Method and apparatus for generating a new event directly from a document

Abstract

The application relates to the field of communications and more particularly to an apparatus and method of generating a new event from a document. In accordance with one aspect of the present application, recognized date/time references contained in a document allow a new event to be created. Such date/time references are automatically recognized and highlighted in the document. Selecting the highlighted information generates a menu selection, offering a user the ability to create a new event into which the date/time information will be inserted, along with other information extracted from the document. Specific date/time information in a document is simply correlated to a known date/time format in a lookup table, while relative terms like “tomorrow”, “today” or days of the week (ie. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc.) are recognized by a date/time detector module and translated into a specific date/time. Using an embodiment of the present application, a new event can be readily generated.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.