reopens for 
busines on the following business day, often inconveniencing the 
individual or the office. Rescheduling an entire series of appointments 
for a day, or other time period, is often a particularly difficult an time 
consuming chore for many busy offices, such as those of Chiropractors, 
Dentists, Attorneys, and other professional and business persons, whose 
active practices include many appointments with different persons during a 
typical working day. Present practice followed requires that an office 
employee, such as a nurse, or receptionist, or appointment clerk, 
telephone each such patient, client, or customer, and individually 
reschedule each such person for a new appointment at a different time that 
is convenient to that person and also available to that office. Quite 
often the multiple appointment rescheduling is very time consuming, often 
resulting in "doubling up" of appointments, or prolonging the office visit 
to a date in the future other than that desired by the patient, client, or 
other person. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
According to the present invention, an electronic rescheduler is provided 
to enable an office to more easily and promptly reschedule an appointment, 
or an entire group of appointments; or to enable an individual to more 
easily and conveniently reschedule an appointment, or cancel it, with an 
office, regardless of whther that office is open for business or not when 
the need for such cancellation or rescheduling arises. 
In one preferred embodiment for group rescheduling, the office individually 
calls each person , whose appointment is to be cancelled or rescheduled, 
and with the assistance of the present invention, rapidly and efficiently 
locates a new appointment time, if available, that is convenient to both 
that person and the office. This is performed by offering to each such 
person a series of "options" or time periods, that are convenient for a 
new appointment, and then having such person choose from the free or 
available time slots, within the chosen time period, that one appointment 
time that best meets the needs of that person. One of the many "options" 
that is offered is the available or free time slots that are closest in 
time to the prior appointment time being rescheduled. Other "options" 
include the earliest available group of "morning" free time slots. Still 
another "option", is the earliest available group of free time slots 
occuring in the "afternoon". Still a fourth "option" is the earliest 
available group of free time slots for a specified time-of-day. Still 
further options can be provided, such as those for a specified day; or 
specified day of the week; or for a specified day of the month. 
Having made an initial selection of a desired "option" or time period, the 
person to be rescheduled is quickly given the one or more free time slots, 
that are available within the chosen "option"; and can thereafter 
designate the best one of the free time slots for the new appointment. If 
a suitable free time slot is not found, that person is permitted to select 
a different "option", or time period, and the above procedure is repeated 
to find a new satisfactory appointment time. By use of the present 
invention, the above steps can be very quickly performed, to complete the 
rescheduling in a short time. 
Where an individual initiates a request to cancel or reschedule an 
appointment, the present invention operates in the same manner. The office 
presents the individual with a series of "options" or time periods, in 
order to narrow the time periods involved; and thereafter notifies the 
individual with one, or more free or available time slots, if any, within 
the selected "option" period, for a final selection of the preferred 
reappointment time. 
In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the individual is not 
required to make a selection from a series of free or available time 
slots, but the electronic rescheduler automatically makes the final 
selection from the one or more free time slots, if any, that are 
available. This embodiment is useful where the individual does not have 
any specific preference for a free time slot, but can accept any free time 
within a specified "option" or time period. The individual therefore, 
merely selects an "option", or time period, and the electronic rescheduler 
locates and communicates one free time slot within that selected period, 
in the event that one is available. 
In a still further embodiment of the invention, the canceling of 
appointments or rescheduling to a new appointment time can be performed 
over the telephone in an semi-automatic manner without the need for any 
person at the receiving end of the line, such as an office secretary or 
clerk. This is performed by employing an interactive, communicating 
system, for audibly instructing each caller whose appointment is to be 
cancelled or rescheduled, in the procedure to be followed, and permitting 
each such caller to respond using the convention keys on the telephone 
keypad. Each such caller is instructed to select, and enter, a preferred 
one of the "options" or time periods, as discussed above, and in response, 
to receive an audible announcement over the telephone of the free time 
slots that are available. The caller is then instructed to choose a 
desired one of said free time slots, and to enter such final selection 
using the conventional telephone keys on the keypad.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Group Rescheduling by Office 
Referring to FIG. 1 there is shown one preferred apparatus for cancelling 
or rescheduling one, or more appointments, that have been previously 
stored in a memory 22, by day, time-of-day, and person etc. As noted 
above, it is often found necessary to reschedule an entire series of 
appointments where a key person at that office is called away on an 
emergency, or for other reason is unable to keep such appointments. 
As shown, the rescheduler generally comprises a multiple key keypad, or 
keyboard ; a series of individually selectable read-out circuits 12, 14, 
16, 18, 20, and 30; an electronic memory 22 for storing a series of 
appointments each day for a series of different days, and for a series of 
different persons; and a series of different output devices, including a 
visual display panel 23, a printer 24, and an audible announcer 25. In a 
typical office environment, the apparatus of FIG. 1 may be a dedicated 
desk-top unit, located on the desk of the Receptionist for that office, or 
the Nurse, Appointment Scheduling Clerk, or other office employee, and 
having the large display screen 23, keyboard 10 located near the 
telephone. The office employee can therefore quickly and efficiently use 
the apparatus to cancel or reschedule appointments in response to phone 
calls, or in response to a request from a business visitor at that office. 
Each of the different read-out circuits 12, 14, 16 etc. is selectively 
energizable by its own individual switch circuit 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, and 
29, respectively, and when energized, each such read-out circuit is 
adapted to interrogate the memory 22, according to a different "option", 
mode, or time period, thereby to locate one or more free time slots that 
are available for a future appointment within the selected time period or 
"option". For example, the first read-out circuit 12 interrogates the 
memory 22 for two days before, and two days after, the day of the 
appointment to be rescheduled, and to read-out all of the free or 
available time slots within said four days, if any, for assistance in 
making a new appointment. The free time slots are displayed on the visual 
panel 23, and/or printed by printer 24, and/or audibly announced by output 
device 25. 
A second of the read-out circuits 14, differently interrogates the memory 
22 according to a different "option", mode, or time period, to read-out 
all of the free time slots, if any, that are available during the 
"morning" hours for a series of days immediately preceeding and succeeding 
the day of the previous appointment. In a similar manner, the third 
read-out circuit 16 also differently interrogated the memory 22 to obtain 
the free time slots, if any that are available in the "afternoon" time 
periods. A number of other individual read-out circuits, including 18, 20, 
30, etc. may also be provided, with each differently interrogating the 
memory 22 according to a different "option" to derive free time slots, if 
any, that are available during still different periods. Many such 
different "options" can be used according to the present invention, 
including a preferred day of the week, or of the month; the same 
time-of-day but on a different day; or at a specified other time-of-day; 
etc. Separate read-out circuits can be provided for each of these 
"options", or others, for interrogating the memory 22. 
Quite often, persons whose appointments must be rescheduled by an office 
prefer a new appointment at the earliest possible time, or one closest in 
time to the prior appointment. Another group may only be available for a 
new appointment in the "morning hours", or "afternoon hours", or on a 
"selected day", or a selected "time-of-day" etc. For this reason, the 
present invention provides a number of different "options" for selection 
by the person to be rescheduled, so that that person need consider only 
the free time slots within the preferred time period or "option". 
Furthermore by this procedure, a comprehensive memory 22 containing many 
appointments for many persons, and extending over many days, can be 
quickly and efficiently interrogated, only for the specific periods of 
interest. 
FIG. 2 illustrates a typical visual presentation on the display panel 23 
where the office employee wishes to reschedule all of the appointments on 
the day of Aug. 25, 1989, and initially selects the first "option". 
Initially, the employee enters the day of Aug. 25, 1989 followed by 
depressing a key on the keyboard labeled "Reschedule". Thereafter, the 
employee closes one of the "option" switches, such as switch 11, thereby 
the read-out circuit 12 to select the first "option", e.g. locating an new 
appointment times that are closest in time to the prior appointments to be 
rescheduled. Referring to FIG. 2, the first, or left hand column 35, on 
display screen 23 shows the entire day, or other time period to be 
rescheduled (e.g. Aug. 25, 1989), followed by a series of appointment 
times for that day (e.g. in the example given, 9:00 AM; 10:30 AM; and 3:15 
PM ). The second column 36 of the display 23 shows the names and phone 
numbers of the persons whose appointments are listed in the first column 
35, and each is positioned alongside the prior appointment time. 
Since many persons usually wish a new appointment time close to the 
previous appointment, the office employee often selects the first read-out 
circuit 12, as noted above. The memory 22 is accordingly interrogated by 
circuit 12 to read-out the free time slots that are available on each of 
the two days prior , and two days after, the selected day of Aug. 25, 
1989. The next column 37 of display 23 shows a listing of all such free 
time slots, if any, on the second day earlier, or on Aug. 24, 1989. In a 
similar manner, the next two columns 39 and 40 of display 23 show any free 
time slots on the two days afterward, or Aug. 26, 1989 and Aug. 27, 1989, 
respectively. 
The office employee then proceeds to telephone the first person to be 
rescheduled (e.g. T. Jones, in FIG. 1), and informs T. Jones of the 
various "options" that are available for a new appointment, together with 
a request to make a selection or choice of one or more of such "options". 
In the event that T. Jones wishes the earliest available appointment, as 
is usually a request, the office employee consults the columns 37, 38, 39, 
and 40 on the display 23, and offers any one of the displayed free time 
slots for a new appointment. If any one is found to be acceptable, a new 
appointment is entered for T. Jones at such time, using the keyboard 10, 
and the prior appointment on Aug. 25, 1989 is erased. 
The office employee then proceeds to telephone the next person to be 
rescheduled (e.g. T. Swift in FIG. 1 ), and repeats the above procedure, 
to quickly and efficiently locate and enter a new rescheduled appointment 
for T. Swift. However, in the event that T. Jones or T. Swift desires a 
different "option" or "options" (e.g. only "morning" appointment, or one 
only at a specific time-of-day, for example ), the office employee opens 
the switch 11 and closes the corresponding one, or more, of the other 
"option" selecting switches (FIG. 1) 13, 15, 17, 19, 29 etc., 
corresponding to the preferences of that person, and the free time slots, 
if any, corresponding to the selected "options" are displayed as shown in 
FIG. 3. 
Referring to FIG. 3, and assuming that five (5) different options are 
selected by a person, each of switches 13, 15, 17, 19, and 29 are closed 
by the office employee. The memory 22 is accordingly interrogated in five 
different modes, or "options", and the resulting free time slots for each 
"option" are displayed on a different column 41, 42, 43, 44, and 45 of the 
display 23, as shown in FIG. 3. Referring to FIG.3, the first column 41 is 
shown as displaying free time slots that are available during "morning" 
hours. The second column 43 shows the "afternoon" availabilities, whereas 
the next columns 43, 44, and 45 show those on the same day of the week; 
the same time-of-day; and on a selected day of the month, respectively. 
With this great diversity being available, it is very likely that each 
person to be rescheduled can quickly find a suitable day and time for a 
new appointment, and do so quickly, whereby the office can quickly and 
easily reschedule its complete series of prior appointments on the 
designated day. 
Briefly recapitulating the above described structure and mode-of-operation, 
to rapidly reschedule a series of appointments for an entire day or other 
time period, the office employee promptly obtains a display, or printout, 
of all such appointments to be changed, together with the persons and 
phone numbers corresponding to such appointments, using the keyboard 10. 
The office employee also initially may choose the most popular "option" 
(e.g. of earliest appointment), by closing switch 11 and interrogating the 
memory 22 by read-out circuit 12. As a result, there is provided on the 
display 23, a listing of free time slots for a series of days before, and 
a series of days after, the day to be rescheduled. Each of the persons to 
be rescheduled are then telephoned, in sequence, by one or more office 
employees, and are requested to choose an "option" for reappointment, and 
subsequently choose, a free time slot within said selected "option". Many 
such different "options" are provided, and more than one can be chosen to 
meet the alternative or priority needs of each person. Since many persons 
wish the earliest available appointment time, close to the prior 
appointment, a new appointment can often be made using the first display 
(FIG. 2) corresponding to the first "option". However, if not, the many 
other options can be chosen, as described in FIG. 3, whereby each person 
to be rescheduled can usually be accomodated in a timely and efficient 
manner. 
FIG. 6 illustrates further details of one circuit for implementing the 
series of different read-out circuits 12,14, 16, 18, 20 etc., as shown in 
FIG. 1. It will be appreciated by those skilled in tha art, that the 
memory circuit 22 shown in the drawings may be only one section, covering 
a time period of one day, and that many of such circuits, using 
microchips, will be required for an office system that is used for storing 
many days of appointments, for a number of different persons in an office 
(e.g. a clinic of doctors, or a firm of lawyers etc.). The circuit of FIG. 
6 will therefore be duplicated, and extended, to meet the needs of 
different office users. Referring to FIG. 6, a series of shift re.g.ister 
circuits 71, 72 . . . , are energized by a clock circuit 70, to 
sequentially cycle and provide a time delayed sequence of output pulses, 
on the many output lines of each re.g.ister circuit 71, 72 . . . Each of 
such output lines is directed through a different gating circuit 73, 74, 
75, 76 . . . for register 71, and similarly, the output lines of register 
72 are each directed to a different gating circuit 77, 78, 79, 80 all 
leading to the memory microchips 22. Since each of these output lines are 
energized in sequence from each of the registers, each of the different 
gating circuits are likewise energized in sequence. The outputs of the 
gating circuits are each directed to different "addresses" inputs of the 
memory microchips 22; and therefore each of the different memory addresses 
is sequentially interrogated, depending upon those of the gating circuits 
that are energized to be closed. Conversely, those of the gating circuits 
that are not energized do not interrogate the corresponding addresses of 
the memory 22. 
The first of the Read out circuits 81 is connected to energize only 
selected ones of gating circuits leading to selected ones of the addresses 
of the memory 22. According to the present invention, the first read-out 
circuit 81 (or 12 in FIG. 1), is connected to interrogate only the two 
days before and two days after the day to be rescheduled. Therefore, this 
read out circuit 81 when energized by closure of its switch 83, closes 
only the gating circuits for interrogating these desired days of the 
memory 22. 
By using the appropriate entry keys on keyboard 10, the office employee 
initially enters the day or other time period to be rescheduled, and this 
selection chooses the proper section of a multisectional memory 22 to be 
interrogated. Thereafter by closing the switch 83 to choose the first 
"option", the addresses of the memory 22, for the two days before and two 
days after, are interrogated to read-out the free time slots for these 
four days. 
The other read-out circuits, including circuit 82 are connected to 
different groups of the gating circuits, and when energized, control the 
sequential interrogation of different groups of addresses of the memory 
22, thereby to provide the different "options" as described above. Thus, 
one of the read-out circuits , when energized, controls the interrogation 
of the "morning" time slots in the memory 22; another controls the 
interrogation of "afternoon" time slots; still another interrogates for a 
still different "option", all as discussed above. It will be appreciated 
by those skilled in the art, that if more than one "option" is selected, 
it may be necessary to actuate the different read-out circuits in time 
sequence. This is performed by option circuits by employing additional 
shift re.g.ister circuits (not shown) to sequentially control the 
application of power to each of the different read-out circuits. One such 
additional shift re.g.ister 87 is shown in FIG. 6 for sequentially 
energizing the read-out circuits 85 and 82. 
Cancellation or Rescheduling by an Individual 
The cancellation or rescheduling of an appointment, or appointments, at the 
initiative of an individual is performed in essentially the same manner as 
that performed at the initiative of an office, as discussed above. The 
individual may personally appear at the office, or may call over the 
telephone. 
In either instance, that person provides the office with the date, or 
dates, of prior appointments to be cancelled or rescheduled, and such 
appointments are entered into the keyboard 10. If the appointment is to be 
rescheduled, that person is instructed to select a preferred "option" or 
time period that is most desired; or a series of such "options" as 
discussed above. This selection of an option, or options, is entered into 
the rescheduler by closing the appropriate switch, or switches, 11, 13, 
15, 17, 19, 27, etc. (FIG. 1); and the resulting free time slots are 
displayed on the display screen 23, and/or printed at 24; and/or announced 
by the audible announcer 25. A final selection of one, or more, of such 
displayed free time slots is then made by that person and entered into the 
memory 22, using the keyboard 10. Where that person has personally 
appeared at the office, the rescheduler apparatus may be operated by that 
person, using available printed instructions, without the need for 
assistance by an office employee. Alternatively, an office employee can 
assist in the cancelling or rescheduling , if necessary. 
On the other hand, where that person is calling over the telephone for a 
cancellation or rescheduling of one or more prior appointments, the office 
employee can use the voice announcer 25 to vocally inform the caller of 
the free time slots that are available, and enter the various "option" 
selections, and final selections of new appointments. 
Automatic Selection of New Appointments 
In the event that it is not necessary to give the person to be rescheduled 
with a complete listing of all free time slots during selected "options" 
or time periods, one or more new appointments can be located in an 
automatic manner, using the circuitry of FIG. 1, and the new appointments 
given to the person and entered into the memory 22 of the rescheduler. 
Referring to FIG. 5, the person to be rescheduled is initially instructed 
to select one or more different "options" or time periods, and such 
selections are entered by closing the appropriate one, or ones of the 
option switches 11, 13 etc. (FIG. 1), in the same manner as discussed 
above, to interrogate the memory 22 and read-out the free or available 
time slots, if any, during such "option" periods. However, in the circuit 
of FIG. 5, the output channel of memory 57 is coupled in feedback, over 
line 69, to control gate 66. Control gate 66 is, in turn, coupled to the 
mode or "option" read-out circuit 60, to discontinue interrogation by the 
read-out circuit 60 after a first free time slot is located, and outputted 
from the memory 57. In operation, when such an automatic selection is 
desired, the, switch 65 is closed, thereby to actuate the control gate 66. 
The selected "option" choosing switch 68 is then closed, according to the 
preference of the person being rescheduled, and this commences an 
interrogation of the memory 57 for the desired option, or options, 
selected. Thereafter upon the first free time slot being located during 
such interrogation, and outputted to the display 67, and/or audible 
announcer 58, a feedback signal is generated over line 69 to control gate 
66 to discontinue any further interrogation of the memory 57. As a result, 
the first available free time slot is automatically selected for a new 
appointment, during each sequence of operations of the circuit of FIG. 5. 
Should additional appointments be desired to be rescheduled for such 
person, the above sequence of operations are repeated for each such prior 
appointment. 
Automatic Cancelling or Rescheduling Over the Telephone 
In earlier U.S. Pat. No. 4,783,800, there is disclosed a system for 
enabling a caller to make, and confirm, an appointment over the telephone 
without the need for any person at the other end. According to an 
alternative embodiment of the present invention, there is provided in FIG. 
4 a system for enabling a caller to reschedule a previously made 
appointment over the telephone, without the need for any person at the 
receiving end of the telephone line. 
Referring to FIG. 4, a caller at a receiving end of telephone line 52 
places a call to a business or professional office at the remote end of 
line 52, with the intention of cancelling or rescheduling one, or more, 
prior appointments. This call is automatically intercepted by the 
telephone handset 51 and telephone answering device 53, in a conventional 
fashion, and activates a timer and control circuit 55 to energize a voice 
instruction unit 56. Voice unit 56 acknowledges the call, and audibly 
inquires whether the caller wishes to either make a new appointment, or to 
cancel a prior appointment, or to reschedule a prior appointment. The 
caller is requested to choose the desired one of these three functions, by 
depressing the appropriate one of the three numbered keys "1", or "2", or 
"3", on the caller's telephone keypad. 
In the event that the caller wishes to make a new appointment, the 
appropriate one of the telephone keys is depressed, to signal such 
selection, and thereafter the procedure described in the above earlier 
patent is followed to automatically make, and confirm, a new appointment. 
In the event that the Caller only wishes to cancel one or more prior 
appointments, the appropriate one of the telephone keys for such selection 
is depressed. The voice unit 56 then instructs the caller to enter the 
date and time of the prior appointment to be cancelled; and thereafter to 
dictate the caller's name, address, phone number, and the date of the 
prior appointment being cancelled. This audible information from the 
caller is recorded by recorder 61; and then is audibly played back over 
the telephone 51, to the caller, to protect against any errors. To avoid 
errors, or misuse of this automatic system, an office employee places a 
confirming telephone call to that Caller to confirm the correctness of the 
previous cancellation. If correct, the office employee then cancells the 
previous appointment in the memory 92. In the event that more than one 
prior appointment is to be cancelled by a caller, after completion of each 
above entry, the instruction unit 56 advises the caller to signal whether 
additional actions are to be taken (by depressing an appropriate number 
key on the keyboard) and, if so, the above sequence of operations is 
repeated. 
In the event that the appropriate number key is initially depressed, or 
later after a first sequence is completed, thereby signaling that the 
caller wishes to reschedule a prior appointment to a different time and or 
day, the voice unit 56 vocally instructs the caller about the different 
procedure to be followed. Initially, the caller is instructed, by the 
voice unit 56, to enter the day and time of the prior appointment using 
the appropriate ones of the keys on the caller's telephone handset. This 
digital number is received by control unit 55, and voice unit 56 is then 
controlled to audibly repeat this day and time over the phone line 52, 
back to the caller, to insure against any error. This prior appointment is 
then entered into the memory 92, in the event it is confirmed by the 
caller (depressing the appropriate designated key). 
The caller is then instructed by the voice unit 55, to select a desired 
one, or more, of the "options" available for a new appointment, as 
discussed above, by depressing the designated one, or ones, of the 
telephone keys, corresponding to the various "options". Thus the caller 
can select the earliest available free time slot; or an available one in 
the "morning" hours, or "afternoon" hours; or any of the others discussed 
above. The control circuit 56 again responds to receiving each of these 
digital commands from the caller, to automatically select the 
corresponding one, or ones, of the read-out circuits 93, 59 etc. In the 
same manner as discussed above, the memory 92 is sequentially interrogated 
by each of the selected read-out circuits 93, 59 etc. , and the free time 
slots for each of such "option" or time period, are audibly announced over 
the phone line by the audible announcer 91 coupled to the memory 92. This 
audible announcement of the free time slots is preferably repeated, to 
insure that the caller receives the desired information. 
The voice instruction unit 56 is thereafter activated to instruct the 
caller in making a final selection from those announced as being available 
for a new appointment. The rescheduled appointment day and time are 
subsequently repeated over the phone 51, to confirm the correctness of the 
selection, and are recorded at 61, for subsequent call back and further 
confirmation by an office employee, as discussed above. 
If desired, the number of free time slots announced over the phone may be 
limited for any selected "option" by employing the circuit of FIG. 5, 
discussed above. The number announced can be limited to only one as in 
FIG. 5; or two, three, or more, as might be desired. If more than one is 
desired, a counter circuit (not shown), may be interconnected in the 
feedback line 69 (FIG. 5), to count a predetermined number of responses 
from the output of memory 57, before discontinuing the read out of the 
memory 57 for that selected option. 
Simplified Automatic Rescheduling of Appointments 
It Has been found that many callers that are inexperienced in the use of 
keyboards for data processing, and other functions, find it difficult to 
make, cancel, or reschedule appointments over the phone, in an automatic 
manner using the keys on the keypad as discussed above. Such persons find 
it particularly difficult to use more than one key on the keyboard, to 
enter, in sequence, both day, time-of-day, and/or other data. For this 
reason, the following alternative embodiment of the invention, is provided 
to permit a caller to perform any of the above described functions by 
depressing only one numbered key in response to each different 
instruction. 
Referring again to FIG. 4, this alternative embodiment is performed by 
having the voice unit 56 issue many more instructions, and requiring the 
caller to repond to each by using only a single key for each response. In 
operation, a call is responded to by the rescheduler in the same manner by 
instructing the caller to select one of the three keys "1", "2", or "3" to 
make a new appointment, cancel a prior appointment, or reschedule a prior 
appointment. If the call is to reschedule, the voice unit 56 audibly 
announces the present day (e.g. Thursday, Jul. 21), and requests the 
caller to select a new day for appointment, by depressing a number key 
corresponding to the day for the new appointment. For example, if an 
appointment is desired for the next day, the caller is instructed to 
depress the "1" key (for the next day). If for the day after, the caller 
is instructed to depress the number key "2". If for the third day after 
the present, the caller is requested to depress the number "3". Each such 
digital number is received by control 55 which thereupon selects a 
corresponding one of the read-out circuits 59 or 93 or . . . , to 
interrogate the memory 92 for that day, and read-out the free or available 
time slots on that day. These free time slots are announced over the phone 
by the audible output 91. 
The caller is then requested by the voice instruction unit 56 to choose a 
suitable new appointment time from those announced as being available, 
(for example, only three free time slots may be announced), by selecting 
one of the three numbers "1", "2", or "3", that correspond to the three 
previously announced free time slots. 
The voice unit 56 then audibly confirms the selections by the caller by 
announcing the day and time-of-day, of the previous selections, and 
requests the caller to confirm the correctness of this new appointment by 
depressing the key number "9" if correct, or the key "0", if incorrect. If 
the new appointment is confirmed to be correct, the caller is requested to 
dictate his name, phone, address, and new appointment, and an office 
employee later calls back to confirm the new appointment, and to obtain 
the date and time of the prior appointment to be cancelled. 
Simplified Telephone Appointment Rescheduling 
In a further alternative embodiment, the system can be configured to enable 
a Caller to reschedule an appointment, or schedule a new one, using only 
the "0" or "one" number keys on the Caller's telephone, signifying a yes 
or no response to a series of inquiries. 
Referring again to FIG. 4, a telephone call to the office according to this 
embodiment results in a sequence of many more voice instructions from unit 
56 than before, with each such instruction or question requesting a "yes" 
or "no" response from the Caller, by the depression of the "1" or "0" key, 
respectively. 
A first question from unit 56 of the office, asks if the Caller wishes to 
cancel or reschedule a prior appointment, and if the response is to be 
"yes", the Caller depresses the "1" key. This digital response is 
received, and the office scheduler then energizes the voice unit 56 to 
audibly announce the day and time of the phone call and request whether 
the Caller wishes an appointment on the next day. If the Caller's response 
is "yes", the office unit interrogates the section of memory 91 for the 
next day, by read-out circuit such as 59, and reports a free time slot, if 
any, that is available on that next day. This free time slot is announced 
over the phone line by voice output circuit 91. The voice instruction unit 
56 is then progressed to ask the Caller whether this free time slot is 
acceptable, and if so, the voice unit 56 repeats this time and date over 
the phone line and states that a new appointment has been rescheduled for 
this time. The voice unit 56 then asks the Caller to dictate the Caller's 
name, address, phone number, and prior date of appointment to be 
cancelled, and to repeat the new appointment time. This dictated 
information is recorded at the office recorder 61, enabling an office 
employee to subsequently call back the Caller on the next business day, or 
during other business hour, to confirm the rescheduled appointment to the 
new time, for that person. 
On the other hand, if the Caller's response to any previous inquiry by the 
office machine is a "no", the control circuit 55 alternatively energizes 
the voice unit 56 to issue a different audible inquiry or instruction. For 
example, the voice unit 56 may ask whether the Caller wishes an 
appointment on the second day following the call. This procedure is 
repeated for each "no" response with different "options" being offered in 
succession to the Caller until the Caller responds with an affirmative 
"yes". When this occurs, the appropriate read out circuit for the selected 
"option" is energized to interrogate the chosen time period in the memory 
92. A free time slot, if any is available, is reported over the telephone 
to the Caller, and new appointment is made, as described above. If the 
reported free time slot is not accepted by the Caller, the interrogation 
of the memory 92 is continued for the selected option, until an acceptable 
free time slot is located. If none is found, the voice unit 56 asks the 
Caller to select a a different option, and the above sequence of steps is 
repeated until locating an acceptable new time for an appointment. 
Following the above sequential procedure, the Caller selects a new 
appointment time using only "yes" or "no" responses. This new appointment 
time is announced by the voice unit 56 for confirmation purposes, and the 
Caller is requested to confirm this time, and to then audibly dictate the 
Caller's identification and other information, as discussed above. This is 
recorded by the office recorder 61, to be later confirmed, by a callback, 
and, if confirmed, the new appointment time is entered into the memory 92 
and the prior appointment is cancelled in the memory 92. 
In a similar manner, the voice response unit 56 requests the Caller to 
select other "options", as described above, including either a "morning" 
or "afternoon" appointment; or other desired one. These are all presented 
in sequence, with a request after each such inquiry, for a "yes" or "no" 
response from the Caller. Once such a desired "option" is located by this 
yes or no interactive procedure, the appropriate section of the memory is 
interrogated to locate and report the free time slots that are available, 
as described above. It will be understood, that a number of such "options" 
can be presented within a reasonable time, to a Caller, to quickly locate 
an acceptable new time slot. If none can be found by this interactive 
procedure, the Caller is then instructed to telephone a different number 
and try to schedule a new appointment in a conventional manner with an 
office employee. 
Portable Battery Powered Unit for Caller 
As an alternative to the Caller using a telephone handset to make a new 
appointment or reschedule a prior appointment, a special 
transmitter-receiver unit can be provided for the Caller, and offering 
many advantages. Such a Caller's unit preferably includes a keyboard, a 
visual output display, and audible output announcer, and digitally 
operating tansmit and receive circuitry, for communicating over the 
telephone line. Such a specialized Caller's unit may be provided as a 
separate, hand held, battery powered unit connectable to a telephone line 
or to a telephone by plug-in connection; or alternatively, be provided as 
part of an inte.g.rally made unit and telephone. It may also be a 
dedicated unit for scheduling functions, with specially allocated keys on 
the keyboard, and a specially allocated visual display that is best 
adapted to display appointment information. 
In operation, such a Caller's unit interactively functions in a similar 
manner with the office scheduler machine, as described above, but with 
additional advantages. Among other, the specialized Caller's unit can 
display all of the instructions, messages, and free time slot information 
that is received over the telephone line from the office machine, as well 
as audibly announcing such messages and data. In addition, it can display 
the present date and time from an internal clock, and can automatically 
send to the office machine, the Caller's name, address, phone number, and 
other information from the Caller, for recording by the office recorder 61 
(FIG. 4). 
All of the "options" offered by the Office machine can be displayed as a 
single column on the Caller's display unit, with a different number for 
each line of the column. To select any such "option", the Caller then 
merely needs to depress the appropriate number for that "option" and a 
digital message is sent back to the office machine for that selection. 
Similarly, the free time slots being reported by the office machine, as 
available during a selected option, can also be presented as one or more 
columns, on the Caller's display, with a different number for each line on 
the column or columns. Again a Caller need only depress a single number 
key to select any one of such free time slots, and a digital message for 
that selection is sent back to the office machine over the telephone line. 
In the event that such a Caller's unit is dedicated to scheduling and 
rescheduling functions, dedicated keys of the keyboard may be allocated to 
different days of the week; as well as other keys reserved for different 
times-of-day. Depression of any such keys results in sending a digital 
message over the telephone line for that day or time. 
Such a dedicated Caller's unit may also include automatic dialing circuits 
(for the offices of Lawyers, Chiropractors, Dentists etc., with whom 
appointments are to be made). It may also contain a clock, and circuits 
for automatically transmitting the Caller's name, address, and other 
identifying data, such as charge card number, social security number etc. 
Where the information is of a private nature, it would not be 
automatically transmitted, but instead sent only by the Caller depressing 
an appropriate key that controls the transmission of such information. All 
of such data transmission circuitry greatly simplifies the procedure 
followed by a Caller in making or rescheduling an appointment in an 
automatic or semiautomatic manner over the telephone. 
In operation of such a dedicated unit, the Caller need only initially 
depress a single key to call a desired office (e.g. Chiropractor). Upon 
the call being completed, the Caller then need only depress a single key 
to inform that office that it wishes to make a new appointment or 
reschedule a prior appointment. Depressing only one more key, then 
proceeds to select a desired one of the various "options" or time periods, 
that is desired by the Caller. Digital messages (e.g. tone etc.) are 
received at the office machine for each of these selections, and the 
office memory is interrogated to report the free time slots that are 
available from that office for a new appointment during that "option" 
period. The Caller then need only depress one more of the keys to select a 
preferred one of the free time slots for a new appointment, and this 
selection is digitally transmitted over the telephone line to the office 
machine and entered into the memory, along with an identification of the 
Caller that is automatically transmitted as discussed above. The Caller 
then depresses the appropriate one or more keys to cancel a prior 
appointment. 
All of the above described instructions, questions, messages, free time 
slots, and selections thereof, are preferably displayed on the Caller's 
display screen as well as on the display screen in the office at the other 
end of the telephone line. Additionally, such information and data is 
audibly announced at both locations, and may be printed as a record, if 
desired. 
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that many changes and 
additions may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of this 
invention; and that the various embodiments disclosed do not set forth the 
design features that are well known, and may be used in commercial 
products using this invention. For example, a preferred office machine may 
be provided as a desk top unit with large screen display, positionable 
alongside a receptionist's telephone exchange. The internal circuits and 
controls may be dedicated to scheduling and rescheduling functions, and 
others, so as to be user friendly by the least experienced office 
employees. For example, the keys on the keyboard may be dedicated to 
different days of the week, and other keys dedicated to different times of 
day; all being prominantly labeled for convenience use by substantially 
untrained employees. Simplified instructions can be provided in printed 
form, as well as in internal ROM circuits, and accessed by any user for 
display on the visual screen; and/or by audible announcement. Such an 
office unit may alternatively be combined with the telephone handset, or 
telephone exchange, or be provides as a separate standalone structure that 
is detachably connectable to the telephone line. The office machine may 
provide other communication functions that are useful to that office, and 
may output other information by visual display, voice output or printing. 
For combined use by many persons in a firm, office, or clinic, the above 
described apparatus can be duplicated with additional memory, and other 
controls, and connected to time share a common display screen, audible 
output, common instruction generator, and other components as described. 
For automatic or semi-automatic interactive operation, an initial inquiry 
of a user or Caller, can ask the user or Caller to select a desired one of 
those listed persons with whom an appointment is desired, and the office 
apparatus may then interrogate the correspondingly allocated section of 
the memory for the free time slots of the selected person. 
Since these and many other changes can be made by those skilled in the art, 
this invention is to be considered as being limited only by the following 
claims.