Apparatus, system, and method for appointment scheduling

A method for scheduling appointments, the method comprising:

• initiating an appointment request via a communication service, the appointment request comprising at least one proposed appointment time and day embedded in a freeform text message, the communication service selected from the group consisting of email, instant messaging, short message service messages, enhanced message service messages, and multimedia message service messages;
• receiving an appointment confirmation comprising at least one accepted time and day;
• parsing the appointment confirmation to identify each accepted appointment time and day within the appointment confirmation;
• selecting a finalized appointment time and day;
• and
• sending a finalized appointment time and day.

An apparatus to schedule appointments, the apparatus comprising:

• a communication module configured to receive an appointment request, the appointment request comprising at least one proposed appointment time and day embedded in a freeform text message,
• an appointment detection module configured to parse the freeform text message to detect the appointment request, the appointment detection module further configured to identify each proposed appointment time and day within the appointment request;
• a calendar data retrieval module configured to retrieve calendar data corresponding to each proposed appointment time and day;
• a calendar data display module configured to receive an indication that calendar information corresponding to each proposed appointment time and day is to be displayed, the calendar data display module further configured to display calendar data corresponding to a proposed appointment time and day;
• an appointment acceptance module configured to accept at least one appointment time and day;
• and
• an appointment confirmation module configured to transmit an appointment confirmation, the appointment confirmation comprising at least one appointment time and day.

A system to schedule appointments, the system comprising:

• a communication service selected from the group consisting of email, instant messaging, short message service messages, enhanced message service messages, and multimedia message service messages;
• a calendaring system configured to record an appointment, the appointment comprising an appointment time and day, the calendaring system further configured to transmit an appointment via a network;
• and
• a plurality of appointment schedulers configured to initiate an appointment request having an embedded freeform text message via the communication service, the appointment request comprising at least one proposed appointment time and day, the appointment schedulers further configured to receive an appointment request, parse the embedded freeform text message to detect each proposed appointment time and day in the appointment request, retrieve calendar information associated with each proposed appointment time and day from the calendaring system, receive an indication that calendar information corresponding to each proposed appointment time and day is to be displayed, display the calendar information, accept at least one proposed appointment time and day, and send at least one appointment confirmation corresponding to the accepted appointment time and day via the communication service.

A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having computer usable program code executable to perform operations for scheduling appointments, the operations of the computer program product comprising:

• receiving an appointment request via a communication service, the appointment request comprising at least one proposed appointment time and day embedded in a freeform text message, the communication service selected from the group consisting of email, instant messaging, short message service messages, enhanced message service messages, and multimedia message service messages;
• parsing the freeform text message to detect each proposed appointment time and day in the appointment request;
• retrieving calendar information corresponding to each proposed appointment time and day;
• displaying the calendar information corresponding to each proposed appointment time and day, in response to an indication that calendar information corresponding to each proposed appointment time and day is to be displayed;
• and
• sending an appointment confirmation in response to a user acceptance of at least one proposed appointment time and day.