On-Line Appointment System

Abstract

Improved approaches for providing on-line appointments over a network are disclosed. The network is, for example, a global computer network such as the Internet. According to one aspect, users are able to schedule appointments over the network by on-line means. The users are typically individuals or service providers. Service providers are often those businesses that offer appointments to schedule their services.

1 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 receiving, by an appointment service, appointment availability information from a server device associated with a business, the appointment availability information indicating services offered by the business, available appointment dates for the services, and available appointment times on the available appointment dates for the services;   receiving data indicative of selections from a user device through the appointment service to schedule an appointment for a selected one of the services, the selections indicating the selected one of the services and a selected one of the available appointment dates for the appointment;   exposing, by the appointment service, a webpage configured to include a calendar having at least the selected one of the available appointment dates;   determining the available appointment times on the selected one of the available appointment dates for the selected one of the services;   configuring, by the appointment service, the webpage to display the available appointment times on the selected one of the available appointment dates, the calendar and the available appointment times formatted to be concurrently displayed in separate, non-overlapping regions of the webpage;   receiving data indicative of a selected one of the available appointment times from the user device through the webpage; and   scheduling the appointment at the selected one of the available appointment times.   
     
     
         2 . A method as recited in  claim 1 , further comprising configuring, by the appointment service the webpage to display of a list of the services offered by the business, the selections including a selection indicating the selected one of the services. 
     
     
         3 . A method as recited in  claim 2 , wherein the scheduling of the appointment comprises updating a calendar of the business accessible via the server device. 
     
     
         4 . A method as recited in  claim 3 , wherein determining the available appointment times includes determining the available appointment times with respect to the calendar of the business. 
     
     
         5 . A method as recited in  claim 4 , further comprising sending data representing an appointment availability form to the server device corresponding to the business, the appointment availability form configured to collect the appointment availability information that is received by the appointment service. 
     
     
         6 . A method as recited in  claim 5 , wherein sending data representing an appointment availability form includes sending data representing a first region for gathering information on daily time periods of general availability for one or more selectable weekdays. 
     
     
         7 . A method as recited in  claim 6 , wherein sending data representing an appointment availability form further includes sending data representing a second region for gathering information on daily time periods of unavailability for the one or more selectable weekdays. 
     
     
         8 . A method as recited in  claim 7 , wherein sending data representing an appointment availability form further includes sending data representing a third region for gathering information on daily time periods of special availability for the one or more selectable weekdays. 
     
     
         9 . A method as recited in  claim 8 , wherein sending data representing an appointment availability form further includes sending data representing a region for gathering information on different appointment types offered by the business. 
     
     
         10 . A method as recited in  claim 9 , further comprising receiving the information gathered on the different appointment types offered by the business, wherein the gathered information includes respective names and durations for the different appointment types. 
     
     
         11 . One or more computer-readable storage media comprising instructions that, in response to execution by an appointment server device, cause the appointment server device to perform acts comprising:
 receive appointment availability information from at least one server device associated with a business through an appointment service managed by the appointment server device, the appointment availability information indicating services offered by the business, available appointment dates for the services, and available appointment times on the available appointment dates for the services;   generate a list of the services offered by the business to be made available to a user device through the appointment service;   receive data indicative of selections from the user device via the appointment service, the selections indicating a selected one of the services and a selected one of the available appointment dates for an appointment to be scheduled; and   send markup language data to the user device, the markup language data sufficient to enable rendering by the user device of a webpage that is configured to include a view of a calendar that indicates at least the selected one of the available appointment dates and a numerical list of the available appointment times on the selected one of the available appointment dates.   
     
     
         12 . One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in  claim 11  having further instructions to cause the appointment server device to perform acts comprising:
 receive data from the user device indicative of a selection of one of the available appointment times from the numerical list of the available appointment times.   
     
     
         13 . One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in  claim 12  having further instructions to cause the appointment server device to perform acts comprising:
 schedule the appointment on the selected one of the available appointment times responsive to the selection.   
     
     
         14 . One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in  claim 11 , wherein the calendar pertains to the user device, and wherein the view of the calendar indicates previously scheduled appointments associated with the user device on at least the selected one of the available appointment dates. 
     
     
         15 . One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in  claim 11  having further instructions to cause the appointment server device to perform acts comprising:
 reproduce the markup language data to reflect a change to one or more of the selected one of the available appointment dates, the selected one of the services, or the predetermined duration responsive to the change.   
     
     
         16 . One or more computer-readable storage media comprising instructions that, in response to execution by an appointment server device, cause the appointment server device to implement an online appointment system configured to:
 receive appointment availability information from a plurality of server devices associated with a plurality of businesses, the appointment availability information identifying services offered by the plurality of businesses and available appointment times for the services;   receive data from a user device indicative of a selected business from the plurality of businesses and indicative of a request to schedule an appointment for one or more services offered by the selected business at a selected one of the available appointment times; and   request scheduling of the appointment at the selected one of the available appointment times.   
     
     
         17 . One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in  claim 16 , wherein the online appointment system is further configured to make data available for display of a list of selected ones of the plurality of businesses that offer a selected service in response to a query received from the user device. 
     
     
         18 . One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in  claim 16 , wherein the online appointment system is further configured to make available a webpage comprising a calendar that includes an available appointment date for the services, the available appointment date including one or more of the available appointment times from which the selected one of the available appointment times is selected. 
     
     
         19 . One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in  claim 16 , wherein the online appointment system is further configured to make data available for display of a list of the services offered by the selected business. 
     
     
         20 . One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in  claim 16 , wherein the online appointment system is configured to schedule the appointment by updating a calendar of the selected business maintained by an associated said server device of the plurality of server devices.