The field of the present invention relates to a computer system that deals with schedule management, methods and programs for performing intelligent activity allocation for electronic calendaring according to certain present parameters.

In particular, the present invention relates to systems and methodology for activity time allocation for education institutions, in particular students and teachers according to

BACKGROUND

Time management is an essential skill that is commonly utilized by users to help in the effective allocation and reminding of certain tasks that need to be completed within a predetermined time frame.

As a persons level of commitment increase or the number of tasks increases to a certain level, the job of actually managing a group of tasks becomes itself a task. Indeed, the complexity in task management increases substantially when a user has to organise a set of unrelated tasks rather than a set or related tasks.

Related tasks have common elements such as outcomes or workflow that the individual will remember to allocate and then subsequently carry out due to the repetitive nature of the required task. For example, remembering a meeting that occurs on the same day every week.

When the tasks become unrelated and vary across any given timeframe then the level of commitment required to remember such tasks can become overwhelming and result in the individual forgetting one task or another along the way. By recording such tasks in a data entry system the user then may be able to remember set tasks or be prompted to remember such tasks by the system rather than having to commit the tasks to memory. An example of such a system is a diary system. There are many such paper based diary systems that can be used and more prevalent now are electronic diary systems with certain categorised preset by a user with different colours, labels to help to quickly identify one set of tasks from the other.

For example, Microsoft Outlook® is a certain type of diary system with capacity for time scheduling as is Google® Calender or iCal®. Indeed many current smart phones also have such capabilities that allow data entry for a particular task, manually insertion of a due date, auto setting a predetermined time period for the task. Such tasks can then also be colour coded manually by selecting from a group of colours in an attempt to more readily visually differentiate certain groups of tasks.

However, problems can arise when a large number of tasks need to be recorded by an individual, particularly when the tasks may require varying lengths of time to be allocated to them and when the entering of the particular details of the task are time consuming in themselves. An example of this is in the educational system where a student may have a number of different subjects during a semester or term, each with a different teacher, and each requiring various times to be allocated to them during a set period of time, ie during a homework period of time

What is then observed is that students in particular become overwhelmed with the enormity of the repetitive task of entering in data into either a written diary or into a computer based diary. The process of determining when homework needs to be done, by when and how much time to allocate during their homework time results in inefficient time use in entering the data into the calendar system and not allocating sufficient time to do it in.

Another issue is that a student may over commit their time not realising that on any given day they may only have a certain amount of time within which to do certain allocated task which can result in an overloading of tasks on a given day and work not completed in the appropriate time frame.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide an activity allocation system and method that assists a user in more effectively managing activities and time. It is a further object of the present invention to provide an activity allocation system and / or method

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description, taking in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein, by way of illustration and example, an embodiment of the present invention is disclosed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, although this should not be seen as limiting the invention in any way, there is provided a method of managing tasks or activities on a computing device, the computing device including a processor and a memory, the method including the steps of: a. creating a first list (mini master list) comprising task or activity information including the steps of; i. allocating each task or activity to one or more subjects wherein the one or more subjects of the user are preselected by an administrator and each subject is assigned a supervisor from a preset list of supervisors; ii. selecting a due date for the task or activity ii. selecting an alarm time period set to activate at a predetermined time period prior to the due date for the task or activity; iii. selecting a time period to allocate to the task or activity prior to the due date for the task or activity; b. creating a second list (task or activity list) including the steps of; i. the user selecting at least one subject, wherein the subject requires one or more subject specific fields to be populated; ii. auto populating the subject specific fields, with information from the first list (mini master list); iii. the user inputting details of the task or activity; iv. auto scheduling, without human intervention, the task or activity into a users calendar.

In preference, allocating location information relevant to the task or activity.

In preference, the location information relates to a classroom associated with the subject.

In preference, the task or activity is educational homework.

In preference, the step (a) is created by an administrator separate to the user.

In preference, the administrator is the user.

In preference, the user is a student.

In preference, the method includes the steps of synchronising the first and second lists over a computer network.

In preference, the method further includes providing the second list to an authorised nonuser.

In preference, step (b)(ii) includes auto populating with the time period from step (a)(iii).

In preference, the method includes calculating an estimated total task or activity time from addition of the time periods in (b)(ii) and comparing it with an amount of preselected time within which to perform a set of tasks or activities.

In preference, the preselected time is preselected by a user or an administrator.

A further embodiment resides in a task or activity server system comprising one or more processors, memory and one or more programs that are stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or more programs comprising instructions to: a. creating a first list (mini master list) comprising task or activity information including the steps of; i. allocating each task or activity to one or more subjects wherein the one or more subjects of the user are preselected by an administrator and each subject is assigned a supervisor from a preset list of supervisors; ii. selecting a due date for the task or activity ii. selecting an alarm time period set to activate at a predetermined time period prior to the due date for the task or activity; iii. selecting a time period to allocate to the task or activity prior to the due date for the task or activity; b. creating a second list (task or activity list) including the steps of; i. the user selecting at least one subject, wherein the subject requires one or more subject specific fields to be populated; ii. auto populating the subject specific fields, with information from the first list (mini master list); iii. the user inputting details of the task or activity; iv. auto scheduling, without human intervention, the task or activity into a users calendar.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

By way of example, an embodiment of the invention is described more fully herein with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figures 1 shows a sample graphical gser interface (GUI) display that may be used according to the present invention; Figure 2 - 22 sets out sample screen shots of the GIU at various steps during the processing of information inputs of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Figure 1 shows the main user menu 5, in this instance the user is a student but it may be an administrator user, ie a person who has the permission to change certain details in the parameters of the information to ensure that certain information is consistent with the administering institution such as a school. This view is a high level view showing a plurality of separate menus that the user can access, such as calendar 7, school information 8, knowledge base 9 or task/activities 10. Note that each of the menus 5-10 also has a number of submenus.

A user then starts to create a mini list by selecting the "to do" selection 2 on screen 13, then selecting the add or selection 15. This then brings up number of fields that can relate to a specific task or activities including subject 17, teacher or supervisor 18, a year level 19, location or classroom 20, a date the activity was set 21 , a due date 22

, or an activity alert field 23.

By selecting the subject name filed 17, the user is then presented with a listing 25 of the subjects that they are currently enrolled in, including the teacher or supervisor along with a level of enrollment, such as a year level. This listing of subjects can be created by the individual user or alternatively may be set by an administrator of the institution to ensure that all relevant details regarding the students subject are correct.

To add an additional subject / teacher, the user selects the button 27 which takes them to screen 30 (Figure 6) and then by selecting the subject 32 a new listing 40 of subjects available to the student are presented (figure 7). The listing 40 is managed by an administrator who can access the system by an administration module. The user the selects the required subject in the list 40 by selection of a radio button, for example ENGLISH 45 which then populates the subject field 38 which was previously empty. The user then selects the teacher field 40 to bring up a list 42 of designated teacher. This list 42 is again controlled by the administrator. The student the selects the appropriate teacher for the subject, in this example MS ADAMS 44 and then returns to the screen 50. Selection of the YEAR level field 52 shows a list of relevant year levels at the institution, and in this example YEAR 10 is selected 55.

The user is then presented with an input field 60 for a location of the appropriate subject, in this example the classroom entered is 10C. The user may then optionally select a distinguishing colour to be associated with the subject on screen 62 or create their own custom colour.

An alert is then set by selecting the alter filed 65 and the user is presented with a list 68 of predefined alert times each of which represent a period of time for alerting the student of a task or activities due date before the due date occurs.

The user then determines a standard time for in which to complete the particular task or activity by selecting filed 70 which presents them with an additional list 72 of preset time periods. After the appropriate time is selected, the user is returned to screen 74 where all the required fields for a subject have now been populated.

Figures 1-18 represent in part the steps required to create a first list or mini list, of data that the student will be able to access each time they are required to enter a task or activity for a particular subject, thereby decreasing the amount of repetitive information required to be added by the user.

A user can then proceed to add a task or activity in the HOMEWORK screen 75 (figure 19), and all the data previously entered in figures 1-18 can be accessed from this section.

By the user selecting the SUBJECT filed 80 they are presented with a listing of subjects 81, in this example the user selects ENGLISH at radio button 82 and the details bound to this are then used to auto populate the remainder of the fields 83-88, which includes due dates, date set, time allocated, start time and so on.

All the user has to enter is the details of the task or assignment 90. The system can then also determine from this information if they have over committed time due to taking on too many tasks by comparing the amount of time allocated for the various tasks or assignments with a predetermined amount of available time within which to complete all tasks on an given day or period.

The present embodiment of the invention shows its use in an educational institution however this does not limit its application to such environments. Indeed the present invention may be applied to other situations such as court docketing processes, or other similar procedures where there is a need to plan, prioritize and record time events.

Although the invention has been herein shown and described in what is conceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is recognized that departures can be made within the scope of the invention, which is not to be limited to the details described herein but it is to be accorded the full scope of the appended claims so as to embrace any and all equivalent devices and apparatus.