Techniques to improve a schedule with optimization

Abstract

Techniques to improve a schedule using optimization are described. Some described techniques improve the schedule using optimization upon a user's travel booking operation and/or in response to changes in the user's relationships. The techniques include an apparatus, a method, and a computer-readable medium configured to process relationship data associated with potential candidates for a set of meetings in a schedule, relationship data corresponding to interaction indicia with each potential candidate, generate, from the relationship data, a connectivity network comprising links with the potential candidates, each link of the links corresponding to a relevance value between a user and a specific potential candidate, and populate, via an optimization unit, open meeting spaces in the schedule with meeting data based upon the connectivity network and availability data of the potential candidates, the schedule being configured to substantially maximize relevancy of the set of meetings. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

1 . An apparatus, comprising:
 computer memory;   a processing circuit; and   logic stored in the computer memory and executed on the processing circuit, the logic operative to cause the processing circuit to:
 process interaction data communicated between devices over at least one of an internal network, an external network, or a combination thereof, the interaction data comprising interaction indications for one or more potential candidates to schedule one or more meetings in a schedule, the interaction indications comprising indirect interactions for the one or more of the potential candidates having more than one degree of separation from a user and direct interactions for the one or more of the potential candidates having one degree of separation from the user; generate relationship data associated with the potential candidates for the one or more meetings in the schedule from the interaction indications; 
 generate, from the relationship data, a connectivity network comprising links with the potential candidates, each link of the links corresponding to a relevance value between the user and a specific potential candidate, and wherein each relevance value represents a relationship between the user and the specific potential candidate; 
 perform a combinatorial optimization technique on the connectivity network and availability data of the potential candidates to determine meeting data comprising an arrangement of meetings increasing relevancy of the schedule, the availability data being operative to reduce a search space for the arrangement of meetings to open meeting spaces of the user; and 
 communicate a control directive to an application programming interface (API) of an enterprise application based on the meeting data. 
   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the control directive comprises instructions to cause the enterprise application to populate open meeting spaces in the schedule with the meeting data. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the interaction indications comprise social networking interactions communicated on a channel of a cloud-based collaboration application. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the interaction indications comprise social networking interactions communicated on an email domain or an email thread. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , the processing circuit to mine at least one input coupled with one or more of the devices or output coupled with one or more of the devices to determine and process the interaction data. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the availability data indicates one or more time slots open for the one or more potential candidates to determine the meeting data for the user. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the relevancy value for the user and the specific potential candidate measures a topic/project relevance between the user and the specific potential candidate. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the relevancy value for the user and the specific potential candidate measures a connectedness relevance between the user and the specific potential candidate. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the topic/project relevance indicates a number of how many topics/projects the user and the specific potential candidate have in common. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein the connectedness relevance indicates how often the user and the specific potential candidate communicate. 
     
     
         11 . A computer implemented method, comprising:
 receiving communications communicated between devices over at least one of an internal network, an external network, or a combination thereof, the communications comprising interaction indications potential candidates to determine a schedule of one or more meetings, the interaction indications comprising indirect interactions and direct interactions   determining relationship data associated with the potential candidates for the one or more meetings in the schedule from the interaction indications;   generating, from the relationship data, a connectivity network comprising links with the potential candidates, each link of the links corresponding to a relevance value between the user and a specific potential candidate, and wherein each relevance value represents a relationship between the user and the specific potential candidate;   performing a combinatorial optimization technique on the connectivity network and availability data of the potential candidates to determine meeting data comprising an arrangement of meetings increasing relevancy of the schedule, the availability data being operative to reduce a search space for the arrangement of meetings to open meeting spaces of the user; and   sending a control directive to an application programming interface (API) of an enterprise application based on the meeting data.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , comprising generating the control directive based on a result of the combinatorial optimization technique, wherein the control directive is configured to cause the enterprise application to populate open meeting spaces in the schedule with the meeting data. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the interaction indications comprise social networking interactions communicated on a channel of a cloud-based collaboration application. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the interaction indications comprise social networking interactions communicated on an email domain or an email thread. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11 , comprising harvesting at least one input or output coupled with one or more of the devices to determine and process the interaction data. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the availability data indicates one or more time slots open for the one or more potential candidates to determine the meeting data for the user. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the relevancy value for the user and the specific potential candidate measures a topic/project relevance between the user and the specific potential candidate. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the relevancy value for the user and the specific potential candidate measures a connectedness relevance between the user and the specific potential candidate. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the topic/project relevance indicates a number of how many topics/projects the user and the specific potential candidate have in common. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the connectedness relevance indicates how often the user and the specific potential candidate communicate.