Abstract:
Described are methods and mechanisms for managing data within a calendaring framework. The method includes receiving task data, which is distributed into one or more tasks associated with a category, and receiving time slot data, which defines one or more time slots within the calendaring framework and associates each category with at least one time slot. The method additionally includes determining a location for each task within the one or more time slots that are associated with the same category based on a task prioritization value, and determining a location for each action item within the one or more time slots that are associated with the same category based on the task location determination, an action item prioritization value, and an estimated completion time. The method further includes populating the time slots within the calendaring framework with the action items based on the action item location determination.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention relates generally to the field of data management, and more particularly to data management within a calendaring framework. 
     Computing devices allow users to increase efficiency by using any of the conventional software products available in today&#39;s market, for example word processing software, spreadsheet software, email management software, productivity software, and the like. For example, conventional productivity programs allow a user to keep a calendar of meetings and task lists. Some advanced productivity programs allow the automated scheduling of meetings by including data in e-mail messages that can automatically create an entry on the user&#39;s calendar. Existing productivity programs sometimes allow a user to attempt to automatically schedule a meeting with other individuals if the program has network access to the calendars of those other individuals. 
     However, existing productivity programs largely ignore the need for a user to allocate time to perform tasks that may need performing. Indeed, with most existing productivity programs, a user&#39;s task list action items cannot even be viewed on the calendar at all even if due dates and other date information is provided. An adequate system for prioritizing and scheduling tasks has eluded those skilled in the art, until now. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention is directed at systems and methods for automatically scheduling tasks on a calendar. In one aspect, a method includes receiving task data that includes a category having at least two prioritized action items, receiving time slot data that identifies a time slot on a calendar, and corresponding the time slot with the category. The method further includes automatically scheduling the action items within the corresponding time slot based on the relative priorities of the action items and an estimated time for completion of the action items. 
     In another aspect, a computer-readable medium storing a computer program to manage data within a calendaring framework includes: computer-readable code to receive task data that includes a category having at least two prioritized action items, to receive time slot data that identifies a time slot on a calendar, and to correspond the time slot with the category. The computer-readable medium further includes computer-readable code to automatically schedule the action items within the corresponding time slot based on the relative priorities of the action items and an estimated time for completion of the action items. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is an exemplary user interface dialog screen. 
         FIG. 2  is another exemplary user interface dialog screen. 
         FIG. 3  is yet another exemplary user interface dialog screen. 
         FIG. 4  is still another exemplary user interface dialog screen. 
         FIG. 5  is a functional block diagram generally illustrating an application execution environment in which implementations of the invention are particularly applicable. 
         FIG. 6  is a functional block diagram generally illustrating a computing device in which implementations of the invention are particularly applicable. 
         FIG. 7  is an operational flow diagram generally illustrating a process for scheduling tasks within a calendaring framework. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     What follows is a detailed description of various techniques and mechanisms for time management. Very generally stated, the present invention is directed at providing a system for automatically calendaring action items in a task list based on relative priorities and estimated completion times of the action items. 
       FIG. 1  is an exemplary user interface dialog screen generally illustrating a task list, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In  FIG. 1 , the task list  100  includes one or more prioritized categories. Each category includes one or more “tasks” that the user needs to perform. Each task may have a priority relative to the other tasks. For instance, if there are three tasks (A, B, and C) then task “A” may have a higher priority than task “B”, which in turn has a higher priority than task “C.” These priorities are intended as an objective measure of the user&#39;s desire to perform certain tasks before other tasks. 
     Each task includes one or more action items, which are the actual action items of conduct that must be performed to accomplish a task. For instance, if a certain task is created for marketing telephone calls, action items for that task could include each of the individual telephone calls that must be made. 
     Each action item also includes an estimated time for completion. For instance, if a particular action item is a telephone call, the user&#39;s experience may be that telephone calls last an average of three minutes. Accordingly, the user may assign an estimated completion time of three minutes for each action item. Alternatively or in addition, the task itself may have an associated “default” completion time, which is automatically assigned to the task&#39;s constituent action items not having an express estimated completion time. 
     The action items may also include other data, such as the names and other information (e.g. telephone numbers, demographics, referral source, etc.) of the calls to be made to potential clients. The action items may also be prioritized within each task in a manner similar to that described above for the tasks. 
     By way of illustration, category # 1  ( 110 ) includes prioritized tasks associated with a user&#39;s work responsibilities, such as, marketing telephone calls, client telephone calls, preparation of memoranda, review of documentation, and the like. In this example, category # 1  ( 110 ) includes work tasks A ( 120 ), B ( 130 ), and C ( 140 ). Each of those tasks further include action items. In this example, work task A  120  includes action item A 1  ( 121 ) and action item A 2  ( 122 ), which are prioritized action items relating to work task A  120 . Work task B  130  includes action item B 1  ( 131 ) and action item B 2  ( 132 ). Work task C  140  includes action item C 1  ( 141 ), action item C 2  ( 142 ), and action item C 3  ( 143 ). 
     Similarly, category # 2  ( 150 ) includes prioritized tasks associated with a user&#39;s personal responsibilities, such as, personal telephone calls, providing transportation for children, other important personal commitments, or the like. In this example, category # 2  ( 150 ) includes personal tasks A ( 160 ), B ( 170 ), and C ( 180 ). Personal task A  160  includes action item A 1  ( 161 ) and action item A 2  ( 162 ). Personal task B  170  includes action item B 1  ( 171 ) and action item B 2  ( 172 ). Personal task C  180  includes action item C 1  ( 181 ), action item C 2  ( 182 ), and action item C 3  ( 183 ). 
     Although only two categories are illustrated in  FIG. 1 , it should be understood that an unlimited number of categories can be used without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, task listing  100  may include another category (not shown) that includes a number of personal tasks with a higher priority than the work tasks within category # 1   110  as well as other categories with lower priorities (e.g. requested vacation destinations) than category # 2   150 . Task listing  100  may also include additional components not relevant to the present discussion. 
     In illustrative operation, a user provides one or more categories as well as tasks within each category to a user interface dialog screen. The user may also provide specific action items to be completed and an estimated completion time for each action item. At some point, the user prioritizes the categories, assigns the tasks to each category, and prioritizes the tasks within each category. The user also assigns the action items to each task and may prioritize the action items within the tasks. 
     At any point in the process, the user can add, modify, or delete any assignment or prioritization of any categories, tasks, or action items. That is, at any time, the user can modify any categories, tasks, or action items and reprioritize the subsequent list of remaining categories, tasks, or action items. In one embodiment, once the user is satisfied with the categories, tasks, and action items as well as the prioritization of the categories, tasks, and action items the user will have a task listing  100  as described in  FIG. 1 . 
       FIG. 2  is an exemplary user interface dialog screen generally illustrating a calendaring program, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The calendaring program exhibits the same general functionality as many conventional calendaring programs, such as the ability to schedule meetings and display those meetings as icons or other representations on the calendar. In addition, the calendaring program includes additional functionality to schedule tasks and display those scheduled tasks, as is described more fully below. 
     In  FIG. 2 , calendar  200  allows the user to identify time slots  210 ,  220 , and  250 . The time slots may represent any period of time over any given length of hours, days, weeks, months, etc. In this example, calendar  200  currently displays a weekly time schedule including time slot  210  which represents the time from about 9:00 AM until about 11:00 AM, time slot  220  which represents the time from about 1:00 PM until about 5:00 PM, and time slot  250  which represents the time from about 11:30 AM until about 12:30 PM on a daily basis. 
     Each of the time slots  210 ,  220 , and  250  is associated with a corresponding one of the categories described in  FIG. 1 , above. More than one time slot may be assigned to the same category to provide additional time available for scheduling a category&#39;s tasks and action items. In an example and referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , time slots  210  and  220  are associated with category  1   110  for work tasks. Time slot  220  is associated with category  2   150  for personal tasks. 
     In illustrative operation, a user is prompted to identify one or more time slots on the calendar  200 . The prompt may also include associating the time slots with the categories, such as one or more work categories, one or more personal categories, and the like. At any point in the process, the user can add, modify, or delete any time slot or the assignment of any time slot to any category. In one embodiment, once the user is satisfied with the time slot apportionment and category assignments, the user has a calendar  200  as described in  FIG. 2 . 
       FIG. 3  is an exemplary user interface generally illustrating a sample calendar populated with automatically-scheduled, prioritized tasks, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The productivity calendaring application  300  includes a task list  301  and a calendar  350  shown in a “weekly view” format. In  FIG. 3 , the task list  301  includes only one category, a work category  310 , although other implementations could have many different categories. In this example, the task list  301  includes tasks associated with a user&#39;s work responsibilities, which could include marketing telephone calls, client telephone calls, work related meetings, and the like. 
     Each of the work tasks within work category  310  is a prioritized task list, such as work task A ( 320 ) and work task B ( 330 ). The tasks include specific action items that need to be completed by the user to accomplish that task. Work category  310  is a category associated with a user&#39;s work responsibilities and includes prioritized tasks associated with that goal. In this embodiment, work task A  320  is a task associated with a user&#39;s work responsibilities that have been assigned the highest priority level, such as, marketing telephone calls. Work task A  320  includes action item A 1  ( 321 ), action item A 2  ( 322 ), and action item A 3  ( 323 ), which are action items relating to work task A  320 . Each action item may include, for instance, an estimated completion time and the names and associated data (e.g. telephone numbers, demographics, referral source, etc.) of the calls to be made to potential clients. The action items are presented in a descending order of priority. 
     In this example, action item A 1   321  is a call list that includes the most important marketing calls based on a predetermined assessment of the names on the call list. In one enhancement, action item A 1   321  may additionally include the names on the call list as well as special instructions to the productivity calendaring application  300  for scheduling the action item, such as, scheduling this particular action item in morning time blocks only or scheduling this particular action item immediately after lunch. In the case of such a call list, the names on the call list may include telephone numbers or additional marketing data provided by the source of the call list. 
     Further to this embodiment, work task B  330  is a task associated with a user&#39;s work responsibilities that have been assigned the next highest priority level, such as, client telephone calls. Work task B  330  includes action item B 1  ( 331 ), action item B 2  ( 332 ), and action item B 3  ( 333 ), which are prioritized action items relating to work task B  330 . These action items may also include, for example, the names and associated data (e.g. telephone numbers, demographics, referral source, etc.) of the calls to be made to existing clients. Again, the action items are presented in a descending order of priority. 
     On the calendar  350 , each of the time slots  360 ,  370 ,  380 , and  390  has been identified by the user and associated with a category described within the task list  301 . In this example, time slots  360  and  380  are assigned as work time slots and are associated with work category  310 . Continuing the example, time slots  370  and  390  are assigned as personal time slots and are associated with a personal category (not shown). 
     In accordance with the invention, the user instructs the productivity calendaring application  300  to schedule the action items on the calendar in their respective time slots. In operation, the calendaring program  300  begins with the category of highest priority and identifies the task having the highest priority in that category. The calendaring program  300  then begins scheduling a time, within the time slot associated with the corresponding category, to each action item within that task. The action items may also be prioritized, in which case the calendaring program  300  schedules the action items based on their respective priorities. The calendaring program  300  iterates through each action item of each task of each category until all the action items possible have been scheduled. 
     To illustrate, referring to  FIG. 3 , action items from work task A  320  and work task B  330  have been assigned to work time slots  360  and  380 . In particular, action item A 1   321 , being the highest priority action item of the highest priority task, is scheduled first in time slot  360  for the estimated completion time associated with action item A 1   321 . Action item A 2   322 , being of next highest priority, is scheduled right after action item A 1   321 , again lasting for its estimated completion time. Likewise, action item A 3   323  is scheduled after action item A 2   322  and for its estimated completion time. Note that time slot  360  had insufficient time to include action item A 3   323 , and was therefore scheduled for later that day in time slot  380 . 
     With all the action items in work task A  320  scheduled, the calendaring program begins scheduling action items for the task of next priority, namely work task B  330 . Accordingly, the action item having the highest priority in work task B  330  (action item B 1   331  in this example) is scheduled on the calendar  350  immediately after action item A 3   323 . Next, action item B 2   332  is scheduled, and finally action item B 3   333  is scheduled. Note that in this implementation, each action item may optionally include scheduling instructions (in addition to the estimated completion time) to further refine when the action item is scheduled. More specifically, action item B 3   333  includes instructions to only schedule time on Fridays to perform this action item. Thus, action item B 3   333  is scheduled for the earliest available time on Friday. This enhancement adds additional flexibility when automatically scheduling tasks. 
       FIG. 4  is an exemplary user interface dialog screen generally illustrating another view of a calendaring program populated with a plurality of tasks to further illustrate one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 4 , a work tasks category  410  includes a marketing telephone calls task list (task A  415 ) that further includes a listing of action items. The action items within task A  415  include a prioritized list of the marketing telephone calls that a user needs to make. In this example, a first action item (call  420 ) identifies an individual or entity, including telephone number, that the user intends to call. A second action item (call  430 ) identifies a second individual or entity, of lower priority than the first. 
     A clients telephone calls task list (task B  440 ) includes action items for telephone calls that the user needs to make to existing clients. As with task A  415 , the action items for task B  440  are prioritized, with a call  441  to Jane Smith being ordered higher than a call  442  to John Doe. 
     As before, when the user instructs, the calendar program  400  automatically schedules each telephone call (i.e., action item) in the task list  401  on the calendar  450 . As illustrated, the calls associated with task A  415  are scheduled first, followed by the calls associated with the lower-priority task B  440 . Each of the calls is ordered based on their relative priorities per task, and each call (in this example) has an estimated completion time of two and a half minutes (two calls every five minutes). 
     In this example, the calendar  450  is presented in a “daily view” rather than the weekly view illustrated in FIG.  3 . This is done to illustrate that greater detail about each action item may be displayed, in some circumstances, to assist the user to perform the tasks that have been scheduled on the calendar  450 . More specifically, by using the system introduced in conjunction with  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the action items (e.g., action item A 1   420  and action item A 2   430 ) on the work tasks category  410  have been scheduled on the calendar  450  based on their relative priorities. 
     By presenting the calendar  450  in the “daily view” as shown, the user can visually determine each telephone call that must be made in temporal order. In addition, the number to be called is displayed for each call, thus simplifying the performance of the user&#39;s task. This view may be preferred when the user is in the act of actually making the calls rather than just scheduling them. In other words, once the calendar program  400  has automatically scheduled each item on the task list  401 , the user can turn to a daily view of the calendar  450  and simply begin making the calls in order. 
       FIG. 5  is a functional block diagram generally illustrating an application execution environment  500  in which implementations of the invention are particularly applicable. Application execution environment  500  may be a computer-readable medium, such as volatile or non-volatile memory, in which resides computer-executable components. Application execution environment  500  includes a productivity application  510  that is in communication with a task scheduler  520  and a user interface (U/I)  530 . The productivity application  510  and the task scheduler  520  are in communication with a task data store  540  and a calendar data store  550 . Application execution environment  500  may include additional components not relevant to the present discussion. 
     The productivity application  510  interacts with a user via the U/I  530  to receive instructions from the user related to the capabilities of the productivity application  510 . In one embodiment, productivity application  510  interacts with a user via the U/I  530  to receive input defining categories, tasks associated with one or more of the categories, action items associated with one or more of the tasks, and information/data associated with one or more of the action items. The productivity application  510  interacts with the U/I  530  to receive and/or modify this data and information, as well as prioritize the tasks within each category and prioritize the action items within each task. The task-related data received by the productivity application  510  is stored in the task store  540 . 
     Productivity application  510  may also interact with a user via the U/I  530  to receive input defining time slots within a calendaring program. More particularly, the productivity application  510  enables a user to identify and define, via the U/I  530 , spans of time (time slots) on a calendar and to associate those time slots with categories that may be created. The time slot data received via the U/I  530  is stored in the calendar data store  550 . 
     Task scheduler  520  is a software engine that receives data from task data store  540  and calendar data store  550  and automatically (or in response to a user instruction) schedules action items from the task data into the corresponding time slots in the calendar data. The task scheduler  520  populates each time slot with action items using the relative priorities of the action items and their related tasks and categories, and estimated completion times for the action items. The productivity application  510  may present the calendar including the scheduled action items to the user via U/I  530 . 
       FIG. 6  is a block diagram representing a computing device  20  in the form of a personal computer system with which the present invention may be implemented. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the personal computer system  20  depicted is intended to be merely illustrative and that the present invention may be practiced with other computer system configurations, including hand-held devices, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, headless servers and the like. The invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices. 
     The personal computer system  20  includes a processing unit  21 , a system memory  22 , and a system bus  23  that couples various system components including the system memory to the processing unit  21 . The system bus  23  may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. The system memory includes read-only memory (ROM)  24  and random access memory (RAM)  25 . A basic input/output system  26  (BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within the personal computer  20 , such as during start-up, is stored in ROM  24 . The personal computer  20  may further include a hard disk drive  27  for reading from and writing to a hard disk, not shown, a magnetic disk drive  28  for reading from or writing to a removable magnetic disk  29 , and an optical disk drive  30  for reading from or writing to a removable optical disk  31  such as a CD-ROM or other optical media. The hard disk drive  27 , magnetic disk drive  28 , and optical disk drive  30  are connected to the system bus  23  by a hard disk drive interface  32 , a magnetic disk drive interface  33 , and an optical drive interface  34 , respectively. The drives and their associated computer-readable media provide non-volatile storage of computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules and other data for the personal computer  20 . Although the exemplary computer system described herein employs a hard disk, a removable magnetic disk  29  and a removable optical disk  31 , it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other types of computer-readable media which can store data that is accessible by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital video disks, Bernoulli cartridges, random access memories (RAMs), read-only memories (ROMs) and the like may also be used in the exemplary computer system. 
     A number of program modules may be stored on the hard disk, magnetic disk  29 , optical disk  31 , ROM  24  or RAM  25 , including an operating system  35 , one or more application programs  36 , other program modules  37  including productivity program  39 , and program data  38 . A user may enter commands and information into the personal computer  20  through input devices such as a keyboard  40  and pointing device  42 . Other input devices (not shown) may include a microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner or the like. These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit  21  through a serial port interface  46  that is coupled to the system bus, but may be connected by other interfaces, such as a parallel port, game port or universal serial bus (USB). A monitor  47  or other type of display device is also connected to the system bus  23  via an interface, such as a video adapter  48 . In addition to the monitor  47 , personal computers typically include other peripheral output devices, such as auxiliary display  1  or speakers and printers (not shown). Auxiliary display  1  is an additional output device connected to the system bus  23  via auxiliary display interface  55 , which may be a video adaptor, USB or other peripheral device connection. The input device  3  for controlling the auxiliary display  1  is connected to the system bus  23  via input device interface  56 , which may be a serial interface, USB or other peripheral device connection. 
     The personal computer  20  may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer  49 . The remote computer  49  may be another personal computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described above relative to the personal computer  20 . The logical connections depicted in  FIG. 6  include a local area network (LAN)  51  and a wide area network (WAN)  52 . Such networking environments are commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computer networks, Intranets and the Internet. 
     When used in a LAN networking environment, the personal computer  20  is connected to the local area network (LAN)  51  through a network interface or adapter  53 . When used in a WAN networking environment, the personal computer  20  typically includes a modem  58  or other means for establishing communications over the wide area network (WAN)  52 , such as the Internet. The modem  54 , which may be internal or external, is connected to the system bus  23  via the serial port interface  46 . 
     In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the personal computer  20 , or portions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device. It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers may be used and would include a virus detection device implemented in a similar or alternative embodiment as necessitated by the communications link. 
       FIG. 7  is an operational flow diagram generally illustrating a method  700  for scheduling tasks on a calendar. In one embodiment, method  700  is implemented with components and data of the exemplary operating environments and exemplary user interface dialog screens of  FIGS. 1-6 . Preferably, one or more steps of method  700  are embodied in a computer-readable medium containing computer-readable code such that a series of steps are implemented when the computer-readable code is executed on a computing device. In some implementations, certain steps of method  700  are combined, performed simultaneously or in a different order, without deviating from the objective of method  700 . 
     The process  700  begins at step  710 , where task data has been received from a user interface. The task data is organized as prioritized action items that make up tasks. Multiple tasks may also be prioritized and aggregated into a common category. In addition, time slots within a calendar have been identified and associated with corresponding categories within the task data. 
     At step  720 , the process  700  enters an iterative loop that operates on each category in the task data. The iterative loop operates on each category in descending order of prioritization as may have been established by the user, or through any other mechanism. Accordingly, the first pass through the process  700 , the category having the highest priority is selected as the current category. 
     At step  730 , an appropriate time slot is identified for the current category. It will be appreciated that the appropriate time slot is the time slot that has been associated with the current category. 
     At step  740 , the process  700  enters an iterative loop that operates on each task within the current category. The iterative loop operates on each task in descending order of priority as may have been established by the user, or through any other mechanism. Accordingly, the first pass through the process  700  the task having the highest priority is selected as the current task. 
     At step  750 , each action item within the current task is assigned to the time slot corresponding to the current category. As described at length above, each action item may be scheduled within the time slot in descending order of priority. In other words, each action item for a task is scheduled within the time slot for the current category based on its relative priority. The action item is scheduled on the calendar for the duration of the estimated completion time of the action item. In some embodiments, a buffer period of time (e.g., 10 percent over the estimated completion time) may be added to account for unforeseen contingencies. 
     At step  760 , the current task is incremented to the task having the next lowest priority, and the process  700  returns to step  740 . When each task for the current category has been processed according to steps  740 - 760 , the process  700  proceeds to step  770 . 
     At step  770 , the current category is incremented to the category having the next lowest priority, and the process  700  returns to step  720 . When each category has been processed according to steps  720 - 770 , the process  700  terminates at step  780 . 
     In summary, the above described systems and methods enable a productivity program, such as a calendaring program, to automatically schedule tasks on a user&#39;s calendar. More specifically, action items within a task may be automatically scheduled based on relative priorities of the action items. This improves over existing technologies which, at best, only allow the automated scheduling of meetings. 
     While the present invention has been described with reference to particular embodiments and implementations, it should be understood that these are illustrative only, and that the scope of the invention is not limited to these embodiments. Many variations, modifications, additions and improvements to the embodiments described above are possible. It is contemplated that these variations, modifications, additions and improvements fall within the scope of the invention as detailed within the following claims.