Method and apparatus to transmit a calendar event in target calendaring system format

Abstract

An agent may receive an event from a source calendaring system, wherein the event specifies a person, perhaps including a uniform resource locator, having disparate calendaring system. The disparate calendaring system may use a native event format for coordinating events. The agent may lookup a template to convert the event to a native event. The agent may transmit a message with attributes such as a unique identifier to the disparate calendaring system. If the disparate calendaring system acknowledges the event with a success, the agent may log the occurrence of a success. Agent may transmit additional messages having native events to additional disparate systems.

1 . A computer implemented method for propagating an event from a source computer to a target calendaring system comprising: 
 receiving an event from the source computer, wherein the event has an attribute;    getting at least one entry in a target calendaring system table, the entry having a target template;    formatting the event into a native event using the target template for the target calendaring system in response to obtaining the event;    appending a source attribute to the native event;    appending a unique identifier to the native event;    responsive to appending the source attribute to the native event, sending the native event to the target calendaring system to form a sent event; and    logging the sent event.    
   
   
       2 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1  wherein the entry has a person attribute and sending further comprises: 
 parsing the person attribute to find a target calendaring system reference; and    transmitting the native event based on the target calendaring system reference.    
   
   
       3 . The computer implemented method of  claim 2  wherein the one person attribute comprises a uniform resource locator.  
   
   
       4 . The computer implemented method of  claim 3  further comprising: 
 prompting a user for a calendar type associated with the person attribute, wherein prompting occurs after receiving the event;    receiving a user input specifying the calendar type to associate with the person attribute.    
   
   
       5 . The computer implemented method of  claim 4  wherein the prompting comprises: 
 displaying a dialog box having a caption for an industry standard calendar.    
   
   
       6 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1  wherein sending the native event to the target calendaring system to form a sent event is responsive to appending the unique identifier to the native event wherein logging further comprises: 
 receiving the unique identifier and a success bit from the target calendaring system; and    toggling the success field in a log based on the unique identifier.    
   
   
       7 . A computer implemented method for propagating an event from a source calendaring system to a target calendaring system, the source calendaring system and the target calendaring system under control of a user, comprising: 
 receiving an event from the source calendaring system, the event having at least one attribute;    getting at least one entry in a target calendaring system table, the entry having at least one of a filter criterion and a target template;    determining whether the at least one attribute satisfies the filter criterion;    formatting the event into a native event according to the target template based on determining that the at least one attribute satisfies the filter criterion;    appending a source attribute to the native event;    appending a unique identifier to the native event;    sending the native event to the target calendaring system; and    logging a bit to a log, wherein the bit is associated with the sending of the native event.    
   
   
       8 . The computer implemented method of  claim 7  further comprising: 
 receiving a bit and the unique identifier from the target calendaring system.    
   
   
       9 . The computer implemented method of  claim 8  further comprising: 
 toggling the bit in the log.    
   
   
       10 . The computer implemented method of  claim 7  further comprising: 
 receiving a conflict signal.    
   
   
       11 . The computer implemented method of  claim 10  further comprising: 
 in response to receiving the conflict signal, showing a conflict message to the user.    
   
   
       12 . The computer implemented method of  claim 11  further comprising: 
 receiving a user confirmation.    
   
   
       13 . The computer implemented method of  claim 12  further comprising: 
 in response to receiving the user confirmation, resending the native event to the target calendaring system.    
   
   
       14 . A data processing system comprising: 
 a bus;    a storage device connected to the bus, wherein computer usable code is located in the storage device;    a communication unit connected to the bus;    a processing unit connected to the bus, wherein the processing unit executes the computer usable code to: 
 receive an event from the source calendaring system, the event having at least one attribute;  
 get at least one entry in a target calendaring system table, the entry having at least one of a filter criterion and a target template;  
 determine whether the at least one attribute satisfies the filter criterion;  
 format the event into a native event according to the target template based on a determination that the at least one attribute satisfies the filter criterion;  
 append a source attribute to the native event;  
 append a unique identifier to the native event;  
 send the native event to the target calendaring system; and  
 log a bit to a log, wherein the bit is associated with the sending of the native event.  
   
   
   
       15 . The data processing system of  claim 14  wherein the processing unit further executes the computer usable code to: 
 receive a bit and the unique identifier from the target calendaring system.    
   
   
       16 . The data processing system of  claim 15  wherein the processing unit further executes the computer usable code to: 
 toggle the bit in the log.    
   
   
       17 . The data processing system of  claim 14  wherein the processing unit further executes the computer usable code to: 
 receive a conflict signal.    
   
   
       18 . The data processing system of  claim 17  wherein the processing unit further executes the computer usable code to: 
 show a conflict message to the user.    
   
   
       19 . The data processing system of  claim 18  wherein the processing unit further executes the computer usable code to: 
 receive a user confirmation.    
   
   
       20 . The data processing system of  claim 19  wherein the processing unit further executes the computer usable code to: 
 resend the native event to the target calendaring system in response to receiving the user confirmation.