Personally attended service notification based on temporal and spatial proximity

Abstract

A computer system may notify a user about personally attended services satisfying temporal-spatial criteria. The computer system may use a user location and/or information on already scheduled events to determine whether a personally attended service satisfies the temporal-spatial criteria. Travel time may be determined and included when determining whether the personally attended service conflicts with an already scheduled event. The temporal-spatial criteria may also include availability of the personally attended service. A user profile and/or third party information may be used to determine if a user is available and/or would be receptive to a personally attended service. The user profile may be generated from third party information, such as contained in an online social network, and/or learned. The user may be able to reserve the personally attended service through the computer system.

1 . A computer implemented method, comprising:
 identifying a scheduled status of a user for a personally attended service;   determining a user location of the user;   determining a set of methods of transportation proximate to the user location;   identifying a set of buffer times comprising:   an arrival buffer time for the user to travel to a location at which the personally attended service is available, the arrival buffer time based at least in part on use of one method of transportation of the set of methods of transportation;   determining a temporal-spatial criterion associated with the personally attended service based at least in part on the set of buffer times, the user location and the set of methods of transportation;   presenting, to the user, the personally attended service with the temporal-spatial criterion of the personally attended service and at least one of the set of methods of transportation;   receiving a selection of the user for a selected personally attended service from the at least one of the set of methods of transportation; and   presenting the user a recommended leave time.   
     
     
         2 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising selecting the set of methods of transportation based at least in part on proximity to the user location. 
     
     
         3 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising selecting the set of methods of transportation based at least in part on a user configuration. 
     
     
         4 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the arrival buffer time is a percentage of an estimated travel time. 
     
     
         5 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the arrival buffer time is a fixed amount based on a type of service provided by the personally attended service. 
     
     
         6 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising requesting pre-service requirements from a third party associated with the personally attended service. 
     
     
         7 . A computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by a processor to perform operations, the operations, when executed by the processor, to perform a method, the method comprising:
 identifying a scheduled event of a user;   determining a user location of the user;   determining a set of methods of transportation proximate to the user location;   identifying a set of buffer times comprising:   an arrival buffer time for the user to travel to a location at which the scheduled event is available, the arrival buffer time based at least in part on use of one of the set of methods of transportation;   determining temporal-spatial criteria associated with the scheduled event based at least in part on the set of buffer times, the user location and the set of methods of transportation;   forming a set of estimated leave times for the scheduled event, an estimated leave time for each method of transportation of the set of methods of transportation to the scheduled event based at least in part on the temporal-spatial criteria;   presenting, to the user, the scheduled event with the set of estimated leave times;   receiving a selection of the user for a selected personally attended service from the at least one of the set of methods of transportation; and   presenting the user with a selected leave time and a corresponding method of transportation based at least in part on the selection of the user.   
     
     
         8 . The computer program product of  claim 7 , further comprising presenting the user with the selected leave time before an earliest leave time from the set of estimated leave times. 
     
     
         9 . The computer program product of  claim 7 , further comprising:
 identifying a second scheduled event of the user;   estimating a second user location of the user based at least in part on the scheduled event;   determining a second set of methods of transportation proximate to the second user location;   identifying a second set of buffer times comprising:   a second arrival buffer time for the user to travel to a second location at which the second scheduled event is available, the arrival buffer time based at least in part on use of a second method of transportation from the set of methods of transportation;   determine at least one of the second set of methods of transportation and associated buffer times are incompatible with a first arrival at the scheduled event and a second arrival at the second scheduled event; and   presenting the user with a conflict based at least in part on the at least one method of transportation from the set of methods of transportation or the second set of methods of transportation that is incompatible with the first arrival and the second arrival.   
     
     
         10 . The computer program product of  claim 7 , wherein one or more of the set of buffer times are based at least in part on current traffic data. 
     
     
         11 . The computer program product of  claim 7 , wherein the set of methods of transportation are a subset of a larger set of methods of transportation based at least in part on a threshold within a configuration. 
     
     
         12 . The computer program product of  claim 11 , wherein the configuration is a user-defined configuration and the threshold is defined within the user-defined configuration. 
     
     
         13 . The computer program product of  claim 7 , wherein the set of methods of transportation are a subset of a larger set of methods of transportation based at least in part on a user-defined configuration of preferred methods of transportation. 
     
     
         14 . An apparatus for determining an estimated time to leave, comprising:
 an interface to a calendar system configured to request scheduled events;   a processor configured to:   receive a scheduled event of a user from the calendar system using the interface;   determine a user location of the user;   determine a set of methods of transportation proximate to the user location;   identify a set of buffer times comprising an arrival buffer time for the user to travel to a location at which the scheduled event is available, the arrival buffer time based at least in part on use of one of the set of methods of transportation;   determine temporal-spatial criteria associated with the scheduled event based at least in part on the set of buffer times, the user location and the set of methods of transportation;   form a set of estimated leave times for the scheduled event, an estimated leave time for each method of transportation of the set of methods of transportation to the scheduled event based at least in part on the temporal-spatial criteria; and   present, to the user, the scheduled event with the set of estimated leave times.   
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
 receive a selection of the user for a selected estimated leave time corresponding to at least one of the set of methods of transportation; and   present the user with a selected leave time and a corresponding method of transportation based at least in part on the selection of the user.   
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the processor is further configured to request, using the interface, a next scheduled event from the calendar system. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the calendar system and the apparatus are separate computing systems. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the calendar system and the apparatus share a processor. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus  claim 14 , wherein one or more of the set of buffer times are based at least in part on a map routing algorithm. 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus  claim 14 , wherein the processor is further configured to presenting the user with the selected leave time before an earliest leave time from the set of estimated leave times. 
     
     
         21 . The apparatus  claim 14 , wherein one or more of the set of buffer times are based at least in part on a current traffic report.