Warped presentation of events in calendar views

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2015268839-A1
Application number	US-201414220386-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 20, 2014
Priority date	Mar 20, 2014
Publication date	Sep 24, 2015
Grant date	—

Abstract

Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and software for providing warped event presentations in calendars. A calendar is set to an active time zone and a period of time is identified within which to display a warped presentation of events scheduled to occur outside of the active time zone. For at least an event scheduled to occur outside of the active time zone at a time in a different time zone that falls within the period of time, the event is presented in the calendar as if the event were scheduled for that time, but in the active time zone.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of presenting calendars to facilitate enhanced event presentation across time zones, the method comprising:
identifying in a calendar set to an active time zone, at least a period of time within which to display a warped presentation of events scheduled to occur outside of the active time zone; and for at least an event scheduled to occur outside of the active time zone at a time in a different time zone that falls within the period of time, presenting the event in the calendar as if the event were scheduled for that time but in the active time zone.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein identifying at least the period of time comprises identifying a warping event, identifying a start time and an end time for the warping event, and identifying the period of time based at least in part on the start time and the end time for the warping event.

3 . The method of claim 2 wherein the warping event comprises travel and wherein the method further comprises, when scheduling the travel, presenting a warp option selectable to at least enable the warped presentation of the events scheduled to occur outside of the active time zone.

4 . The method of claim 2 wherein the warping event comprises a meeting scheduled to occur outside of the active time zone and wherein the method further comprises, when scheduling the meeting, presenting a warp option selectable to enable the warped presentation of the events scheduled to occur outside of the active time zone.

5 . The method of claim 2 wherein the calendar comprises a warped region associated with the warped presentation of the events scheduled to occur outside of the active time zone and a non-warped region associated with a non-warped presentation of non-warped events scheduled to occur in the active time zone.

6 . The method of claim 5 wherein the warped presentation comprises a visual characteristic that distinguishes the warped region from the non-warped region.

7 . The method of claim 6 wherein the visual characteristic comprises a color coding of the warped region.

8 . The method of claim 1 wherein the calendar comprises a weekly grid defined by a plurality of days and a single range of times in the active time zone.

9 . An apparatus comprising:
one or more computer readable storage media; and program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable media to facilitate enhanced event presentation in calendars that, when executed by a processing system, direct the processing system to at least: identify in a calendar set to an active time zone, at least a period of time within which to display a warped presentation of events scheduled to occur outside of the active time zone; for at least an event scheduled to occur outside of the active time zone at a time in a different time zone that falls within the period of time, render the event in the calendar as if the event were scheduled for that time but in the active time zone.

10 . The apparatus of claim 9 wherein, to identify at least the period of time, the program instructions direct the processing system to identify a warping event, identify a start time and an end time for the warping event, and identify the period of time based at least in part on the start time and the end time for the warping event.

11 . The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the warping event comprises travel and wherein the program instructions further direct the processing system to, when scheduling the travel, render a warp option selectable to at least enable the warped presentation of the events scheduled to occur outside of the active time zone.

12 . The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the warping event comprises a meeting scheduled to occur outside of the active time zone and wherein the program instructions further direct the processing system to, when scheduling the meeting, render a warp option selectable to enable the warped presentation of the events scheduled to occur outside of the active time zone.

13 . The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the calendar comprises a warped region associated with the warped presentation of the events scheduled to occur outside of the active time zone and a non-warped region associated with a non-warped presentation of non-warped events scheduled to occur in the active time zone.

14 . The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the warped presentation comprises a visual characteristic that distinguishes the warped region from the non-warped region.

15 . The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the visual characteristic comprises a color coding of the warped region.

16 . The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the calendar comprises a weekly grid defined by a plurality of days and a single range of times in the active time zone.

17 . The apparatus of claim 9 further comprising the processing system configured to read and execute the program instructions.

18 . A method of warping calendar presentations comprising:
rendering a view of a calendar comprising a range of times; identifying at least a period of time in the calendar within which to display a warped presentation of events scheduled to occur outside of an active time zone; for a non-warped event scheduled to occur on a day and at a time in the active time zone that falls outside of the period of time, rendering the non-warped event in the view of the calendar to correspond to a representation of that time in the range of times; for at least a warping event scheduled to occur within the period of time and on a different day at that time, but in a different time zone, rendering the warping event in the view of the calendar to correspond to the representation of that time in the range of times.

19 . The method of claim 18 wherein identifying at least the period of time comprises identifying a start time and an end time for the warping event and identifying the period of time based at least in part on the start time and the end time for the warping event.

20 . The method of claim 19 wherein the calendar comprises a warped region that is associated with the warped presentation of the events scheduled to occur outside of the active time zone and that is visually distinguished from a non-warped region associated with a non-warped presentation of non-warped events scheduled to occur in the active time zone.

Assignees

• Microsoft Corp

Inventors

• Tallett Paul R

Classifications

• G06Q10/109 Primary

  Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting · CPC title

• G06Q10/1093

  Calendar-based scheduling for persons or groups · CPC title

• G06F3/04847 Primary

  Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials · CPC title

• G06T11/40

  Filling planar surfaces by adding surface attributes, e.g. adding colours or textures · CPC title

• G06F3/04842

  Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements (G06F3/0482 takes precedence) · CPC title