CLIAMS:NA ,TagSPECI:FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENT RULES, 2003
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
(See Section 10 and Rule 13)

Title of invention:
A SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING MEETINGS USING A MOBILE DEVICE

Applicant
Tata Consultancy Services Limited
A Company Incorporated in India under The Companies Act, 1956
Having address:
Nirmal Building, 9th Floor,
Nariman Point, Mumbai 400021,
Maharashtra, India

The following specification describes the invention.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[001] The present subject matter described herein, in general, relates to collaborative computing, and more particularly to system and method for managing, scheduling, and initiating a plurality of meetings using a mobile device.

BACKGROUND

[002] Corporate executive meetings are usually paper exhaustive events involving processes for creation, printing, distribution and safe upkeep or disposal of sensitive data/information. Meeting document packs tend to be quite bulky and cumbersome. Reams of paper, color printing facilities and manual efforts are often needed to fulfill the quality and timeliness requirements. After the meetings are over, these papers get misplaced and may not be available for future reference leading to reprinting/rework. Time and effort have to be invested in coordination, collaboration, searching and retrieving of these artifacts for perusal or reference during subsequent meeting. Further, manual managing of these paper, as well understood, is accompanied by intense time consumption , increased error probability, tediousness, high costs , and is often seen as a tradeoff between reliability and cost/time that makes it generally an unwilling procedure, though a necessity.
[003] Being a sensitive and high profile event, it requires that last minute changes, if any, and gets seamlessly integrated while providing sufficient bandwidth to stakeholders for review and preparation prior to the meeting. Enabling this for conventional paper based systems is a formidable challenge. A user has to ensure error free papers for on- time delivery. Users today are on the move and demand that the information should be made available, anytime-anywhere without any compromises on confidentiality and security. This can only be addressed by digitizing the end-to-end process and leveraging internet to access data/information in a highly secure manner. Searching within the document or browsing information on meeting materials, agenda, attendee information, details of past, present and future meetings etc. will not be possible with stack of paper reports. A user therefore needs an innovative process enabler for the same.
[004] Comprehensive meeting management without any paper work involved or without managing any paper work is therefore an ardent need, which though has been endeavored by many, yet remains majorly unfulfilled. A complete automated paperless environment that can manage all the paper work with creation, distribution, storage and disposal challenges, along with secure, confidential and user-friendly system is what is understandably required. A method and system for automatically managing meetings using a highly intuitive user interface and reducing associated paper work that makes the user experience more revitalizing, along with the above mentioned requirements has not been actualized so far, and is observed to pose a continual technical challenge to the software testing industry.
[005] In the light of foregoing problems, there exists a need for a system and a method that can provide one stop solution for managing a plurality of meetings using a mobile device that can effectively and efficiently overcome the deficiencies and technical limitations described hereinabove.

SUMMARY

[006] This summary is provided to introduce aspects related to systems and methods for managing plurality of meetings using any hand-held device, and the aspects are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify essential features of the claimed subject matter nor is it intended for use in determining or limiting the scope of the claimed subject matter.
[007] In one implementation, a meeting management system and method for managing plurality of meetings using a mobile device is disclosed. The disclosed invention provides a meeting management system and method for assisting users with features that are useful for executive business leadership participating in board meetings and making an office paperless. The disclosed invention further supports rich functionality such as meeting document browsing any-time any-where, scheduling meetings, calendar view, meeting view, search members for meeting, and annotations. The disclosed invention reduces manual efforts by seamless collaboration amongst members of either similar company or different company.
[008] In one implementation, the meeting management system and method for managing plurality of meetings using a mobile device enables the user to automatically manage meetings using a highly intuitive user interface and associated paper work that makes the user experience more revitalizing.
[009] In one implementation, the system and method is disclosed wherein a user is provided with an intuitive method and process application panel 202 to access meeting documents with ease, quickly search and find them with world map, calendar etc. Further, the meetings can be started even if all the documents are fully ready only a few minutes before schedule. Furthermore, highly confidential documents can be kept encrypted to prohibit unauthorized access and usage. If a new document is needed in between the meeting, it can be added and made available to all on-the-go without disrupting the normal flow of the meeting.
[0010] In another implementation, the system and method is disclosed wherein the user is provided with an iPad based solution, designed to assist company board members with features that are useful for executive business leaderships participating in meetings. The system and method comes into picture when there is a focus to make corporate boardroom events paper-less. Digitizing these important corporate events the system and method is a major shift towards sustainability by enabling Green IT. This system and method also helps to sustain the environment by making the need for printed reports redundant. This system and method result in the reduction of manual efforts by seamless collaboration amongst board members. This system and method further provides a feature which enables stakeholders to find previous board meeting artifacts effortlessly which was, previously, effort demanding and cumbersome in planning and execution of board meetings. The system and method also provides all the participants, via a very user friendly iPad application panel 202, all the necessary functions at their fingertips viz. meeting materials, agenda and attendee information, details of past, present and future meetings etc. This system and method also supports rich functionality that includes but not limited to document browsing any-time any-where, board meeting, calendar view, meeting view, search, jump to any page, annotations that include but not limited to highlighter, book mark, free drawing, note, annotated item list, voice note on documents, sending comments to members (by email) for taking action, and the like.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanying figures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The same numbers are used throughout the drawings to refer like features and components.
[0012] The foregoing objectives, as well as the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, are better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawing. For illustrating the invention, there is shown in the drawing example constructions of the invention; however, the invention is not limited to the specific composite disclosed in the drawing:
[0013] Figure 1 illustrates a network implementation of a meeting management system for managing plurality of meetings using a mobile device, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.
[0014] Figure 2 illustrates the meeting management system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.
[0015] Figure 3 illustrates an application panel of the meeting management system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.
[0016] Figure 4 illustrates a meeting management module in the meeting management system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.
[0017] Figure 5 illustrates a security management module in the meeting management system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.
[0018] Figure 6 illustrates business service architecture of the meeting management system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.
[0019] Figure 7 illustrates business service architecture of board meeting manager in the meeting management system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.
[0020] Figure 8 illustrates a sequence diagram of the meeting management system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.
[0021] Figure 9 illustrates a flowchart for account creation and access grant, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0022] The present invention generally relates to a meeting management system and method for managing plurality of meetings using a mobile device . The disclosed invention provides a meeting management system and method for assisting users with features that are useful for executive business leadership participating in board meetings and making an office paperless. The disclosed invention further supports rich functionality such as meeting document browsing any-time any-where, scheduling meetings, calendar view, meeting view, search members for meeting, and annotations. The disclosed invention reduces manual efforts by seamless collaboration amongst members of either similar company or different company.
[0023] Systems and methods for managing plurality of meetings using a mobile device are described. The proposed system facilitates the user with an iPad based solution, designed to assist company board members with features that are useful for executive business leadership participating in meetings. The system and method comes into picture when there is a focus to make corporate boardroom events paper-less. Digitizing these important corporate events the system and method is a major shift towards sustainability by enabling Green IT. This system and method also helps to sustain the environment by making the need for printed reports redundant. This system and method results in the reduction of manual efforts by seamless collaboration amongst board members. This system and method further provides a feature which enables stakeholders to find previous board meeting artifacts effortlessly that were, previously, effort demanding and cumbersome in planning and execution of board meetings. The system and method also provides all the participants, via a very user friendly iPad application panel 202, all the necessary functions at their fingertips viz. meeting materials, agenda and attendee information, details of past, present and future meetings etc. This system and method also supports rich functionality such as document browsing any-time any-where, board meeting, calendar view, meeting view, search, annotations that includes but not limited to highlighter, book mark, jump to any page, free drawing, note, annotated item list, voice recording, collaboration with comments, video conference etc.
[0024] While aspects of described system and method for managing a plurality of meeting using a mobile device may be implemented in any number of different computing systems, environments, and/or configurations, the embodiments are described in the context of the following exemplary system.
[0025] Referring now to Figure 1, a network implementation 100 of a meeting management system 102 for managing a plurality of meeting using a mobile device is illustrated, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter. In one embodiment, meeting management system for meeting management system 102 is provided. In one embodiment, the meeting management system 102 is used for managing plurality of meetings using a mobile device.
[0026] Although the present subject matter is explained, considering that the meeting management system 102 is implemented as a meeting management system 102 on a server, it may be understood that the meeting management system 102 may also be implemented in a variety of computing systems, such as a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a tablet, a smart-phone, a notebook, a workstation, a mainframe computer, a server, a network server, and the like. It shall be understood that multiple users may access the meeting management system 102 through one or more user devices 104-1, 104-2…104-N, collectively referred to as user 104 hereinafter, or applications residing on the user devices 104. Examples of the user devices 104 may include, but are not limited to, a portable computer, a personal digital assistant, a handheld device, a tablet device, a smart phone device with multi-touch screen and a workstation. The user devices 104 are communicatively coupled to the meeting management system 102 through a network 106.
[0027] In one implementation, the network 106 may be a wireless network, a wired network or a combination thereof. The network 106 can be implemented as one of the different types of networks, such as intranet, local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), the internet, and the like. The network 106 may either be a dedicated network or a shared network. The shared network represents an association of the different types of networks that use a variety of protocols, for example, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), and the like, to communicate with one another. Further, the network 106 may include a variety of network devices, including routers, bridges, servers, computing devices, storage devices, and the like.
[0028] Referring now to Figure 2(200) , the meeting management system 102 is illustrated in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.
[0029] In one implementation, the meeting management system 102 comprises of a plurality of modules and an application panel 202. The modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc., which perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. In one implementation, the modules may include a meeting management module 204, a security management module 206, and a password management module 208. The detailed description of the application panel 202, the meeting management module 204, and the security management module 206 is disclosed in figure 3, figure 4, and figure 5 respectively.
[0030] The I/O application panel 202 may include a variety of software and hardware interfaces, for example, a web application panel 202, a graphical user application panel 202, and the like. The I/O application panel 202 may allow the meeting management system 102 to interact with a user directly or through the client devices 104. Further, the I/O application panel 202 may enable the meeting management system 102 to communicate with other computing devices, such as web servers and external data servers (not shown). The I/O application panel 202 can facilitate multiple communications within a wide variety of networks and protocol types, including wired networks, for example, LAN, cable, etc., and wireless networks, such as WLAN, cellular, or satellite. The I/O application panel 202 may include one or more ports for connecting a number of devices to one another or to another server.
[0031] In one implementation, at first, a user may use the client device 104 to access the meeting management system 102 via the I/O application panel 202. The user may register him using the I/O application panel 202 in order to use the meeting management system 102. The working of the meeting management system 102 may be explained in detail in figures explained below. The meeting management system 102 may be used for managing a plurality of meetings. In order to manage the plurality of meetings, the meeting management system 102, at first, receives a plurality of instruction from the application panel 202.
[0032] In one implementation, the meeting management system 102 provides the ability to change the password as provisioned from the I/O application panel 202. In one example, user can change the password using the web based change password utility. The change password utility will impose the password policy as per the standard set by any company or organization.
[0033] Referring now to figure 3 (300), an application panel 202 of the meeting management system 102 is illustrated, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.
[0034] In one implementation, the application panel 202 may include but not limited to a company selection tab, a meeting detail tab, an annotation tab, a subsidiary management tab, a time panel, a calendar tab, a search tab, a contact list tab, an offline access tab, an annotation list, recording voice messages, adding comments and sending the annotated page by email to other users.
[0035] In one implementation, the activities performed by the user using the application panel 202 may include but not limited to viewing a list of meetings scheduled, selecting a meeting of past date and select past meetings, viewing the today’s meeting information, after login, seeing the agenda of meeting, after selecting a particular meeting, viewing the authorized documents only, annotating the documents using the annotation list, meeting detail functionality allow user to see the meeting / agenda detail on device 104 for particular company and committee, allowing to schedule the meeting for company’s subsidiary, viewing the time panel or calendar to get the meeting detail, and the like.
[0036] Referring now to figure 4 (400), a meeting management module 204 in the meeting management system 102 is illustrated, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.
[0037] The meeting management module 204 may include but not limited to a manage company module 402, a manage committee module 404, manage meeting module 406, a manage agenda module 408, a document management module 410, a user management module 412, a document publish/un-publish module 414, and the like.
[0038] In one implementation, the manage company module 402 is configured to create, edit, update, delete and list the companies. The manage committee module 404 is configured to create, edit, update, delete and list the committee. The manage meeting module 406 is configured to create, edit, update, delete and list the meetings for particular company and committee. The manage agenda module 408 is configured to create, edit, update, delete and list the agenda for particular meetings. The module 408 is further configured to copy the agenda from previous meeting and export it to excel file. The document management module 410 is configured to upload, delete, update, or modify, the documents for particular agenda item. The user management module 412 is configured to facilitate the administrator to provide the company and committee access to board members, who can access the system 102. The document publish/un-publish module 414 is configured to publish/un-publish the documents related to the meeting management system 102.
[0039] Referring now to figure 5 (500), a security management module in the meeting management system 102 is illustrated, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.
[0040] The security management module 206 may include but not limited to an authentication and authorization module 502, a data encryption / decryption module 504, an encryption key generation module 506, an audit module 508, a security policy enforcement module 510, and an application store module 512.
[0041] In one implementation, the authentication and authorization module 502 is configured to enable user to authenticate using user ID and Password. The client proxy would be performing the authentication and authorization for the system 102. The data encryption / decryption module 504 is configured to encrypt a plurality of documents to be encrypted on the server using a key which is stored in the server. The encryption key generation module 506 is configured to generate an encryption key in order to encrypt the plurality of documents. The audit module 508 is configured to enable a plurality of user’s important activities to be stored and logged in log file for audit purposed. The security policy enforcement module 510 is configured to provide a plurality of security related policies as per the organization / company standards. The application store module 512 is configured to store a plurality of applications that can be used by the system 102.
[0042] Referring now to figure 6, business service architecture of the meeting management system is illustrated, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.
[0043] In one implementation, the user may login to the system 102 using the authentication services provided by the system. Further, the system authenticates the user based on the information that may include but not limited to a user id, password and the like. After, authorized user gets access to the system 102, user may avail for the plurality of functionalities provided, and that includes annotation functionality selection from the annotation services that may include but not limited to view comments, add comments and the like. In one embodiment, the user may be provided with various other functionalities from the other services of the system 102 that may include but not limited to get document, next meeting, meeting list, calendar, meeting details, agenda details, company details, map, and the like. Finally, when the user has completed his activities on the system 102, the user logs out using Logout services.
[0044] Referring now to figure 7, business service architecture of board meeting manager in the meeting management system 102 is illustrated, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.
[0045] In one implementation, the user may login to the system 102 using the authentication and authorized services provided by the system. Further, the system authenticates the user based on the information that may include but not limited to a user id, password and the like. After the authorized user gets access to the system 102, user may avail for the plurality of functionalities provided, and that includes meeting management service like add company, update company, delete company, list company, add committee, update committee, delete committee, list committee, map committee, list user, company committee access to user, add meeting, update meeting, delete meeting, list meeting, add agenda, encrypt document, update agenda, delete agenda, list agenda, upload document, delete document, meeting calendar, export agenda detail, and the like. Finally, when the user has completed his activities on the system 102, the user logs out using logout services.
[0046] Referring now to figure 8, a sequence diagram of the meeting management system 102 is illustrated, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.
[0047] The sequence diagram includes the entities like user, client code, client proxy layer, active directory layer, and database interface.
[0048] In one example, the process initiates when user provides input or click on the system link for getting access to the system. The client code receives the request and transmits the information to the client proxy layer for further processing. The processing at the client proxy layer includes the authentication based on the provided information ad to check for the access privileges granted to the respective user. The authentication is performed using the directory interface partly. After getting the access information from the database interface, the company detail, meeting detail, documents and other related information is fetched from the database interface. Finally, all the information is provided to the user on user interface of the system 102.
[0049] Referring now to figure 9, a flowchart for account creation and access grant is illustrated, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.
[0050] The process starts with a user account creation. In order to create the user account, the login credential request along with the user id and password is forwarded to the system. Using meeting management system 102, the user can change the default password set for him. The user can change the password and log in with the changed password. The user may continue with the same password and may login with the same password. Based on the authentication performed, an access rights for the user is fetched. The access rights include subsidiary access information. If the subsidiary access is granted then user may perform operation related to the subsidiary access and if no access is provided, the user may log out from the system.
[0051] In one implementation, the access provided by the system may be Role Based Access. In one example, a Super-User assigns roles to Admin as either Company Secretary (CS) or Finance Group 1 (Fin1) or Finance Group 2(Fin2). When Admin is having role Company Secretary (CS): Users with this Admin Role = CS should have privilege to view the documents with the “Document Access privilege =CS and ALL” User should not be able to access the document with “Document Access privilege =”FIN1 & FIN2”, document should be visible as disabled document.
[0052] When Admin is having role Finance Team (FIN):
i. FIN1
Users with this Admin Role = FIN1 should have privilege to view the documents with the “Document Access privilege =FIN1 and ALL”
User should not be able to access the document with “Document Access privilege =”CS & FIN2”, document should be visible as disabled document.
ii. FIN2
Users with this Admin Role = FIN2 should have privilege to view the documents with the “Document Access privilege = FIN2 and ALL”
User should not be able to access the document with “Document Access privilege =”CS & FIN2”, document should be visible as disabled document.
When Admin is having role ALL (Board Members of that company) Users with this Admin Role = ALL should have privilege to view and access all the documents
[0053] In one implementation, the meeting management enables an admin to add/ view / update / delete meetings that have meeting title, date, time, location, description along with the names of company and committee for which the meeting is being conducted. The agenda management provides an admin to add/ view / update / delete agendas for a particular meeting which have matter, agenda item, sort number and access privilege to restrict the access of the documents uploaded against the agenda. The document management provides an admin to upload/delete documents against an agenda, these documents may be actually uploaded onto the content server and published. Admin can upload either encrypted or password protected document. The subsidiary management provides an admin to add/ view / update / deactivate a particular subsidiary company of the parent company. It includes details of company name, type (parent or subsidiary), and company geography and map location. The committee management provides an admin to add/ view / update / deactivate a particular committee for a selected company which includes details of committee name and committee description. The company – committee maintenance provides an admin to add / view / delete linking between a particular committee and a company. The admin can also view users mapped to a selected company-committee. The committee – user mapping provides an admin to add/delete mapping of a user to a company-committee so that the user can access the meetings of that particular company-committee.
[0054] The functional advantages of the system 102 may include but not limited to :
• The user would be authenticated using user ID and Password. The client proxy would be performing the authentication
• User would be displayed a list of meetings
• User can select a meeting of past date and select past meetings
• Documents would be encrypted on the server using a key,
• User can view the current meeting information, after login
• User can see the agenda of meeting, after selecting a particular meeting
• User can view the authorized documents only
• User can annotate the documents
• User can send annotated page to other members of the meeting for any action to be taken
• Meeting detail functionality allow user to see the meeting / agenda detail on iPAD for particular company and committee
• Subsidiary functionality allows scheduling the meeting for company’s subsidiary
• User can use the time panel or calendar to get the meeting detail
• User guide functionality provide intuitive contextual help overlaying existing screen
• Board app store is used for application provisioning on iPAD thick client
• Meeting manager application will be useful for manage committee, in managing meeting, company, and agenda, user, and documents
• User would be authenticated in directory server. User would get authorized against particular group of directory server
• Documents would be encrypted / decrypted on the server using a tenant specific key
• User important activities are logged in log file for audit purposed
• User can change the password using the web based change password utility

[0055] The key features of the system 102 may include but not limited to :
 An attractive login screen with customer specific images enabling personalization
 View for today’s meeting / directory
 Next Meeting – user can get a view of current meeting as well as view the date of the next meeting
 Calendar View: Meetings scheduled for a given month or for the entire calendar year can be seen
 Quick access to meetings : Slide or scroll on a selected date provides quick access to the meetings
 Agenda look up : Enable users to access the agenda items and corresponding documents
 Annotations: Utilities for adding remarks in a document including comment, highlight, search and annotate . Also features like sticky notes, free hand draw, highlighter, go-to page, bookmarks, outline view of the document, voice recording, and sending message with comments / annotated page via email.
 Help option : Provides intuitive contextual help feature
 Subsidiary view (via World map User Interface or List format) enabled companies to subscribe for access to subsidiaries, JVs or other group companies
 Yearly / Monthly view: Ease of navigation helps a board member to get a yearly view of his calendar (in case there are relatively lesser meetings). Similarly monthly view enables for a board member to view all meetings scheduled for the month(in case there are many meetings scheduled during the year)
 Timeline view of all meetings: toggle anywhere: navigate between multiple meetings
 Board member contact details to facilitate quick communication among the board members
 Facilitates Voice recording, as an annotation to reduce the efforts of making notes, and to help board members don't miss any points
 Provides List of annotations at the document level, to help user, navigate to the intended annotated page, made by the user earlier
 Screen shots feature to take snap shot of any particular page, and a mailing functionality to send the screen shots to the intended audience.
 Facilitates video conferencing to enable board members to collaborate among themselves
[0056] Although implementations for methods and systems for managing a plurality of meeting using a mobile device have been described in language specific to structural features and/or methods, it is to be understood that the appended description is not necessarily limited to the specific features or methods described. Rather, the specific features and methods are disclosed as examples of implementations for meeting management system.
[0057] The foregoing description has been directed to one or more specific embodiments of this invention. It will be apparent; however, that other variations and modifications may be made to the described embodiments, with the attainment of some or all of their advantages. For instance, it is expressly contemplated that the teachings of this invention can be implemented as software, including a computer-readable medium having program instructions executing on a computer, hardware, firmware, or a combination thereof. In addition, it is understood that the data structures described herein can include additional information while remaining within the scope of the present invention.