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Description  |
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STATEMENT OF THE INVENTION
This invention generally relates to improvements in electronic scheduling
of appointments; and more particularly, to cancelling or rescheduling
prior appointments to new dates and times.
BACKGROUND AND PRIOR PATENTS
In a family of earlier patents, and pending applications, including U.S.
Pat. No. 4,162,610 and Reissue No. 32,655; U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,548,510;
4,769,796; 4,783,800, and others, there are disclosed a number of
different electronic schedulers and systems for more efficiently managing
the use of time by both individuals and businesses. In such schedulers, a
number of appointments are entered and stored in a memory for a number of
different time periods in the future, and are retained in retrievable form
as a rapidly accessable record of a user or users future committments. At
the convenience of the user, the schedules of appointments for any
selected time period, or periods, are selectively retrieved from the
memory and communicated by any one of a visual display, a printed record,
or an audible announcement. Alternatively, or additionally, a subschedule
of free or available time slots are selectively determined from the
memory, for any selected future time period, to assist the user in making,
and confirming, a new appointment in the future.
Additionally, in such earlier patents and applications, any of the
appointments stored in the memory can be randomly cancelled or
rescheduled, by erasing the memory for that time slot and reentering a new
appointment for a different time.
However, the occurance of an unexpected event, such as an emergency event,
or other of greater priority, often makes it necessary for an office to
cancel an entire series of appointments on a given day, or time period,
and to reschedule each of such cancelled appointments to other times that
are more convenient, and available to both parties.
Conversely, it is often necessary that an individual scheduled for an
appointment with an office, is required to cancel that appointment, or
reschedule it to a different time. The rescheduling of such appointments,
whether by a office, or an individual, is often difficult and time
consuming, particularly where the office is very busy, receiving many
calls daily, and dealing with many persons during a typical working day.
Furthermore, where the need arises to cancel or reschedule an appointment
arises at a time after normal business hours, the prior appointment is
often missed, or the rescheduling is delayed until that office reopens for
busines on the following business day, often inconveniencing the
individual or the office. Rescheduling an entire series of appointments
for a day, or other time period, is often a particularly difficult an time
consuming chore for many busy offices, such as those of Chiropractors,
Dentists, Attorneys, and other professional and business persons, whose
active practices include many appointments with different persons during a
typical working day. Present practice followed requires that an office
employee, such as a nurse, or receptionist, or appointment clerk,
telephone each such patient, client, or customer, and individually
reschedule each such person for a new appointment at a different time that
is convenient to that person and also available to that office. Quite
often the multiple appointment rescheduling is very time consuming, often
resulting in "doubling up" of appointments, or prolonging the office visit
to a date in the future other than that desired by the patient, client, or
other person.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention, an electronic rescheduler is provided
to enable an office to more easily and promptly reschedule an appointment,
or an entire group of appointments; or to enable an individual to more
easily and conveniently reschedule an appointment, or cancel it, with an
office, regardless of whther that office is open for business or not when
the need for such cancellation or rescheduling arises.
In one preferred embodiment for group rescheduling, the office individually
calls each person , whose appointment is to be cancelled or rescheduled,
and with the assistance of the present invention, rapidly and efficiently
locates a new appointment time, if available, that is convenient to both
that person and the office. This is performed by offering to each such
person a series of "options" or time periods, that are convenient for a
new appointment, and then having such person choose from the free or
available time slots, within the chosen time period, that one appointment
time that best meets the needs of that person. One of the many "options"
that is offered is the available or free time slots that are closest in
time to the prior appointment time being rescheduled. Other "options"
include the earliest available group of "morning" free time slots. Still
another "option", is the earliest available group of free time slots
occuring in the "afternoon". Still a fourth "option" is the earliest
available group of free time slots for a specified time-of-day. Still
further options can be provided, such as those for a specified day; or
specified day of the week; or for a specified day of the month.
Having made an initial selection of a desired "option" or time period, the
person to be rescheduled is quickly given the one or more free time slots,
that are available within the chosen "option"; and can thereafter
designate the best one of the free time slots for the new appointment. If
a suitable free time slot is not found, that person is permitted to select
a different "option", or time period, and the above procedure is repeated
to find a new satisfactory appointment time. By use of the present
invention, the above steps can be very quickly performed, to complete the
rescheduling in a short time.
Where an individual initiates a request to cancel or reschedule an
appointment, the present invention operates in the same manner. The office
presents the individual with a series of "options" or time periods, in
order to narrow the time periods involved; and thereafter notifies the
individual with one, or more free or available time slots, if any, within
the selected "option" period, for a final selection of the preferred
reappointment time.
In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the individual is not
required to make a selection from a series of free or available time
slots, but the electronic rescheduler automatically makes the final
selection from the one or more free time slots, if any, that are
available. This embodiment is useful where the individual does not have
any specific preference for a free time slot, but can accept any free time
within a specified "option" or time period. The individual therefore,
merely selects an "option", or time period, and the electronic rescheduler
locates and communicates one free time slot within that selected period,
in the event that one is available.
In a still further embodiment of the invention, the canceling of
appointments or rescheduling to a new appointment time can be performed
over the telephone in an semi-automatic manner without the need for any
person at the receiving end of the line, such as an office secretary or
clerk. This is performed by employing an interactive, communicating
system, for audibly instructing each caller whose appointment is to be
cancelled or rescheduled, in the procedure to be followed, and permitting
each such caller to respond using the convention keys on the telephone
keypad. Each such caller is instructed to select, and enter, a preferred
one of the "options" or time periods, as discussed above, and in response,
to receive an audible announcement over the telephone of the free time
slots that are available. The caller is then instructed to choose a
desired one of said free time slots, and to enter such final selection
using the conventional telephone keys on the keypad.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is an electrical schematic drawing depicting a rescheduling
apparatus according to the invention,
FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the display on the visual display panel for
rescheduling a group of appointments,
FIG. 3 is a view of the display, similar to FIG. 2, but showing different
"options" for selection of a rescheduled appointment,
FIG. 4 is an electrical schematic illustration, showing automatic
rescheduling over the telephone,
FIG. 5 is an electrical schedmatic illustration showing modifications to
the circuit of FIG. 1 for automatic selection of a single free time slot,
during any selected "option",
FIG. 6 is an electrical schematic illustration of typical circuit
interconnections for the different "option" selections,
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Group Rescheduling by Office
Referring to FIG. 1 there is shown one preferred apparatus for cancelling
or rescheduling one, or more appointments, that have been previously
stored in a memory 22, by day, time-of-day, and person etc. As noted
above, it is often found necessary to reschedule an entire series of
appointments where a key person at that office is called away on an
emergency, or for other reason is unable to keep such appointments.
As shown, the rescheduler generally comprises a multiple key keypad, or
keyboard ; a series of individually selectable read-out circuits 12, 14,
16, 18, 20, and 30; an electronic memory 22 for storing a series of
appointments each day for a series of different days, and for a series of
different persons; and a series of different output devices, including a
visual display panel 23, a printer 24, and an audible announcer 25. In a
typical office environment, the apparatus of FIG. 1 may be a dedicated
desk-top unit, located on the desk of the Receptionist for that office, or
the Nurse, Appointment Scheduling Clerk, or other office employee, and
having the large display screen 23, keyboard 10 located near the
telephone. The office employee can therefore quickly and efficiently use
the apparatus to cancel or reschedule appointments in response to phone
calls, or in response to a request from a business visitor at that office.
Each of the different read-out circuits 12, 14, 16 etc. is selectively
energizable by its own individual switch circuit 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, and
29, respectively, and when energized, each such read-out circuit is
adapted to interrogate the memory 22, according to a different "option",
mode, or time period, thereby to locate one or more free time slots that
are available for a future appointment within the selected time period or
"option". For example, the first read-out circuit 12 interrogates the
memory 22 for two days before, and two days after, the day of the
appointment to be rescheduled, and to read-out all of the free or
available time slots within said four days, if any, for assistance in
making a new appointment. The free time slots are displayed on the visual
panel 23, and/or printed by printer 24, and/or audibly announced by output
device 25.
A second of the read-out circuits 14, differently interrogates the memory
22 according to a different "option", mode, or time period, to read-out
all of the free time slots, if any, that are available during the
"morning" hours for a series of days immediately preceeding and succeeding
the day of the previous appointment. In a similar manner, the third
read-out circuit 16 also differently interrogated the memory 22 to obtain
the free time slots, if any that are available in the "afternoon" time
periods. A number of other individual read-out circuits, including 18, 20,
30, etc. may also be provided, with each differently interrogating the
memory 22 according to a different "option" to derive free time slots, if
any, that are available during still different periods. Many such
different "options" can be used according to the present invention,
including a preferred day of the week, or of the month; the same
time-of-day but on a different day; or at a specified other time-of-day;
etc. Separate read-out circuits can be provided for each of these
"options", or others, for interrogating the memory 22.
Quite often, persons whose appointments must be rescheduled by an office
prefer a new appointment at the earliest possible time, or one closest in
time to the prior appointment. Another group may only be available for a
new appointment in the "morning hours", or "afternoon hours", or on a
"selected day", or a selected "time-of-day" etc. For this reason, the
present invention provides a number of different "options" for selection
by the person to be rescheduled, so that that person need consider only
the free time slots within the preferred time period or "option".
Furthermore by this procedure, a comprehensive memory 22 containing many
appointments for many persons, and extending over many days, can be
quickly and efficiently interrogated, only for the specific periods of
interest.
FIG. 2 illustrates a typical visual presentation on the display panel 23
where the office employee wishes to reschedule all of the appointments on
the day of Aug. 25, 1989, and initially selects the first "option".
Initially, the employee enters the day of Aug. 25, 1989 followed by
depressing a key on the keyboard labeled "Reschedule". Thereafter, the
employee closes one of the "option" switches, such as switch 11, thereby
the read-out circuit 12 to select the first "option", e.g. locating an new
appointment times that are closest in time to the prior appointments to be
rescheduled. Referring to FIG. 2, the first, or left hand column 35, on
display screen 23 shows the entire day, or other time period to be
rescheduled (e.g. Aug. 25, 1989), followed by a series of appointment
times for that day (e.g. in the example given, 9:00 AM; 10:30 AM; and 3:15
PM ). The second column 36 of the display 23 shows the names and phone
numbers of the persons whose appointments are listed in the first column
35, and each is positioned alongside the prior appointment time.
Since many persons usually wish a new appointment time close to the
previous appointment, the office employee often selects the first read-out
circuit 12, as noted above. The memory 22 is accordingly interrogated by
circuit 12 to read-out the free time slots that are available on each of
the two days prior , and two days after, the selected day of Aug. 25,
1989. The next column 37 of display 23 shows a listing of all such free
time slots, if any, on the second day earlier, or on Aug. 24, 1989. In a
similar manner, the next two columns 39 and 40 of display 23 show any free
time slots on the two days afterward, or Aug. 26, 1989 and Aug. 27, 1989,
respectively.
The office employee then proceeds to telephone the first person to be
rescheduled (e.g. T. Jones, in FIG. 1), and informs T. Jones of the
various "options" that are available for a new appointment, together with
a request to make a selection or choice of one or more of such "options".
In the event that T. Jones wishes the earliest available appointment, as
is usually a request, the office employee consults the columns 37, 38, 39,
and 40 on the display 23, and offers any one of the displayed free time
slots for a new appointment. If any one is found to be acceptable, a new
appointment is entered for T. Jones at such time, using the keyboard 10,
and the prior appointment on Aug. 25, 1989 is erased.
The office employee then proceeds to telephone the next person to be
rescheduled (e.g. T. Swift in FIG. 1 ), and repeats the above procedure,
to quickly and efficiently locate and enter a new rescheduled appointment
for T. Swift. However, in the event that T. Jones or T. Swift desires a
different "option" or "options" (e.g. only "morning" appointment, or one
only at a specific time-of-day, for example ), the office employee opens
the switch 11 and closes the corresponding one, or more, of the other
"option" selecting switches (FIG. 1) 13, 15, 17, 19, 29 etc.,
corresponding to the preferences of that person, and the free time slots,
if any, corresponding to the selected "options" are displayed as shown in
FIG. 3.
Referring to FIG. 3, and assuming that five (5) different options are
selected by a person, each of switches 13, 15, 17, 19, and 29 are closed
by the office employee. The memory 22 is accordingly interrogated in five
different modes, or "options", and the resulting free time slots for each
"option" are displayed on a different column 41, 42, 43, 44, and 45 of the
display 23, as shown in FIG. 3. Referring to FIG.3, the first column 41 is
shown as displaying free time slots that are available during "morning"
hours. The second column 43 shows the "afternoon" availabilities, whereas
the next columns 43, 44, and 45 show those on the same day of the week;
the same time-of-day; and on a selected day of the month, respectively.
With this great diversity being available, it is very likely that each
person to be rescheduled can quickly find a suitable day and time for a
new appointment, and do so quickly, whereby the office can quickly and
easily reschedule its complete series of prior appointments on the
designated day.
Briefly recapitulating the above described structure and mode-of-operation,
to rapidly reschedule a series of appointments for an entire day or other
time period, the office employee promptly obtains a display, or printout,
of all such appointments to be changed, together with the persons and
phone numbers corresponding to such appointments, using the keyboard 10.
The office employee also initially may choose the most popular "option"
(e.g. of earliest appointment), by closing switch 11 and interrogating the
memory 22 by read-out circuit 12. As a result, there is provided on the
display 23, a listing of free time slots for a series of days before, and
a series of days after, the day to be rescheduled. Each of the persons to
be rescheduled are then telephoned, in sequence, by one or more office
employees, and are requested to choose an "option" for reappointment, and
subsequently choose, a free time slot within said selected "option". Many
such different "options" are provided, and more than one can be chosen to
meet the alternative or priority needs of each person. Since many persons
wish the earliest available appointment time, close to the prior
appointment, a new appointment can often be made using the first display
(FIG. 2) corresponding to the first "option". However, if not, the many
other options can be chosen, as described in FIG. 3, whereby each person
to be rescheduled can usually be accomodated in a timely and efficient
manner.
FIG. 6 illustrates further details of one circuit for implementing the
series of different read-out circuits 12,14, 16, 18, 20 etc., as shown in
FIG. 1. It will be appreciated by those skilled in tha art, that the
memory circuit 22 shown in the drawings may be only one section, covering
a time period of one day, and that many of such circuits, using
microchips, will be required for an office system that is used for storing
many days of appointments, for a number of different persons in an office
(e.g. a clinic of doctors, or a firm of lawyers etc.). The circuit of FIG.
6 will therefore be duplicated, and extended, to meet the needs of
different office users. Referring to FIG. 6, a series of shift re.g.ister
circuits 71, 72 . . . , are energized by a clock circuit 70, to
sequentially cycle and provide a time delayed sequence of output pulses,
on the many output lines of each re.g.ister circuit 71, 72 . . . Each of
such output lines is directed through a different gating circuit 73, 74,
75, 76 . . . for register 71, and similarly, the output lines of register
72 are each directed to a different gating circuit 77, 78, 79, 80 all
leading to the memory microchips 22. Since each of these output lines are
energized in sequence from each of the registers, each of the different
gating circuits are likewise energized in sequence. The outputs of the
gating circuits are each directed to different "addresses" inputs of the
memory microchips 22; and therefore each of the different memory addresses
is sequentially interrogated, depending upon those of the gating circuits
that are energized to be closed. Conversely, those of the gating circuits
that are not energized do not interrogate the corresponding addresses of
the memory 22.
The first of the Read out circuits 81 is connected to energize only
selected ones of gating circuits leading to selected ones of the addresses
of the memory 22. According to the present invention, the first read-out
circuit 81 (or 12 in FIG. 1), is connected to interrogate only the two
days before and two days after the day to be rescheduled. Therefore, this
read out circuit 81 when energized by closure of its switch 83, closes
only the gating circuits for interrogating these desired days of the
memory 22.
By using the appropriate entry keys on keyboard 10, the office employee
initially enters the day or other time period to be rescheduled, and this
selection chooses the proper section of a multisectional memory 22 to be
interrogated. Thereafter by closing the switch 83 to choose the first
"option", the addresses of the memory 22, for the two days before and two
days after, are interrogated to read-out the free time slots for these
four days.
The other read-out circuits, including circuit 82 are connected to
different groups of the gating circuits, and when energized, control the
sequential interrogation of different groups of addresses of the memory
22, thereby to provide the different "options" as described above. Thus,
one of the read-out circuits , when energized, controls the interrogation
of the "morning" time slots in the memory 22; another controls the
interrogation of "afternoon" time slots; still another interrogates for a
still different "option", all as discussed above. It will be appreciated
by those skilled in the art, that if more than one "option" is selected,
it may be necessary to actuate the different read-out circuits in time
sequence. This is performed by option circuits by employing additional
shift re.g.ister circuits (not shown) to sequentially control the
application of power to each of the different read-out circuits. One such
additional shift re.g.ister 87 is shown in FIG. 6 for sequentially
energizing the read-out circuits 85 and 82.
Cancellation or Rescheduling by an Individual
The cancellation or rescheduling of an appointment, or appointments, at the
initiative of an individual is performed in essentially the same manner as
that performed at the initiative of an office, as discussed above. The
individual may personally appear at the office, or may call over the
telephone.
In either instance, that person provides the office with the date, or
dates, of prior appointments to be cancelled or rescheduled, and such
appointments are entered into the keyboard 10. If the appointment is to be
rescheduled, that person is instructed to select a preferred "option" or
time period that is most desired; or a series of such "options" as
discussed above. This selection of an option, or options, is entered into
the rescheduler by closing the appropriate switch, or switches, 11, 13,
15, 17, 19, 27, etc. (FIG. 1); and the resulting free time slots are
displayed on the display screen 23, and/or printed at 24; and/or announced
by the audible announcer 25. A final selection of one, or more, of such
displayed free time slots is then made by that person and entered into the
memory 22, using the keyboard 10. Where that person has personally
appeared at the office, the rescheduler apparatus may be operated by that
person, using available printed instructions, without the need for
assistance by an office employee. Alternatively, an office employee can
assist in the cancelling or rescheduling , if necessary.
On the other hand, where that person is calling over the telephone for a
cancellation or rescheduling of one or more prior appointments, the office
employee can use the voice announcer 25 to vocally inform the caller of
the free time slots that are available, and enter the various "option"
selections, and final selections of new appointments.
Automatic Selection of New Appointments
In the event that it is not necessary to give the person to be rescheduled
with a complete listing of all free time slots during selected "options"
or time periods, one or more new appointments can be located in an
automatic manner, using the circuitry of FIG. 1, and the new appointments
given to the person and entered into the memory 22 of the rescheduler.
Referring to FIG. 5, the person to be rescheduled is initially instructed
to select one or more different "options" or time periods, and such
selections are entered by closing the appropriate one, or ones of the
option switches 11, 13 etc. (FIG. 1), in the same manner as discussed
above, to interrogate the memory 22 and read-out the free or available
time slots, if any, during such "option" periods. However, in the circuit
of FIG. 5, the output channel of memory 57 is coupled in feedback, over
line 69, to control gate 66. Control gate 66 is, in turn, coupled to the
mode or "option" read-out circuit 60, to discontinue interrogation by the
read-out circuit 60 after a first free time slot is located, and outputted
from the memory 57. In operation, when such an automatic selection is
desired, the, switch 65 is closed, thereby to actuate the control gate 66.
The selected "option" choosing switch 68 is then closed, according to the
preference of the person being rescheduled, and this commences an
interrogation of the memory 57 for the desired option, or options,
selected. Thereafter upon the first free time slot being located during
such interrogation, and outputted to the display 67, and/or audible
announcer 58, a feedback signal is generated over line 69 to control gate
66 to discontinue any further interrogation of the memory 57. As a result,
the first available free time slot is automatically selected for a new
appointment, during each sequence of operations of the circuit of FIG. 5.
Should additional appointments be desired to be rescheduled for such
person, the above sequence of operations are repeated for each such prior
appointment.
Automatic Cancelling or Rescheduling Over the Telephone
In earlier U.S. Pat. No. 4,783,800, there is disclosed a system for
enabling a caller to make, and confirm, an appointment over the telephone
without the need for any person at the other end. According to an
alternative embodiment of the present invention, there is provided in FIG.
4 a system for enabling a caller to reschedule a previously made
appointment over the telephone, without the need for any person at the
receiving end of the telephone line.
Referring to FIG. 4, a caller at a receiving end of telephone line 52
places a call to a business or professional office at the remote end of
line 52, with the intention of cancelling or rescheduling one, or more,
prior appointments. This call is automatically intercepted by the
telephone handset 51 and telephone answering device 53, in a conventional
fashion, and activates a timer and control circuit 55 to energize a voice
instruction unit 56. Voice unit 56 acknowledges the call, and audibly
inquires whether the caller wishes to either make a new appointment, or to
cancel a prior appointment, or to reschedule a prior appointment. The
caller is requested to choose the desired one of these three functions, by
depressing the appropriate one of the three numbered keys "1", or "2", or
"3", on the caller's telephone keypad.
In the event that the caller wishes to make a new appointment, the
appropriate one of the telephone keys is depressed, to signal such
selection, and thereafter the procedure described in the above earlier
patent is followed to automatically make, and confirm, a new appointment.
In the event that the Caller only wishes to cancel one or more prior
appointments, the appropriate one of the telephone keys for such selection
is depressed. The voice unit 56 then instructs the caller to enter the
date and time of the prior appointment to be cancelled; and thereafter to
dictate the caller's name, address, phone number, and the date of the
prior appointment being cancelled. This audible information from the
caller is recorded by recorder 61; and then is audibly played back over
the telephone 51, to the caller, to protect against any errors. To avoid
errors, or misuse of this automatic system, an office employee places a
confirming telephone ca | | |
