Patent ID: 7571254

Claim:
A method for scheduling an event using a first computer and a second computer, the method comprising: transmitting a signal between the first computer and the second computer to request to schedule one or more new events; wherein a first scheduling application that resides on the first computer has a first set of events; wherein a second scheduling application that resides on the second computer has a second set of events; programmatically generating a consolidated schedule of available time periods of the first scheduling application and available time periods of the second scheduling application; wherein programmatically generating a consolidated schedule includes comparing versions of different sets of events, said versions including a version of the first set of events and a version of the second set of events; using the consolidated schedule to schedule a proposed event; wherein the proposed event is not a member of any version of any set of events compared to generate the consolidated schedule; the first computer transmitting a request to the second computer to schedule the proposed event; the first computer receiving a message from the second computer; if the message indicates that the proposed event can be scheduled, causing the first computer to update the first scheduling application to reflect that the proposed event is scheduled, wherein the second scheduling application has been updated to reflect that the proposed event is scheduled; and if the message indicates that the proposed event cannot be scheduled, then the first computer causing no update to the first scheduling application.