Patent ID: 7174303

Claim:
A network based scheduling system for developing a schedule for a sponsoring organization, the system comprising: a sponsor controlled customer database containing information relevant to individual customers who periodically need to schedule appointments with the sponsoring organization; a set of sponsor parameters associated with each customer which define possible appointment times for a customer; a central controller managing a schedule for the sponsoring organization, wherein the central controller operates via a network to i) contact a plurality of the customers concerning the scheduling of appointments via the network, ii) supply available appointment times via the network directly to a plurality of the customers, with the available appointment times that are supplied are determined by the sponsor parameters associated with the individual customer, whereby the supplied appointment times are specific to the individual customer, whereby the supplied customer appointment times are a subset of the available appointment times as filtered by the sponsor's parameters for the respective customer and iii) receive scheduling information via the network directly from a plurality of the customers; wherein the controller supplies a graphical appointment calendar via the network to a plurality of the customers with the available appointment times that have been determined by the sponsor parameters associated with the individual customer being graphically illustrated, wherein the customer can directly schedule an appointment via the network by selecting the icon associated with the desired appointment time.