Appointment negotiation systems and methods

Abstract

One embodiment of the present disclosure relates to a method that includes sending a negotiating message from a user to one or more invitees using a messaging protocol, the negotiating message comprising one or more plans for a meeting, each plan including a time information and a location information for the meeting. The method further includes receiving, using the messaging protocol, one or more responses from the one or more invitees, the one or more responses indicating an approval or rejection of the one or more plans and determining based at least partially on the one or more responses received from the one or more invitees to book the event based on the received responses from the one or more invitees.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for scheduling events, comprising:
 displaying, by a mobile device for each event of at least two events that are being planned, at least two proposed plans with each proposed plan of the at least two proposed plans including a corresponding proposed time and a corresponding proposed location;   providing a chat screen to allow a user of the mobile device to chat with users of other devices;   receiving a typed chat message in the chat screen by an application on the mobile device;   recognizing, by the application on the mobile device, the typed chat message as having one or more key terms that are predetermined for the application to understand the typed chat message as an additional plan for an event of the at least two events; and   placing a tentative calendar event in a corresponding calendar system of each of the users of the other devices based on the received chat message.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the typed chat message includes the one or more key terms, a proposed time for the event, and a proposed location for the event.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 displaying, by the mobile device for the event, an image of each invitee to the event;   displaying, by the mobile device for each invitee that has indicated they will attend the event, a corresponding identifier next to their image specifying that they will attend the event; and   displaying, by the mobile device for each invitee that has indicated they will not attend the event, a corresponding identifier next to their image specifying that they will not attend the event.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the application provides a separate chat screen for each event of the at least two events.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 displaying, by the mobile device for each event of the at least two events that are being planned, a corresponding picture of a corresponding host along with a symbol indicating that they are the corresponding host.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving votes from the users of the other devices regarding the additional plan for the event.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 ,
 booking the additional plan for the event once a majority of the users of the other devices have voted to accept the additional plan.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 ,
 wherein a vote of particular user of the users is weighted greater than a vote of another user of the users in order to give the particular user a higher priority in determining whether the additional plan is booked.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 displaying, by the mobile device, a location choice screen;   using, by the mobile device, a current geo-location of the mobile device to display a location indicator on a map within the location choice screen; and   displaying, by the mobile device, one or more other locations that have been previously selected by the user of the mobile device on the location choice screen along with the map.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 receiving, by the mobile device in the location choice screen, a selection of a location from among said one or more other locations to suggest the location as a venue for a particular event.