Patent ID: 8005855

Claim:
A method of providing a user with scheduling information during a defined period of time, said method comprising: obtaining calendar data based on an electronic calendar associated with the user, said calendar data indicative of the user's availability during the defined period of time; defining event data categories for categorizing the events indicated by the event data, wherein said defining includes defining, by the user, event categories for categorizing the events indicated by the event data; displaying the obtained calendar data as a function of time in a single two dimensional graph, said single two dimensional graph having a first axis and a second axis, said first axis representing the defined period of time in terms of a time unit that is smaller than the defined period of time, said second axis representing one of the following total quantities determined from the obtained calendar data: a total quantity of second time units that the user is available for each first time unit, a total quantity of second time units that the user is unavailable for each first time unit, and a total number of calendar items scheduled for each first unit of time; retrieving event data from an event data source based on event criteria provided by the user, said event data source being separate from the calendar data and remote from the calendar data, said event data indicative of events scheduled during the defined period of time; determining, for each event in the retrieved event data, the event data category defined to include said each event; and displaying the retrieved event data as a function of time along the first axis of the single two dimensional graph in which the obtained calendar data is graphically displayed.