Consolidation of calendar appointments

Abstract

Techniques for processing calendar availability and consolidating appointments are described herein. In some implementations, the techniques may monitor scheduling interactions of a merchant with a calendar to schedule a merchant as unavailable in the calendar at a particular time and/or to reschedule the merchant as available at a time that is designated as unavailable. Additionally, or alternatively, the techniques may consolidate a merchant's schedule by rescheduling appointments when particular criteria are satisfied. Further, the techniques may include other features to manage a calendar and/or enhance a merchant's experience in scheduling appointments.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 monitoring, by one or more computing devices, a calendar that is associated with a merchant, the calendar enabling customers to schedule appointments with the merchant;   based at least in part on the monitoring, determining that a first appointment scheduled in the calendar on a first day has been canceled;   determining, by the one or more computing devices, that a second appointment is scheduled in the calendar on the first day and that a third appointment is scheduled in the calendar on a second day, the first day and the second day being within a predetermined window of time;   determining that that less than a threshold number of appointments are scheduled for the second day;   determining, by the one or more computing devices, at least one of: (i) that a location of the third appointment is within a predetermined proximity to a location of the second appointment, (ii) that a threshold number of employees of the merchant are scheduled to work on the first day, (iii) that the merchant is scheduled to be open for business on the first day, or (iv) that a location of the third appointment is within a geographical region has been visited by the merchant, more than a threshold number of times, on a same day as the first day;   sending, by the one or more computing devices, a first notification to a device associated with a customer of the third appointment, the first notification requesting to reschedule the third appointment to the first day;   receiving, by the one or more computing devices, user input regarding rescheduling of the third appointment;   based at least in part on the user input, rescheduling the third appointment to the first day; and   sending, by the one or more computing devices, a second notification to a device associated with the merchant regarding the rescheduling of the third appointment to the first day.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first notification indicates that an item of the merchant is being offered for acquisition at a reduced value for rescheduling the third appointment to the first day. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining that more than the threshold number of appointments are scheduled for the first day;   wherein the rescheduling the third appointment comprises rescheduling the third appointment to the first day based at least in part on determining that more than the threshold number of appointments are scheduled for the first day.   
     
     
         4 . A system comprising:
 one or more processors; and   memory communicatively coupled to the one or more processors and storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
 identifying a calendar of a merchant that offers one or more items for acquisition; 
 determining that that less than a threshold number of appointments are scheduled for a first period of time; 
 based at least in part on determining that that less than the threshold number of appointments are scheduled for the first period of time, determining a second period of time to which to reschedule the appointment; 
 identifying an appointment that has been scheduled for the first period of time; 
 sending a notification to a device associated with a customer of the appointment, the notification requesting to reschedule the appointment to the second period of time; 
 receiving user input regarding rescheduling of the appointment; and 
 based at least in part on the user input regarding rescheduling of the appointment, rescheduling the appointment to a time during the second period of time. 
   
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the determining the second period of time includes determining that a location of the appointment is within a predetermined proximity to a location of another appointment that is scheduled for the second period of time. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the determining the second period of time includes determining that a threshold number of employees of the merchant are scheduled to work for the second period of time. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the determining the second period of time includes determining that the merchant will be open for business for the second period of time. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the determining the second period of time includes determining that a location of the appointment is within a geographical region that has been visited by the merchant, more than a threshold number of times, on a same day, week, or month on which the second period of time falls. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the determining the second period of time includes determining that more than the threshold number of appointments are scheduled for the second period of time. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 based at least in part on rescheduling the appointment to the second period of time, causing an item of the merchant to be offered for acquisition to the customer at a reduced value for the appointment.   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the notification indicates that an item of the merchant is being offered for acquisition at a reduced value for rescheduling the appointment to the second period of time. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 determining that the first period of time is less than a threshold time away;   wherein the determining the second period of time comprises determining the second period of time to which to reschedule the appointment based at least in part on determining that the first period of time is less than the threshold time away.   
     
     
         13 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
 identifying a calendar of a merchant that offers one or more items for acquisition;   determining that a period of time in the calendar is less than a threshold time away and that less than a threshold number of appointments are scheduled for the period of time;   based at least in part on the determining, sending a notification to a device associated with a customer that has an appointment scheduled in the calendar for a time during the period of time, the notification requesting to reschedule the appointment;   receiving user input regarding rescheduling of the appointment; and   based at least in part on the user input regarding rescheduling of the appointment, rescheduling the appointment.   
     
     
         14 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 determining that more than the threshold number of appointments are scheduled for another period of time;   wherein the rescheduling comprises rescheduling the appointment based at least in part on determining that more than the threshold number of appointments are scheduled for the other period of time.   
     
     
         15 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 14 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 determining that a location of the appointment is within a predetermined proximity to a location of another appointment that is scheduled for the other period of time;   wherein the rescheduling comprises rescheduling the appointment based at least in part on determining that the location of the appointment is within the predetermined proximity to the location of the other appointment.   
     
     
         16 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 14 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 determining that a threshold number of employees of the merchant are scheduled to work for the other period of time;   wherein the rescheduling comprises rescheduling the appointment based at least in part on determining that the threshold number of employees of the merchant are scheduled to work for the other period of time.   
     
     
         17 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 14 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 determining that the merchant will be open for business for the other period of time;   wherein the rescheduling comprises rescheduling the appointment based at least in part on determining that the merchant will be open for business for the other period of time.   
     
     
         18 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 14 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 determining that a location of the appointment is within a geographical region that has been visited by the merchant, more than a threshold number of times, on a same day, week, or month on which the other period of time falls;   wherein the rescheduling comprises rescheduling the appointment based at least in part on determining that the location of the appointment is within the geographical region that has been visited by the merchant, more than the threshold number of times, on the same day, week, or month on which the other period of time falls.   
     
     
         19 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 upon rescheduling the appointment, scheduling the merchant as unavailable in the calendar for the period of time.   
     
     
         20 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 enabling scheduling of appointments in the calendar for periods of time that are before a predetermined time and restricting scheduling of appointments in the calendar for periods of time that are after the predetermined time.