Patent ID: 7108173

Claim:
A method comprising: assigning a scheduling agent to each user in a system, each scheduling agent being responsible for coordinating meeting activities for the scheduling agent's associated user; allowing each user in the system to specify preferences for meeting scheduling based upon his corresponding calendar; and in response to a meeting request initiated by one of the users, allowing the scheduling agent for the meeting initiator and the scheduling agents for the attendees to negotiate with each other to schedule the requested meeting at a most suitable time that is accepted by all attendees through their associated scheduling agents, based upon a set of scheduling criteria including the meeting timing information and the attendees' preferences for meeting scheduling; wherein allowing the scheduling agents to negotiate includes the scheduling agent for the meeting initiator providing suggestions for meeting scheduling to the scheduling agents for the attendees and the scheduling agents for the attendees informing the scheduling agent for the meeting initiator which of the suggestions are acceptable to the attendees.