# US 9,436,649 B2 · System and method for updating an electronic calendar

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- Number: US 9,436,649 B2
- Document ID: US9436649B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 13/677,584
- Filed: 2012-11-15
- Published: 2013-03-21
- Granted: 2016-09-06
- Earliest claimed: 2010-06-04
- Assignees: Xerox Corporation
- Applicants: Xerox Corporation
- Inventors: Jean-Luc Meunier; Caroline Hagege; Stefania Castellani; Denys Proux; Eric Cheminot; Frederique Segond
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US9436649B2

## CPC

- G06F 15/16: Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs {(coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B)}
- G06Q 10/107: Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)
- 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

## Abstract

A computer implemented system and method are disclosed for updating an electronic calendar. The method includes receiving an electronic message in a natural language in which a change in role is expressed and, with a natural language processor implemented by a computer processor, automatically detecting the change in role within the email message, optionally storing the change in role in a contacts database, and proposing updates for entries in an electronic calendar based on the detected change in role.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for updating an electronic calendar comprising:
receiving an electronic mail message in a natural language in which a change in role is expressed;
with a natural language processor implemented by a computer processor, parsing the electronic mail message using a set of predefined phrases that are indicative of a role change, the predefined phrases relating to at least one of an announcement, a promotion, and a reorganization, and automatically detecting the change in role expressed by one of the predefined phrases within the parsed electronic mail message, and optionally also providing for detecting at least one of a job title and a job location;
storing the change in role in a contacts database within a client computer in communication with the computer processor;
searching entries already scheduled in a client's electronic calendar for meetings, wherein the entries are stored in a remote calendar database;
for each meeting, comparing the participants of the meetings with each person involved in the change in role in the contacts database; and
for each person involved in the change in role that also appears as a participant of a given meeting, proposing an update to an entry in the electronic calendar that corresponds to the meeting.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

A computer program product comprising a non-transitory medium on which a computer program is recorded which when executed by a computer performs the method of claim 1.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, including the storing of the change in role in the contacts database.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying people associated with a role change in already scheduled meetings that appear in the electronic calendar and for a meeting which is detected with the name of someone involved in a role change within the list of participants, notifying the calendar's user.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising for a person involved in the change in role, identifying, from the text of the electronic mail message or an attached document, a former job title; a new job title; and another person that now has the former job title.

### Claim 6

A system for updating an electronic calendar comprising:
a natural language processing module executing on a computer processor for parsing the content of a received incoming electronic mail message in a natural language;
a role change detection module executing on the computer processor for automatically detecting a change in role that is expressed within the parsed electronic mail message using a set of established phrases indicative of a role change and identifies a person affected by the detected role change, the role change detection module optionally also providing at least one of a job title and a job location, wherein in response to detecting the change in role expressed in the electronic email message, the role change detection module searches a remote calendar database for meetings in entries already scheduled in a client's electronic-calendar and compares participants of each meeting with each person involved in the change in role in a contacts database to determine if a person associated with the detected change in role also appears as a participant in a given meeting;
the contacts database within a client computer in communication with the computer processor for storing the change in role; and
a calendar checking module executing on the computer processor for, wherein in response to the role change detection module determining that a person associated with the detected change in role also appears as a participant in a given meeting, proposing an update to an entry in the electronic calendar that corresponds to the meeting.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The system of claim 6, wherein the calendar checking module looks for people associated with a role change in already scheduled meetings that appear in the user's calendar and for a meeting which is detected with the name of someone involved in a role change within the list of participants, notifies the user.

### Claim 8 (depends on 6)

The system of claim 6, wherein for each person involved in a role change, the role change detection module extracts, from the text of the electronic mail message or an attached document, a former job title of the person; a new job title of the person; and another person that now has the former job title.

### Claim 9 (depends on 6)

The system of claim 6, further comprising a mailer module comprising instructions stored in memory for receiving an electronic out-of-office message for a user in a natural language in which a time window of absence and at least one alternate named contact are expressed.

### Claim 10 (depends on 6)

A network computer system comprising the system of claim 6 and a plurality of client computers, each configured for generating out-of-office messages, the system for updating an electronic calendar being resident on at least one of the client computers and a server computer in communication therewith via a network and wherein the database is linked to the at least one of the client computers and the server computer via the network.