# US 11,308,454 B2 · Trusted crowd determined time management

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- Number: US 11,308,454 B2
- Document ID: US11308454B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 16/014,179
- Filed: 2018-06-21
- Published: 2019-12-26
- Granted: 2022-04-19
- Earliest claimed: 2018-06-21
- Assignees: International Business Machines Corporation
- Applicants: International Business Machines Corporation
- Inventors: Paul R. Bastide; Lisa Seacat DeLuca
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11308454B2

## CPC

- G06Q 10/1093: Calendar-based scheduling for persons or groups
- G06F 16/254: {Extract, transform and load [ETL] procedures, e.g. ETL data flows in data warehouses}
- G06N 20/00: Machine learning
- G06Q 10/109: Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
- H04L 67/306: User profiles
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)
- G06N: COMPUTING ARRANGEMENTS BASED ON SPECIFIC COMPUTATIONAL MODELS
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)

## Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer program products are provided. Details of a calendar item may be extracted. A conflict involving the calendar item and a second calendar item may be detected. Plural votes related to an importance of the calendar item may be received on behalf of a trusted crowd. When a vote is not received on behalf of a member of the trusted crowd within a certain time period, a prediction may be made regarding how the member of the trusted crowd would vote based on using machine learning to analyze a voting history of the member of the trusted crowd with respect to calendar items related to a subject of the calendar item. The predicted vote may be submitted on behalf of the member. One of the calendar item and the second calendar item may be altered based on a tally of the plural votes to resolve the conflict.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for managing a computerized calendar comprising:
receiving, by a computer system via a network, a calendar item for an event for the computerized calendar as an electronic message, wherein the calendar item includes a subject with information private to a user;
determining, by the computer system, a category to which the calendar item belongs based on a presence of one of certain keywords and certain phrases included in the subject of the calendar item;
obfuscating, by the computer system, the subject of the calendar item to hide the information private to the user from other users able to view the calendar item on the computerized calendar by replacing the subject of the calendar item including the information private to the user with the determined category;
determining, by the computer system, a trusted crowd based on members being associated with a domain, wherein the trusted crowd includes users required to attend the event and a plurality of members not required to attend the event;
determining, by the computer system, that at least one member of the trusted crowd delegated voting to at least one other user and replacing the at least one member in the trusted crowd with the at least one other user;
requesting, by the computer system, the trusted crowd to vote on a level of importance of the calendar item on corresponding user processing devices to resolve a conflict with other calendar items on computerized calendars of the users required to attend the event;
determining, by the computer system, that a vote from a member of the trusted crowd has not been received from a corresponding user processing device within a certain time period;
predicting, by the computer system, the vote for the member of the trusted crowd by machine learning based on a voting history of the member of the trusted crowd with respect to calendar items related to the subject of the calendar item, wherein the predicted vote corresponds to a numeric value within a numeric range indicating the level of importance;
determining, by the computer system, the level of importance of the calendar item from the predicted vote and votes from the corresponding user processing devices of remaining members of the trusted crowd;
determining, by the computer system, that the level of importance of the calendar item is a same level as a greatest level of importance of the other calendar items;
conducting, by the computer system, a second vote by a second different trusted crowd on corresponding second user processing devices for the level of importance of the calendar item, wherein the second different trusted crowd excludes members from the trusted crowd;
determining, by the computer system, the level of importance of the calendar item from votes of the second different trusted crowd from the corresponding second user processing devices;
altering, by the computer system, the calendar item on the computerized calendars of the users required to attend the event based on the determined level of importance from the second different trusted crowd to change occurrence of the event in the computerized calendars to an altered time of the calendar item to resolve the conflict, wherein altering the calendar item includes:
identifying a locked calendar item from among the other calendar items on the computerized calendars such that a respective associated time of day and a respective associated date of the locked calendar item is changeable only by a calendar item owner; and
altering the calendar item on the computerized calendars of the users required to attend the event without altering the locked calendar item; and
sending, by the computer system, a notification indicating the altered time of the calendar item to user processing devices of the users required to attend the event.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein:
one or more calendar items are identified as fluid such that a respective associated time of day and a respective associated date of each of the one or more calendar items are changeable for conflict resolution.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
configuring a user profile including preferences of a user of the computerized calendar according to received input, the preferences including at least one of a desired amount of free time, a desired amount of time between calendar items, and a maximum number of parallel calendar items.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The method of claim 3, wherein a conflict including the calendar item comprises one of the calendar item preventing a configured preference from being satisfied, and the calendar item having an overlap of time with another scheduled calendar item.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
when a member of the trusted crowd fails to vote within a set period of time, automatically sending a reminder to vote on the level of importance of the calendar item to a user processing device of the member of the trusted crowd failing to vote.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein a weighting factor is assigned to each member of the trusted crowd such that votes of some members of the trusted crowd count more than votes of other members of the trusted crowd.

### Claim 7

A computer system for managing a computerized calendar, the computer system comprising:
at least one processor; and
a memory connected to the at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is configured to perform:
receiving, via a network, a calendar item for an event for the computerized calendar as an electronic message, wherein the calendar item includes a subject with information private to a user;
determining a category to which the calendar item belongs based on a presence of one of certain keywords and certain phrases included in the subject of the calendar item;
obfuscating the subject of the calendar item to hide the information private to the user from other users able to view the calendar item on the computerized calendar by replacing the subject of the calendar item including the information private to the user with the determined category;
determining a trusted crowd based on members being associated with a domain, wherein the trusted crowd includes users required to attend the event and a plurality of members not required to attend the event;
determining that at least one member of the trusted crowd delegated voting to at least one other user and replacing the at least one member in the trusted crowd with the at least one other user;
requesting the trusted crowd to vote on a level of importance of the calendar item on corresponding user processing devices to resolve a conflict with other calendar items on computerized calendars of the users required to attend the event;
determining that a vote from a member of the trusted crowd has not been received from a corresponding user processing device within a certain time period;
predicting the vote for the member of the trusted crowd by machine learning based on a voting history of the member of the trusted crowd with respect to calendar items related to the subject of the calendar item, wherein the predicted vote corresponds to a numeric value within a numeric range indicating the level of importance;
determining the level of importance of the calendar item from the predicted vote and votes from the corresponding user processing devices of remaining members of the trusted crowd;
determining that the level of importance of the calendar item is a same level as a greatest level of importance of the other calendar items;
conducting a second vote by a second different trusted crowd on corresponding second user processing devices for the level of importance of the calendar item, wherein the second different trusted crowd excludes members from the trusted crowd;
determining the level of importance of the calendar item from votes of the second different trusted crowd from the corresponding second user processing devices;
altering the calendar item on the computerized calendars of the users required to attend the event based on the determined level of importance from the second different trusted crowd to change occurrence of the event in the computerized calendars to an altered time of the calendar item to resolve the conflict, wherein altering the calendar item includes:
identifying a locked calendar item from among the other calendar items on the computerized calendars such that a respective associated time of day and a respective associated date of the locked calendar item is changeable only by a calendar item owner; and
altering the calendar item on the computerized calendars of the users required to attend the event without altering the locked calendar item; and
sending a notification indicating the altered time of the calendar item to user processing devices of the users required to attend the event.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The computer system of claim 7, wherein a conflict including the calendar item comprises at least one of:
the calendar item preventing a configured preference for a user required to attend the event of the calendar item from being satisfied,
the calendar item having an overlap of time with another scheduled calendar item, and
the calendar item causing a configured maximum number of parallel meetings for a user required to attend the event of the calendar item to be exceeded.

### Claim 9 (depends on 7)

The computer system of claim 7, wherein the at least one processor is configured to perform:
automatically increasing a level of importance assigned to the calendar item when the calendar item is delayed a certain number of times due to altering the calendar item for conflict resolution.

### Claim 10 (depends on 7)

The computer system of claim 7, wherein the at least one processor is configured to perform:
estimating a duration of the calendar item based on a history of calendar items related to a subject matter of the calendar item, and
changing the duration of the calendar item based on the estimated duration to resolve the conflict.

### Claim 11 (depends on 7)

The computer system of claim 7, wherein:
one or more calendar items are identified as fluid such that a respective associated time of day and a respective associated date of each of the one or more calendar items are changeable for conflict resolution.

### Claim 12

A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith for execution on at least one processor of a processing device, the computer readable program code being configured to be executed by the at least one processor to perform:
receiving, via a network, a calendar item for an event for a computerized calendar as an electronic message, wherein the calendar item includes a subject with information private to a user;
determining a category to which the calendar item belongs based on a presence of one of certain keywords and certain phrases included in the subject of the calendar item;
obfuscating the subject of the calendar item to hide the information private to the user from other users able to view the calendar item on the computerized calendar by replacing the subject of the calendar item including the information private to the user with the determined category;
determining a trusted crowd based on members being associated with a domain, wherein the trusted crowd includes users required to attend the event and a plurality of members not required to attend the event;
determining that at least one member of the trusted crowd delegated voting to at least one other user and replacing the at least one member in the trusted crowd with the at least one other user;
requesting the trusted crowd to vote on a level of importance of the calendar item on corresponding user processing devices to resolve a conflict with other calendar items on computerized calendars of the users required to attend the event;
determining that a vote from a member of the trusted crowd has not been received from a corresponding user processing device within a certain time period;
predicting the vote for the member of the trusted crowd by machine learning based on a voting history of the member of the trusted crowd with respect to calendar items related to the subject of the calendar item, wherein the predicted vote corresponds to a numeric value within a numeric range indicating the level of importance;
determining the level of importance of the calendar item from the predicted vote and votes from the corresponding user processing devices of remaining members of the trusted crowd;
determining that the level of importance of the calendar item is a same level as a greatest level of importance of the other calendar items;
conducting a second vote by a second different trusted crowd on corresponding second user processing devices for the level of importance of the calendar item, wherein the second different trusted crowd excludes members from the trusted crowd;
determining the level of importance of the calendar item from votes of the second different trusted crowd from the corresponding second user processing devices;
altering the calendar item on the computerized calendars of the users required to attend the event based on the determined level of importance from the second different trusted crowd to change occurrence of the event in the computerized calendars to an altered time of the calendar item to resolve the conflict, wherein altering the calendar item includes:
identifying a locked calendar item from among the other calendar items on the computerized calendars such that a respective associated time of day and a respective associated date of the locked calendar item is changeable only by a calendar item owner; and
altering the calendar item on the computerized calendars of the users required to attend the event without altering the locked calendar item; and
sending a notification indicating the altered time of the calendar item to user processing devices of the users required to attend the event.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the computer readable program code is further configured to be executed by the at least one processor to perform:
sending a reminder to vote on the level of importance of the calendar item to one or more members of the trusted crowd after a specific period of time has passed after the one or more members was requested to vote and a vote from the one or more members was not received.

### Claim 14 (depends on 12)

The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the computer readable program code is further configured to be executed by the at least one processor to perform:
extracting the subject from a Multi-Purpose Internet Mail Extension of the calendar item.