Patent Publication Number: US-2016239809-A1

Title: Systems and methods for implementing minimally obstructive multifunctional horizontally oriented calendar

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Technical Field 
     The disclosed embodiments relate in general to graphical user interfaces of electronic computing devices and, more specifically, to systems and methods for providing minimally obstructive multifunctional horizontally oriented calendar. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Conventional calendar graphical user interfaces suffer from a number of drawbacks. The most important of them is the need to open a separate calendar window or a web page, which unavoidably interferes with the current task performed by the user. While there exist calendar user interfaces that display dates in one-line arrangement, which is less obstructive on the computer display, the user interaction with these calendar interfaces is limited to date navigation. For example, the users are not allowed to drop items onto such calendars to create new calendar events and cannot view scheduled calendar events by any other means than clicking on the specific date, which opens a new calendar window with calendar information regarding that specific date. The users are also not able to judge how busy they are on the specific date by simply looking at the conventional horizontal calendars without having to click on each date separately. 
     Therefore, new and improved techniques for implementing graphical user interfaces incorporating minimally obstructive multifunctional horizontally oriented calendars providing rich user interaction capabilities. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The embodiments described herein are directed to methods and systems that substantially obviate one or more of the above and other problems associated with conventional techniques for implementing graphical user interfaces for calendars. 
     In accordance with one aspect of the inventive concepts described herein, there is provided a computer-implemented method for generating a graphical user interface, the method being performed in connection with a computerized system comprising a processor, a memory and a display device, the method involving: generating a graphical user interface on the display device, the graphical user interface comprising a calendar portion, the calendar portion comprising a plurality of calendar date elements, wherein the plurality of calendar date elements are horizontally arranged on the display device and wherein at least some of the calendar date elements comprise a user availability indicator indicating an availability of a user during a corresponding day; receiving information on a user interaction event in connection with the calendar portion of the user interface; if the received information indicates that the user interaction event is a cursor hover event performed in connection with a first calendar date element of the plurality of calendar date elements, displaying information regarding the first calendar date element; and if the received information indicates that the user interaction event is a drag-and-drop event performed in connection with a second calendar date element of the plurality of calendar date elements and a schedule item, placing the schedule item on the user&#39;s schedule during a date corresponding to the second calendar date element. 
     In one or more embodiments, the information regarding the first calendar date element is displayed is a pop-up window. 
     In one or more embodiments, the user availability indicator is color-coded based on the availability of the user during the corresponding day. 
     In one or more embodiments, the user availability indicator is color-coded with a color selected from a group consisting of: green, yellow and red colors. 
     In one or more embodiments, the calendar portion further comprises at least one date navigational element and wherein upon user&#39;s interaction with the at least one date navigational element, a second plurality of calendar date element is displayed. 
     In one or more embodiments, the calendar portion is positioned at the bottom of the graphical user interface. 
     In one or more embodiments, if the received information indicates that the user interaction event is a mouse click event performed in connection with a third calendar date element of the plurality of calendar date elements, displaying information regarding the third calendar date element in a main window of the graphical user interface. 
     In accordance with another aspect of the inventive concepts described herein, there is provided a non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying a set of computer-readable instructions, which, when executed in connection with a computerized system comprising a processor, a memory and a display device, cause the computerized system to perform a method for generating a graphical user interface, the method involving: generating a graphical user interface on the display device, the graphical user interface comprising a calendar portion, the calendar portion comprising a plurality of calendar date elements, wherein the plurality of calendar date elements are horizontally arranged on the display device and wherein at least some of the calendar date elements comprise a user availability indicator indicating an availability of a user during a corresponding day; receiving information on a user interaction event in connection with the calendar portion of the user interface; if the received information indicates that the user interaction event is a cursor hover event performed in connection with a first calendar date element of the plurality of calendar date elements, displaying information regarding the first calendar date element; and if the received information indicates that the user interaction event is a drag-and-drop event performed in connection with a second calendar date element of the plurality of calendar date elements and a schedule item, placing the schedule item on the user&#39;s schedule during a date corresponding to the second calendar date element. 
     In one or more embodiments, the information regarding the first calendar date element is displayed is a pop-up window. 
     In one or more embodiments, the user availability indicator is color-coded based on the availability of the user during the corresponding day. 
     In one or more embodiments, the user availability indicator is color-coded with a color selected from a group consisting of: green, yellow and red colors. 
     In one or more embodiments, the calendar portion further comprises at least one date navigational element and wherein upon user&#39;s interaction with the at least one date navigational element, a second plurality of calendar date element is displayed. 
     In one or more embodiments, the calendar portion is positioned at the bottom of the graphical user interface. 
     In one or more embodiments, if the received information indicates that the user interaction event is a mouse click event performed in connection with a third calendar date element of the plurality of calendar date elements, displaying information regarding the third calendar date element in a main window of the graphical user interface. 
     In accordance with yet another aspect of the inventive concepts described herein, there is provided a computerized system comprising a processor, a memory and a display device, the memory storing a set of computer-readable instructions, which, when executed by the processor cause the computerized system to perform a method for generating a graphical user interface, the method involving: generating a graphical user interface on the display device, the graphical user interface comprising a calendar portion, the calendar portion comprising a plurality of calendar date elements, wherein the plurality of calendar date elements are horizontally arranged on the display device and wherein at least some of the calendar date elements comprise a user availability indicator indicating an availability of a user during a corresponding day; receiving information on a user interaction event in connection with the calendar portion of the user interface; if the received information indicates that the user interaction event is a cursor hover event performed in connection with a first calendar date element of the plurality of calendar date elements, displaying information regarding the first calendar date element; and if the received information indicates that the user interaction event is a drag-and-drop event performed in connection with a second calendar date element of the plurality of calendar date elements and a schedule item, placing the schedule item on the user&#39;s schedule during a date corresponding to the second calendar date element. 
     In one or more embodiments, the information regarding the first calendar date element is displayed is a pop-up window. 
     In one or more embodiments, the user availability indicator is color-coded based on the availability of the user during the corresponding day. 
     In one or more embodiments, the user availability indicator is color-coded with a color selected from a group consisting of: green, yellow and red colors. 
     In one or more embodiments, the calendar portion further comprises at least one date navigational element and wherein upon user&#39;s interaction with the at least one date navigational element, a second plurality of calendar date element is displayed. 
     In one or more embodiments, the calendar portion is positioned at the bottom of the graphical user interface. 
     In one or more embodiments, if the received information indicates that the user interaction event is a mouse click event performed in connection with a third calendar date element of the plurality of calendar date elements, displaying information regarding the third calendar date element in a main window of the graphical user interface. 
     Additional aspects related to the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. Aspects of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations of various elements and aspects particularly pointed out in the following detailed description and the appended claims. 
     It is to be understood that both the foregoing and the following descriptions are exemplary and explanatory only and are not intended to limit the claimed invention or application thereof in any manner whatsoever. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification exemplify the embodiments of the present invention and, together with the description, serve to explain and illustrate principles of the inventive technique. Specifically: 
         FIG. 1  illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a user interface incorporating a calendar portion, generated by one or more embodiments of a computerized user interface generation method described herein. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates an exemplary operating sequence of an embodiment of the application for generating the novel graphical user interface incorporating a calendar. 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram that illustrates an embodiment of a computer system upon which an embodiment of the inventive functionality may be implemented. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     In the following detailed description, reference will be made to the accompanying drawing(s), in which identical functional elements are designated with like numerals. The aforementioned accompanying drawings show by way of illustration, and not by way of limitation, specific embodiments and implementations consistent with principles of the present invention. These implementations are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention and it is to be understood that other implementations may be utilized and that structural changes and/or substitutions of various elements may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be construed in a limited sense. Additionally, the various embodiments of the invention as described may be implemented in the form of a software running on a general purpose computer, in the form of a specialized hardware, or combination of software and hardware. 
     In accordance with one or more embodiments described herein, there is provided a computerized system and an associated computer-implemented method for implementing graphical user interfaces incorporating minimally obstructive multifunctional horizontally oriented calendars providing rich user interaction capabilities. In various implementations, the graphical user interfaces described herein may be implemented as web-based graphical user interfaces generated using HTML code, JAVA scripts or any other appropriate mechanisms. In an alternative implementation, similar functionality may be implemented in a stand-alone application executing on a computing device, such as a smartphone or a tablet computer. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a user interface  100  incorporating a calendar portion  101 , generated by one or more embodiments of a computerized user interface generation method described herein. In one embodiment, the calendar portion  101  is displayed at the bottom of the graphical user interface  100 . The calendar portion  101  includes a plurality of horizontally arranged date elements  102 , each representing a different calendar date. As it would be appreciated by those of skill in the art, because the date elements  102  of the calendar portion  101  are horizontally arranged, they occupy a very small (stripe-shaped) portion of the user interface without creating an excessive obstruction for other displayed content. In one or more embodiments, the aforesaid date elements are sequentially arranged left-to-right. In one or more embodiments, the dates of the current month and two additional weeks are displayed by default to the user. 
     The date elements may be grouped by week or month with graphical divider elements  106  shown to divide different weeks or different months of the year. In one or more embodiments, each date element is user-interactive. When the user hovers a mouse cursor over a particular date element, or, in case of a touchscreen device touches the date element with his finger, the user interface generation program receives this user interaction event and, in response, displays to the user certain information related to the affected date element and/or performs other appropriate actions. In one or more embodiments, the information related to the affected date is displayed to the user in a separate window  105 , which is generated in the vicinity of the date element  102  upon detection of the user interaction event. In displayed information may include all the events  104  scheduled for the user for that date. In one or more embodiments, the system is configured to display all information about each scheduled event without truncation. In the same or different embodiments, the system may display information about availability of the user on that date. When the user moves the cursor away from the date element, the aforesaid information window  105  may automatically close. In another embodiment, the window  105  may automatically close after passage of a time interval of a predetermined duration, such as 5 seconds. As it would be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art, by simply moving the cursor over the date element  102 , the user may view the day&#39;s schedule without having to open a new calendar window and without interrupting user&#39;s current task. 
     In one or more embodiment, there is displayed a user availability indicator  103 , which may be implemented in a form of a thin color-coded bar displayed in the bottom part of the corresponding date element  102 . In one or more embodiments, the color of the user availability indicator represents the user&#39;s general availability during the respective date. For example, green availability indicator may indicate that the user&#39;s schedule is generally open. Yellow availability indicator indicates that the user may have limited availability during the respective date. Finally, red availability indicator indicates that the user is not available on the particular date. The color of the availability indicator may be determined by the user interface generation application by comparing number and/or duration of user&#39;s availability periods during the day with a predetermined set of thresholds. In an alternative embodiment, the number or duration of the user&#39;s scheduled events during the day may be compared with a predetermined set of thresholds. Each threshold would corresponds a predetermine color code. In one embodiment, red color of the availability indicator indicates that more than 65% of user&#39;s available time during the day is occupied with tasks. Yellow color of the indicator may indicate that more than 35% but less than 65% of user&#39;s available time during the day is occupied with tasks. Finally, green indicator shows that less than 35% of user&#39;s available time during the day is occupied. The absence of color-coded availability indicator indicates that the corresponding day is entirely open. 
     As it would be appreciated by those of skill I the art, using the colored availability indicator the user may quickly get an idea about availability during a particular day without having to open the entire schedule for that day and without having to interrupt user&#39;s current task. 
     In one or more embodiments, the user may drag and drop various schedule items on specific displayed date elements. The graphical user interface generation application receives information on the aforesaid drop event as well as the dropped schedule object from the touchscreen interface or other module(s) of the computing system and places the dropped schedule item on the calendar of the day corresponding to the targeted date element. Thus, the user may use the described calendar graphical user interface to schedule events without opening a new calendar window and without interrupting user&#39;s current task. For example, the user may re-schedule a calendar task by simply dragging it from one calendar date element  102  and dropping it onto another date element  102 . 
     In one or more embodiments, the calendar graphical user interface may additionally incorporate one or more date navigational elements  106 ,  107  and/or  108 . These elements enable the user to quickly move to a view displaying different dates, weeks or months of the year on the calendar. For example, the navigation element  108  may be displayed in a form of a mini-calendar, which may be conveniently used for date navigation. When the user clicks on navigational elements  106  or  107 , the horizontal calendar moves to the left or right and additional date elements  102  appear. Finally, when the user clicks on a specific date element, the graphical user interface generation program may be configured to display the information on the selected day in the main window and highlight or otherwise mark the selected date element. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates an exemplary operating sequence  200  of an embodiment of the application for generating the novel calendar graphical user interface. At step  201 , the user interface generation application displays the calendar date elements on the display device arranged in a horizontal manner. At step  202 , the color-coded user availability indicators are displayed below the respective date elements. At step  203 , the user interaction event is detected and provided to the user interface generation application. The type of user interaction event is determined in step  204 . If the user interaction event is a cursor hover, then at step  205  a separate window is generated displaying user&#39;s schedule for the specific date. In one or more embodiments, the displayed window is a pop-up window. If the detected event is a drag-and-drop event, then at step  206 , the dropped schedule item is placed on the calendar. In one or more embodiments, the user may be provided with a notification, using, for example, a pop-up window, that the corresponding event was successfully added. Finally, if the event is a date navigation event, then at step  207  different date elements are displayed in the generated calendar graphical user interface. Additional events are handled in step  208  and the operation terminates in step  209 . 
     It should be noted that in one or more embodiments, the described user interface may automatically generate reminders for the users of particular tasks that require user&#39;s attention, such as an upcoming or an over-due deadline. In one or more embodiments, the described calendar user interface may be incorporated into an electronic messaging application, such as email application. In this case, email messages may act as schedule items that may be dropped on specific calendar date elements. In one or more embodiments, the aforesaid calendar interface may be used to illustrate the chronology of user&#39;s communication thread with other user(s). The color indicator described above may be used, for example, to indicate the number of communications in the particular communication thread or in the inbox in general during a specific calendar day. In the context of cloud document storage, the aforesaid calendar user interface may be used to display the chronology of file revisions or chronology of a specific project including, for example, information on when specific files were added. Moreover, in one or more embodiments, the scheduled calendar events may be recurring events, such as a weekly meeting. The recurring events may be displayed in various settings, such as when the user creates a recurring event or when the user hover the mouse over a recurring event on the calendar. 
       FIG. 3  is a block diagram that illustrates an embodiment of a computer system  300  upon which various embodiments of the inventive concepts described herein may be implemented. The system  300  includes a computer platform  301 , peripheral devices  302  and network resources  303 . 
     The computer platform  301  may include a data bus  304  or other communication mechanism for communicating information across and among various parts of the computer platform  301 , and a processor  305  coupled with bus  304  for processing information and performing other computational and control tasks. Computer platform  301  also includes a volatile storage  306 , such as a random access memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device, coupled to bus  304  for storing various information as well as instructions to be executed by the processor  305 , including the software application for automated generation of the graphical user interface incorporating a horizontally-oriented calendar described above. The volatile storage  306  also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions by processor  305 . Computer platform  301  may further include a read only memory (ROM or EPROM)  307  or other static storage device coupled to bus  304  for storing static information and instructions for processor  305 , such as basic input-output system (BIOS), as well as various system configuration parameters. A persistent storage device  308 , such as a magnetic disk, optical disk, or solid-state flash memory device is provided and coupled to bus  304  for storing information and instructions. 
     Computer platform  301  may be coupled via bus  304  to a touch-sensitive display  309 , such as a cathode ray tube (CRT), plasma display, or a liquid crystal display (LCD), for displaying information to a system administrator or user of the computer platform  301 . An input device  310 , including alphanumeric and other keys, is coupled to bus  304  for communicating information and command selections to processor  305 . Another type of user input device is cursor control device  311 , such as a mouse, a trackball, or cursor direction keys for communicating direction information and command selections to processor  305  and for controlling cursor movement on touch-sensitive display  309 . This input device typically has two degrees of freedom in two axes, a first axis (e.g., x) and a second axis (e.g., y), that allows the device to specify positions in a plane. To detect user&#39;s gestures, the display  309  may incorporate a touchscreen interface configured to detect user&#39;s tactile events and send information on the detected events to the processor  305  via the bus  304 . 
     An external storage device  312  may be coupled to the computer platform  301  via bus  304  to provide an extra or removable storage capacity for the computer platform  301 . In an embodiment of the computer system  300 , the external removable storage device  312  may be used to facilitate exchange of data with other computer systems. 
     The invention is related to the use of computer system  300  for implementing the techniques described herein. In an embodiment, the inventive system may reside on a machine such as computer platform  301 . According to one embodiment of the invention, the techniques described herein are performed by computer system  300  in response to processor  305  executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions contained in the volatile memory  306 . Such instructions may be read into volatile memory  306  from another computer-readable medium, such as persistent storage device  308 . Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in the volatile memory  306  causes processor  305  to perform the process steps described herein. In alternative embodiments, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions to implement the invention. Thus, embodiments of the invention are not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software. 
     The term “computer-readable medium” as used herein refers to any medium that participates in providing instructions to processor  305  for execution. The computer-readable medium is just one example of a machine-readable medium, which may carry instructions for implementing any of the methods and/or techniques described herein. Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media and volatile media. Non-volatile media includes, for example, optical or magnetic disks, such as the persistent storage device  308 . Volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as volatile storage  306 . 
     Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punchcards, papertape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, a flash drive, a memory card, any other memory chip or cartridge, or any other medium from which a computer can read. 
     Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions to processor  305  for execution. For example, the instructions may initially be carried on a magnetic disk from a remote computer. Alternatively, a remote computer can load the instructions into its dynamic memory and send the instructions over a telephone line using a modem. A modem local to computer system can receive the data on the telephone line and use an infra-red transmitter to convert the data to an infra-red signal. An infra-red detector can receive the data carried in the infra-red signal and appropriate circuitry can place the data on the data bus  304 . The bus  304  carries the data to the volatile storage  306 , from which processor  305  retrieves and executes the instructions. The instructions received by the volatile memory  306  may optionally be stored on persistent storage device  308  either before or after execution by processor  305 . The instructions may also be downloaded into the computer platform  301  via Internet using a variety of network data communication protocols well known in the art. 
     The computer platform  301  also includes a communication interface, such as network interface card  313  coupled to the data bus  304 . Communication interface  313  provides a two-way data communication coupling to a network link  314  that is coupled to a local network  315 . For example, communication interface  313  may be an integrated services digital network (ISDN) card or a modem to provide a data communication connection to a corresponding type of telephone line. As another example, communication interface  313  may be a local area network interface card (LAN NIC) to provide a data communication connection to a compatible LAN. Wireless links, such as well-known 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g and Bluetooth may also used for network implementation. In any such implementation, communication interface  313  sends and receives electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams representing various types of information. 
     Network link  314  typically provides data communication through one or more networks to other network resources. For example, network link  314  may provide a connection through local network  315  to a host computer  316 , or a network storage/server  322 . Additionally or alternatively, the network link  314  may connect through gateway/firewall  317  to the wide-area or global network  318 , such as an Internet. Thus, the computer platform  301  can access network resources located anywhere on the Internet  318 , such as a remote network storage/server  319 . On the other hand, the computer platform  301  may also be accessed by clients located anywhere on the local area network  315  and/or the Internet  318 . The network clients  320  and  321  may themselves be implemented based on the computer platform similar to the platform  301 . 
     Local network  315  and the Internet  318  both use electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams. The signals through the various networks and the signals on network link  314  and through communication interface  313 , which carry the digital data to and from computer platform  301 , are exemplary forms of carrier waves transporting the information. 
     Computer platform  301  can send messages and receive data, including program code, through the variety of network(s) including Internet  318  and LAN  315 , network link  315  and communication interface  313 . In the Internet example, when the system  301  acts as a network server, it might transmit a requested code or data for an application program running on client(s)  320  and/or  321  through the Internet  318 , gateway/firewall  317 , local area network  315  and communication interface  313 . Similarly, it may receive code from other network resources. 
     The received code may be executed by processor  305  as it is received, and/or stored in persistent or volatile storage devices  308  and  306 , respectively, or other non-volatile storage for later execution. 
     Finally, it should be understood that processes and techniques described herein are not inherently related to any particular apparatus and may be implemented by any suitable combination of components. Further, various types of general purpose devices may be used in accordance with the teachings described herein. It may also prove advantageous to construct specialized apparatus to perform the method steps described herein. The present invention has been described in relation to particular examples, which are intended in all respects to be illustrative rather than restrictive. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that many different combinations of hardware, software, and firmware will be suitable for practicing the present invention. For example, the described software may be implemented in a wide variety of programming or scripting languages, such as Assembler, C/C++, Objective-C, perl, shell, PHP, Java, as well as any now known or later developed programming or scripting language. 
     Moreover, other implementations of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. Various aspects and/or components of the described embodiments may be used singly or in any combination in the systems and methods for automated generation of the graphical user interface incorporating a horizontally-oriented calendar described above. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims.